Blog posts

This latest bake is Pane Con Pepperoncini, Olive, E Pomodoro from Living Bread by  Daniel Leader.

I liked the overall consistency of the bread. It has a nice crust and the 00 flour has a nice creamy taste to it. My only modifications when making it next time would be 1) to increase the amount of red pepper flakes to maybe twice the amount, but then I have a real taste for spicy foods, 2) a little less hydration. Recipe and process are below for those interested.

Outstanding from the ease of working with it to the fragrance, glistening crumb fantastic crust. Not a complaint to be heard. 

I recently made a Brie appetizer that was topped with a combo of cranberries, pecans, orange juice, maple syrup and spices. I decided to use similar flavours in this bread. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Add-ins

• 150 g Dried Cranberries 
• 30 g Grand Marnier
• 150 g walnuts, chopped 
• Zest of 1 orange
• 30 g maple syrup
• 1 tbsp cinnamon 
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg 

Dough

I finally got close to where I want to be with ciabattas!

I was going to a friend's flat for an Italian dinner yesterday, so decided to bring a ciabatta, although previously I only had partial success with this style of bread. However Rus Brot has a video recipe for ciabatta, and so far each and every recipe of his have been a great success, so I decided to risk it. The video is unfortunately only in Russian: https://youtu.be/beEhMiwIaHw

Rosemary & Walnut Schiacciata From Living Bread by  Daniel Leader

This is the 2nd time making this bread and it was a hit both times. It has a wonderful walnut taste and combined with the rosemary and olive oil it is delicious.

Recipe and process are below.

Apparently this bread is also known as tourte Auvergnate.  It is a 100% whole rye loaf and mine was made without any commercial yeast although I’ve seen recipes that use it in as a sponge along with the rye sour.  Those who are familiar with baking rye sourdoughs know that they ferment very quickly.  From building the first stage of the rye levain until the loaf is out of the oven only took 18 hours.  However, you’re also likely aware that rye breads need time to “cure” after baking so I think they are best if you wait 24-48 hours before slicing.

We've eaten 8 of these Barbari breads in the last 5 days. Only thing is, both times I made these, there was a rush for dinner time, so I feel that maybe they were a lil under-proofed so they got very puffy during the bakes (or maybe I didn't press the dough enough during shaping). Also, I made them with onions and cheese on top!

Kimmicher, a large bun, weight about 200g, typical for the city of Reutlingen in Germany.

If you like caraway seed, you got to try this. The buns are truly fantastic.

The recipe is here: https://www.ploetzblog.de/2020/12/05/kimmicher/

I'll translate it into English if anyone would like to read it.

My first babka! I am not counting the one I tried last week that was a complete, greasy mess that never did a thing. That one was a yeast based recipe that I think was faulty from the get go, and to date is the only batch of dough I have ever just thrown out. 

I wanted to see how replacing 25% of the flour with whole red fife might affect the rise and the quality of this milk bread compared to my previous recent bake.  I thought 25% was a good place to start and if this is good I’d consider increasing that whole grain portion to 50-75%.  Whole red fife is actually a nice mild whole grain flavour without any of the bitterness I associate with some whole wheats.  Although it has good gluten potential, which you can feel while doing folds during bulk, it is fermentation intolerant.