Blog posts

This is my first attempt at sourdough. It's just a plain loaf proofed for about 20 hours in a round banneton, then adjusted a little bit to make a more rectangular shape. I was a little bit disappointed with the oven spring, but I think that was because I didn't leave my Dutch oven to heat up for long enough,  Because i was getting a little impatient. Other than  that  I'm very happy with it.

Please let me know what you think, criticism more than welcome, also, would I be better buying a rectangular banneton, or is it fine to adjust the shape just before baking?

To my honey corn bread recipe I have upped the jalapeno from one to two. Not a lot of heat from these peppers up here in moose country, but they added a nice crunch, as did the corn kernels I added. The final add was old cheddar diced fine.

Lucy started off to do a more complicated bread by getting the 5 grain sprouts going on Wednesday but we forgot about the new Fig Yeast Water we started last Friday from the re-hydration soaking water left over from last week’s bake.  We wanted to include it in a SD / YW combo bake but it took a day longer than planned to get up to full ramming speed.

Hello TFL'rs on this late night! Wanted to share with you all my bake of the day. So I decided to make a "Honey Whole-Wheat Sandwich Loaf". I used K.A.F whole wheat flour and a little bit of K.A.F white whole wheat, this recipe I found used a "sponge" and what made the dough have great taste was the use of good raw and wild honey and melted butter and salt. I couldn't wait to slice into the loaf and taste the reward of a little patience (ate those slices in the picture right away with peanut butter on one slice ;p). Happy baking all!! . Here is the link.

I made these cookies using my great aunt's famous secret recipe. It feels like a betrayal to post it here but it also feels like a betrayal to post this picture without adding a recipe so if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post in the comments. These are so good and highly requested that my aunt, no matter how old and tired she gets, makes over twenty batches during the holidays and gifts them to friends, family, and neighbor. Growing up I'd sit on the kitchen floor with her for hours and decorate and snack on hundreds of these. 

I'm very ashamed to say I more than likely ruined a piece of bread tonight...on purpose...Just gotta get this off my chest. It's stressing me out!!

So I've been making an 86% hydration sourdough artisan bread every few days as of recently. It has turned out great and my family loves it, and I really feel like my technique has come along SO much. Things have just kept getting better- until tonight.

Making bread, great bread, takes some planning ahead and some dough babysitting. It's work worth doing, but sometimes you need bread fast. That's why I'm seeking the "minimum effective dose" for success. I heard this term coined in The 4 Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss. It's not a groundbreaking concept, but he revolves much of his life around its pursuit, which is intriguing. He wants to find the balance of the best you can do with the least amount of work.

Last Sunday I held my third annual Bread Tasting Open House. This year I focused on a couple of areas - 100% rye flour breads, and a series of sourdoughs using different flours. For the latter the formula / recipe / technique was the same for all six of the breads; the only variation was that 25% of the flour was different. The six were:

So, you've seen some sexy artisan bread pics...maybe on Instagram or Pinterest and you realize the loaves were all made by ordinary folks. You think, "Hey, that looks good. I want to make some bread, too." Here's my perspective on how you can get started with the least amount of pain. I'll tell you right now, it's not how I got started, which is why I know exactly what I'm talking about. I flew too close to the sun too fast, and it cost me quite a bit of angst, flour, and sanity. Here's the easier way for those interested in the hearth-style/artisan breads.