Blog posts

One thing you can rely on in baking is disappointments especially in the wake of progress.  Last week I was ecstatic at seeing my croissants showing semblance of good structure.  So going into the next bake I am sure I can improve.  Take extra special care in lamination (note the profile, this is so far the nicest profile cut I have produced) but come bake time I can see but minute 2 or 3 they juat aren't getting the oomph needed to really puff the inerds - as is shown in the snapshot - dangit ! 

 Lucy is back to work but she isn’t happy – not one little bit. She just started to get back into the swing of things when they announced that 800 million jobs worldwide will be eliminated by robots in the next 12 years.  Lucy thought she did important stuff but she is mostly an esily replicable pet and baking apprentices will be the 2nd to go - after pets.

So I've moved half-way around the world and am now getting used to baking in a new climate, but more importantly, with a new oven.  It's certainly taking a bit of getting used to.  I've also started using bannetons for proofing, which give a nice shape & texture to the bread.  I've noticed a chewier crust, but I'm not sure if that's due to proofing in bannetons or the new oven - the trouble with changing two variables at once!

I've settled on a regular recipe for bread with atta flour, which involves preparing 3 bowls simultaneously:

I did two batches of FWSY overnight brown modified to be (approximately) 50% whole wheat. (I also took a similar loaf out of the freezer to make into stuffing which turned out fantastically!)

The first batch was turned into rolls. The flavor was good, but I didn't spend enough time shaping them... they didn't rise nicely. I used some of the leftovers to make a french toast casserole (i.e. lazy man's bread pudding).

I have tried many different recipes....unable to produce nice chew and flavor....any suggestions or recipes out there?

After a lot of trial and error over the years I have finally landed on a bun I am happy with.  Thought I would finally share here. 

It's fantastic what you can do with Tartine style sourdough - like these snakeskin seeded batons.

I've used a mix of seeded flours, some oat and barley flakes and millet grain. I stretched the fermenting over four days and the flavour certainly benefited.Here's the link to full recipe. Absolutely love the method.

405gr white bread flour

45gr wholewheat flour

250gr water (usually use more water but as my maple syrup was on the thin side I had to adjust the water down)

90gr starter

10gr salt

100gr maple Syrup

150gr raisins

150gr walnuts

1tbsp cinnamon.

I have been wanting to make a cinnamon raisin recipe but after my last experience with cinnamon (bread took forever to rise and I found out that cinnamon impedes the growth of yeast), I have been wary of it. I found a recipe here on TFL that seemed to account for the cinnamon’s action on yeast and it had a lot of good reviews. So here is my adapted version from that adapted version from the Bourke Street Bakery Spiced Fruit Sourdough Recipe.