Blog posts

We were counting down the days that we could come back to Phoenix, AZ.  One of the hi-lights of our last trip in May was Pizzeria Bianco.  This place has been heralded as having the best pizza in North America.  The jury may still be out on that one, but it sure blew our minds.  We also picked up a baguette from their bakery location, Pane Bianco.  I have to say, I am not a fan of this baguette.  Nice chew and crumb structure, but the flavour is more towards an Italian style (go figure) of bread - no nuttiness and a bit on the salty side.  The french style

These may not be the prettiest rolls I have baked but they sure are chock full of nuts and cherries and super moist from the porridge as well.

My go-to loaf is a essentially a baguette with my own twists.  I use 1/3 spelt flour and whatever bread flour I can get my hands on (we're remote - I mail order my spelt - bread flour options are sparse).  

I always bake with a poolish.  I'm not a diligent measurer - I just do what feels right.  I scoop, but don't scrape or sift.  

Here's my take on PDLarry's custard buns..

My doughs were at 60g each which is a little too big to my liking.

Other wise it turn out really yummy.. 

So I've bee seeing Tartine bread realated posts and videos all over and I thought I had a good idea of the general principles, so I decided to try my hand at it. I tried to follow the general method: autolyse, mix, strech and fold every half hour, six times, shape, cold proofing overnight.

I had the most wonderful experience in San Francisco this weekend, as we were visiting the city with my husband's family from England.  It was their first time there, and they loved it. There was a Farmer's Market on the Embarcadero near Ferry Building #23 this past weekend, and I had the pleasure of meeting Edmund Weber (below) of Della Fattoria of Petaluma. He had a wonderful selection of breads, as you can see (sorry it's a bit dark).

.............Am I a coward?

Who calls me “villain”? Breaks my pate across?

Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face?

Tweaks me by the nose? Gives me the lie i' th' throat

As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?   Ha!

Shakespeare, Hamlet II,2.

Broken Nose Bread

And so it came to pass that I was having a quiet morning at the office when I got a call from The Husband.  "I've just come out of A&E" says he.  "That's nice," say I.  Possibly not the right answer.

Thought I'd be a little more adventurous this weekend and opted instead of my usual plain rustic Sourdough breads to bake something different. I found in my wife's pantry some almonds and honey and recollecting a recipe I'd seen somewhere decided these would be perfect for my bread. I set out with my levain starter which had been fed 5 hours previously and using organic stone ground unbleached white flour a little salt and bottled water made up my dough I left it to prove for 5 hours by which time it had doubled in size.