Blog posts

A couple more of my current favorite multi-grain sourdough breads. These were baked in cast iron Dutch ovens.

Happy baking!

David

I have been exploring the delicious world of porridge breads lately but today I decided to venture away from that...sort of.  When I first started baking bread, apart from the therapeutic value of the process, my motivation was primarily nutritional.

A Johannesburg filling station keeps passing motorists entertained with its daily ration of aphorisms.  I think this one is worth repeating, even if it's not new!

just spent 30 min trying to lose amazon ad. Keeps popping up and won’t close. Anoying

It's been a while since I've been here, but not since I've made bread. I've got a pumpernickel on the counter, a sourdough slow fermenting in the fridge, and a soaker/biga combo for a whole wheat sesame sandwich loaf I'll make tomorrow. With nothing to do I'm considering making a partial whole wheat hokkaido milk roll...

In any case, I'm realizing that I'm just not the sort of person to faithfully keep a baking log. But perhaps I can give an impressionistic account of the current state of my bread baking journey.

Another in Abel's ongoing postings of embarrassingly wonderful bakes:  His Ziggy stoneground loaf from mid-January caught my fancy, and I was sure that when the time was appropriate, I'd try my hand at his scoring technique here.  Well, the time is appropriate.  With neighbors coming over for some wine, bread and cheese this afternoon, I figured, why not now?

My starter has stopped doubling in size. I usually feed  50g if starter with 80g strong flour, 20g wholemeal and 100g of water. Any recommendations? Should I go back to 50g starter, 50 strong flour, 50g water. 

Second question if I used rye flour to feed my starter what would the impact be to both my bread and starter?

Thanks

I’ve been experimenting with different flour combinations lately. The two recipes below are what I baked the last two Saturdays. The onion rye SD was inspired by Ian’s rye porridge recipes and I modified dabrownman’s bran leaven method to put into use in the cinnamon SD.

50% rye with onion and potato

For the dough

50% dark rye

20% whole spelt

30% whole wheat

95% whey

12% starter

I’m so excited that this forum affords me my own blog! What a unique and valuable perk!

As I continue My self-guided tour of the baking and bread world, I sometimes become frustrated with the lingo of baking. Not because I don’t understand the words. I’m a linguist at heart, and sometimes (especially when I’m writing a recipe), I can look at my musings for hours, trying to decide which word is best.

the loaf

crumb

detail crust - cracks

detail crumb - rim