Blog posts

as of 30 Oct 2022 [edited to change my fermentation temperature from 40°C to 37°C)

For this bake I followed the recipe that Melissa shared on Breadtopia.com a couple of years ago.  It has been on my list to bake for a long time after having made a yeasted version a long while ago.  A couple of challenges I had on this bake was using my niece’s starter which needs some work to boost and then baking in my in laws’ oven.  However, despite the very slow fermentation the end result is really good.  

For one loaf 9x4” Pullman pan 

Ingredients

Sweet Stiff Starter 

• 53g bread flour 

Pretty nice looking Brooklyn N.Y. style Pizza Pie today! Even at the ultra-thin 550-gram skin at 18" it can still support the toppings and hold a nice Brooklyn fold!

That's a lofty title for a pretty basic post like this. The title actually refers to the name a book. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.

To learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS), please see here and here. 

Finally decided to take the plunge and make a 100% whole wheat bread. I used the Balcaskie landrace flour from Scotland the Bread. Here is the formula I used, with 81% hydration and a little honey: https://fgbc.dk/1nmi

I've made pitas a few times, but never posted here. Freshly baked pitas are absolutely delicious, I never knew they could be so tasty when I used to have them from the supermarket.

Basically, I make them using sourdough, with 20% whole grain (and I think I've only used spelt in this case), and 65% hydration, some olive oil and a bit of sugar. Here is the formula: https://fgbc.dk/1m2j

Ya Mon, Jamaica Mon!

Meat hand pies were brought to Jamaica by the English. Pasties. The word evolved into "patty." The hand pie evolved into a decidedly unique Jamaica food.

Keeping with the tropical vibe, I submit an old-time banana Chiffon pie.

I’ve been working on strengthening my starter for the last two weeks. I found fascinating info from Doc Dough on determining when a starter was ready for a feed or to be used. Link here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67214/2-weight-loss-method-judging-levain-maturity 

Trying to learn more about pH guided sourdough baking I decided to bake another 100% Semola Rimacinata bread.  Last time I felt that the dough didn’t hydrate as well as I remembered when I last baked this for the CB so I upped the hydration from 81 to 83%, I think I could have gone further given the high protein of this flour.