Blog posts

The last few weeks have seen a flurry of Pane di Altamura posts.  For me, it started with Michael’s (mwilson) post on the behavior of Durum flour, the semola rimacinata di grano duro used by the bakers in that famous region.  Abe (ABakEr) posted a very nice loaf with an open crumb using a pretty inventive technique.

Hi.   I thought that some might be interested in this profile of Bread Obsession in the Spring issue of Edible Boston.   

http://www.edibleboston.com/edible-food-finds-bread-obsession/

Hi all! 

I’ve baked 5 sourdough loaves using the same formula and I felt like it was time for a change. So last week, I asked for some suggestions for what to try next and it seemed like rye was popular choice... I wasn't feeling particularly brave about it, but i decided to go for it.

So here’s my first try at a sourdough rye loaf. What fun!! But so different from my last few bakes. Mixing and shaping this dough was like working with clay, very therapeutic.

This my latest attempt on a leftover dual started bread that came out so good I promise to make it again and record what I did. I was very pressed for time so it could have used a longer proofing time ! The truth always is evident in the crumbshot.

Pane Tipo di Altamura

31 March, 2016

David Snyder

Back in 2011, several TFL bakers worked on trying to replicate Pane di Altamura at home. I participate with one bake (see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24139/pane-tipo-di-altamura-quotlocal-breadsquot), but did not work to refine it and have not baked this bread since. Abe's (A BakEr on TFL) recent efforts have inspired me to give this bread another go.

After a few brain farts where I confused the matter of posting a simple reply as opposed to starting a new blog post:

Now that is some windowpane!

We are getting pretty good at keeping baked bread out of the freezer by sticking to only baking one loaf a week.  When out future son-in-law came over for breakfast in Easter weekend he rolled away with the last of the frozen bread and a couple of homemade jams and some citrus to take back to Colorado.

I have been making a ton of whole grain breads lately, breads were the flavor comes entirely from fermentation and the actual flavor of the grain, and while I think that is essentially the only way that great bread should be flavored every once in a while I feel like messing around and experimenting with flavors that would be otherwise impossible to coax out of grain alone.

My very first attempt at making one of these loaves. It's still cooling so I don't know what it will taste like. I thought the dough a little dry and my plaits aren't too even but it looks good.

I decided to go back to Tartine Bread's Country Loaf since I had quite a bit of success the last time I made it. I need some bread for a staff snack this week (working a stretch of 8 days even though I am retired) and wanted something a bit different so I chose the Country Loaf with Sesame.