Blog posts

Tuesday's gone with the wind, along with 3 of my favorite loaves yet. 

 I was inspired by a recipe from The Perfect Loaf and decided it was time to change up my routine and add some more stuff to my dough. These loaves can only be appreciated by a baker. I feel like something has changed in my baking and it seems to have all come from this one bake. Have you ever felt that way? As if this is some kind of turning point and I see a bright baking future ahead. 

...so many of you here, for your inspiration, your patience and detail in answering questions, and your generosity in sharing your formulas and instructions in enough detail that even a rank newbie like me can start off with some success! 

It doesn't exist. Perfection is subjective. But yet, foolishly I bake and bake and bake to reach a level that is possibly unattainable. In the this limitless search of the divine bread loaf I am fulfilled. Similar to exercise or brewing or any craft at all, in bread-baking there is no ending goal, we bakers simply enjoy the process. 

Got some dutch ovens to end the war between my loaves and our convection oven that has no off switch. No more worries about steam or drying out loaves with lackluster results. 

I made a few more videos for breads I commonly make. I made these videos to teach my father how to cook, but I realized they might be useful to other people as well! I always welcome comments, feedback, and critiques.  Thank you!

Pain de Mie: https://youtu.be/0I4kv59fbhA

Pain de Campagne: https://youtu.be/6d5zfLJO7Ow

San Francisco Sourdough: https://youtu.be/_rPoJKgSMhk

I had loads of starter left over from my loaf this weekend. I'm still getting used to how much starter I need to keep for the amount I bake. My 3 yr old daughter absolutely demolishes anything with chocolate or hazelnuts, or brioche, so i thought this was a good idea. Anybody who has children will not be surprised to learn, that despite the fact she adores every ingredient in these, they're definitely poison and she won't go near them, because I'm the worst person in the world.

This bread is the result of combining the 3 starters that I have been maintaining. I have been feeding it all week to ensure it was nice and lively, and it seems to have paid off. The only problem was that hubby was trying to be helpful and he washed the container before I could remember that I needed some to feed and keep in the fridge. So I need to go back to my 3 original starters and repeat what I did last week. Oh well!

here's a 30% spelt SD bread, leavened with 2% spent rye starter. 70% hydratio. Bulked for 12 hours At RT 27c. Minimal S&F for 1 min then rest 20 mins with 5 folds each time for 3 times. Final proof for 1 hour at RT 30c. Baked in DO.

Feeling refreshed after a day of basic bread making with Dean Brettschneider recently and hopeful for many more times to come!

Today I felt like baking a Rührkuchen (sort of like a pond cake but less butter and less sugar, never enjoyed these super-sweet bakeries that we have here in the US).

Turns out we have no butter in the fridge---oil will do in a pinch! No Milk? Water will do, no electric mixer? 30 min of whisking is not too bad, it's a good exercise.

Wife does not like powdered sugar or sugar glazing? We'll eat the cake alfresco so to speak with a hand-brewed cup of coffee.

It may not be a cake according in compliance with the recipe, but it tastes good, looks ok, I am happy.

With a corned beef; making, soaking and smoking going on for the big day, we don’t have a lot of time to mess around with this week’s sprouted sourdough.  Lucy wanted to do Ballymaloe’s SD brown bread  which would have been perfect and we really like it, but that takes more time than I wanted to spend rounding up all the stuff that goes into it.  Plus, what we need in the freezer is a white bread.