Blog posts

Merry Christmas, all, and many thanks for the wonderful resource that is TFL.

Today I used my rye starter (converted from white mother) and decided to make a batard.  Decided to slightly underproof, added extra steam a la dabrownman (pyrex with rolled cloth steaming) in addition to my normal steam pan.  I watched in amazement as it cooked! the steam obviously made the rise much better!!! I have NEVER made a batard this good.  I am over the moon!  and very happy with the crumb.

I have now made this bread about 4 or 5 times.  The first two i replaced some flour with w/w and rye.  The bread came out good but a little dense.  The last two times i almost stayed with the recipe except, added 30g flax, 25g chia and 40g sunflower seeds and about 20g additional water.  Everyone raved about these two bakes, including people who have eaten many of my breads, commenting that this was one of my best.  I plan to bake two more times before the end of the year.

We took another step down the sprouted grain trail this week, even after vowing not too, when we decided to defrost the chest freezer and found a peanut butter jar full of frozen whey in the bottom of the icy depths near the bottom-  along with too many quarter hunks of bread.

A year ago, I decided to close down my little bake to order business, and see what else I could cook up.   I got my wholesale license, and into a pretty decent market, and set out to make a lot of bread.   A lot of bread all depends where you are coming from.   I'm baking out of my kitchen with fairly small equipment and it sure seems like a lot to me.    I picked up several wholesale customers, and just when I think I have that under control, I bake for a big market, all semblance of control vanishes, and I just bake as much and as fast as I can

Happy holidays to everyone and happy baking.

I was lucky enough to get some baking goodies from my wife.  A proper bench scraper, bowl scraper, and two books that will get me trying some new breads.

Here's today's sourdough loaves for your viewing pleasure.  Crumb shots to follow after we rip into these with turkey dinner tonight.

These are the little loaves I have been baking for everybody leading up to the New Year. I decided to try one myself and got a crumb shot before it was all gone.

Everyone here knows the smiles and joy a fresh loaf can bring to on occasion. I wish I could try some of the amazing bread I see here on TFL. To all the wonderful people I have met here, happy baking, happy holidays and very happy New Year.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas to those that do celebrate the holiday and also to those do not!  Great site, and great people.

Zopfbrot
A simple braid made with a milk and AP whiteflour dough. 
10% butter, 3% sugar, 2% salt, 2% fresh yeast.
Milk made up 100% of the liquids, this I made extra cold by placing it in the freezer for a half hour before mixing the dough.
The target end dough temperature is approx. 22C, it's quite firm and is given an intensive kneading before adding the cold butter.