Blog posts

I haven’t posted a blog for some months.  I have been baking regularly, though not every week.  And not much that’s exciting for a blog post (since when did that stop me, you say?).  Plus life has a way of shifting my familiar patterns every so often.  And bread-blogging has given way to other things.

But this weekend is quiet.  My spouse is on a long business trip around Asia.  I’m spending a quiet evening trying to provide for a kitty who’s used to two laps.  Listening to the rain (a blessed sound in the midst of our long drought).

Just finished making dozens of yummy 100% whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. This recipe came from a young friend who made the adaptations (http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2013/06/kates-in-the-kitchen-whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies/).

Sharing for those bread bakers who are tempted to make something sweet today too!

We have wanted to smoke some flour ever since we saw Evon from Malaysia using it in her breads that seemed always have interesting and unique combinations of ingredients.  Why we haven’t gotten around to it till now is a mystery but it finally got to the top of Lucy’s formula list.

Being an insomniac I got up at 4 AM this morning with the firm intention of cleaning out my baking gear...of course after 10 minutes of diligent work a number of small metal moulds caught my eye, I had once purchased those thinking they'd be perfect for small cakes but didn't use them yet.  Looking at them I thought 'pity they're not true madeleine moulds' (should be really shell-shaped, mine have only a slightly convex bottom).

The night before I had been reading Proust and his immortal ode to the classic French madeleine cake in 'A la recherche du temps perdu' came to mind:

but you remember how it was... the leftovers will go on forever! Not really, this really made me wonder why there were leftovers back "in the day"... these meals were really well received and not much ended up repurposed. To end the month we made "roast beef with potatoes and vegetables, plus desserts... The lead in rolls are Barb's. She made a nice yeasted dinner roll, and was pleasantly surprised at the light texture and the fluffiness, after becoming such a tartine, sourdough bread guru... nice change for this dinner... Here is her crumb.

Hello

I have been reading many blogs in the last few months and what a great resource this website is with all the experts who regularly contribute.

I have learnt loads from you all and tried many different recipes (mainly sourdough).

Today I made some krentebollen from my native Netherlands and I thought I will share this with you all. They are very much like the English teacakes but I think they are slightly different.

Below is the recipe in Dutch. If anybody would like me to translate let me know and I will.

So, here is a pic of the bread this time letting the levain go 48 hours after a feeding and using 40% preferment. The acid smells were just a bit more pronounced. Still no real tart flavor to the loaf.Taste is really nice though. Im building my levain in stages and plan on baking another loaf ina couple of days with 50% preferment. Soon I will be at the 100% preferment point. What an interesting bake that will be. I will just be baking my starter, but isnt that what we do now?

I received a copy of Tartine for Christmas last year and have been making the basic country loaf regularly since then.  The quantity of dough the recipe makes is perfect for my three 25cm oblong bannetons.  I scale the dough to 650 grams a piece and retard in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours.  The above loaves were only retarded for 12 hours.  

Bagels, pretty good ones

Description: The original recipe asked for barley malt syrup. I found that did not help the recipe. In the year 2013 I read about diastatic malt powder and non-diastatic malt powder and how to use these in bagel making. Now I can produce nice crunchy crusted bagels with soft chewy interiors. I make plain, sesame topped and poppy seed topped and onion bagels. I egg wash them for a nice sheen and the wash allows the toppings to adhere.

1 1/2 cups spring water, warmed to 105-degrees

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

This was an experiment I thought turned out worthy of sharing. I keep trying to increase the depth of flavor and wean myself off store-bought white flour. So, here is my 90% hydration 60% whole-wheat, 30% rye, and 10% spelt sourdough, made using the Tartine method.

Formula for two 1000g loaves:

200g Levain

600g organic whole-wheat

300g organic rye

100g spelt

900g water

20g salt

3.5 hour bulk rise, 2 hour proof at room temp after shaping