Blog posts

 I made a traditional Polish Piernik (Honey Cake) for the holidays this year and it came out as nice as I remembered them being from childhood. The whole house smelled like Christmas when I was baking too - so many fond memories!  

I love spelt but not too much of it.  My high percentage spelt loaves have turned out fine, but somehow don't get eaten up, even by me.  Today I made a Pain au Levain with added Spelt and kept the spelt to 21%.   To my taste at least, this is ideal.   The resulting loaf has that special nutty fresh taste that spelt in small enough quantities provides.  

12/28/13 - Tangzhong + Rye Scald + Rye Sour + Too much dough for too small a pan = Balloon Bread

This bake was one half of Peter Reinhart's recipe from BBA. I used 50g of sweet levain and 50g yeast water levain. The dough more than doubled in an hour in the bulk ferment and even half the recipe tested the capacity of my Lodge DO. This makes a wonderful sandwich bread -- piled high with Montreal smoked meat and grainy mustard. YUMMM!

Starter

50g sweet levain

50g YW levain

128g dark rye flour

80g water

170g onion, sauteed in oil

Can you partially bake a sourdough baguette, then finish it at a later time of your choosing? That's what this experiment aims to find out. I made my standard dough which is based on Maggie Glezer’s Acme recipe, but substituting levain for yeast. Loaves went in the oven at 520 degrees, then steamed and lowered heat to 480 degrees. One loaf was removed at about 20 minutes, or as soon as it started to color (times are relative and will depend on your own oven); the second at about 30 minutes so it was brown but not dark; the third stayed in till 40 minutes for a full dark bake.

Hey guys, 

I wanted to experiment with other flavors so I accidentally made this delicious "baguette". I was actually just adding things as I was making the bread.

blended the banana with the water and added coco powder to it and then I was like let me mix some almond meal with my flour so I did. Then as I was stretching and folding I added some ground cardamom to the dough. the flavors of the bread went so great with Nutella.

I think this would be a great breakfast bread with some jam or butter or whatever sweet spreads you have. 

So with all the rave and some down time I thought I'd give this FreshLoaf classic a try.  I believe I followed David's (dmsnyder) most recent update which includes whole wheat.  I strayed from the procedure only in that I mixed the dough with my stand mixer opposed to by hand (slap and folds). I also used excess starter I had on hand which is of the sour variety and I think this may be a bit better with a less assertive levain.  But then again I prefer balance to overly sour white breads.  Some really love the sour punch.

Americans and Germans have a lot in common. One is their love for cheese cake. Though both pastries taste great, Käsekuchen is distinctly different from its US cousin.

Cheesecake crust is made with cookie crumbs, very practical, and a good recycling of even stale cookies. German Käsekuchen has a short crust, more fuss, but buttery decadence.

I made a special miche for holiday family celebrating. This is the 2nd miche I've ever done, and by far the biggest loaf I've ever made in my short six months of really diving into bread. I have a batch of Carl's 1847 starter that I've been feeding for a few months now. I keep it at 50% hydration in my fridge and feed it once or twice a week. The recipe I did is pretty easy:

1. Carve out 225g of the starter (50% hydration so 150g of flour, 75g of water) and drop it in the mixing bowl. 

2013 The Fresh Loaf Dabrownman’s Blog

1/4/2013 - Panettone - The Last Bake of 2012

1/4/2013 - New Year's Day Pizza and Banana Bread Cupcakes

1/5/2012 - Hanseata’s Sausage Filled Puff Pastry with Cheese