Blog posts

Spontaneous fermentation of water soaked raisins (sultanas). 3rd life cycle (refresh) [pic]

Kept @ 27°C for 3 weeks (once a week remake with water and fruit + previous ferment top-up)

Then used to seed a flour and water dough at a concurrent 27°C, kept in a volume of water.

7 days and 7 refreshes @ 1:1 or thereabouts daily (24hrs).

Next 8hrs, then 4hrs x3.

Typical float time = ~45 mins in all cases.

Looking good for a viable vigorous starter.

The last of my einkorn flour was used to make this loaf.  Einkorn hasn’t been easy to find, one of the places I used to go to for interesting flours has changed hands and the new owners are not selling as many varieties of flour anymore.  Since einkorn is a very weak flour I use it in the tangzhong since in its preparation the proteins are denatured so any gluten potentially from the einkorn won’t contribute to the gluten structure of the final bread.

Cherry season is going strong and they are readily available for a good price at the supermarket so I figured it was a good time to bake another version.

I had some leftover grits from a recent brunch so that was added for some extra texture and flavor. These had some cheese and butter added and added quite a bit of extra hydration along with the fresh cherries to the dough. The cherries were pitted and cut into pieces and drained in some paper towels before adding.

Today's bake:  Muscovite Rye/Podmoskovny Rye (Russia)

Source:  theryebaker.com/muscovite-rye/  by Stanley Ginsberg

Note:

Hamelman's mixed grain miche from Bread 3rd ed.  It's 15% buckwheat and 15% rye (the starter). A winner!

Formula

 I’ve made bread with rice several times before and always love the added flavor and texture it brings to the party.  I used a purple (more black) rice I made with some onion stock which was very tasty.

The flours I used were freshly grounded whole wheat (Rouge de Bordeaux ) and Rye from Barton Spring Mill) sifted twice and milled twice as well as some KAF bread flour.  

The overall hydration is higher than indicated in the formula since the rice added some extra moisture.  The dough was pretty wet but was manageable.

Well, as with last time I was already home, but went big anyway.  Several years ago I posted another of this ilk but today's offering is for ciabatta.  Two days prior I had baked a trio of ciabatta to serve to our afternoon guests, and any remainder went out the door with them when they left.  

Time for pizza dinner again.  I’ve gone back to all purpose flour and spelt to achieve a more open crumb.  I added a cold retard overnight for convenience, extensibility and more flavor in the crust.

Hey all, here is today's bake. I've recently fallen in love with Addie's (Breadstalker) method and it has taught me lots about how long to extend bulk, and key indicators of a nicely fermented dough. As such, I was searching her instagram for posts about a nice 25%-30% whole wheat loaf that I could try. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I just made up a couple ratios to my liking (learning the meaning of how sourdough isn't really recipe driven- it's a method!). 

I love sour cherries and I love chocolate, so when I came across this cake recipe I knew I had to make it.