Blog posts

Hello everybody,

It has been long time to come here.

I hope that everybody is good and healthy, which is the most important for our lives, I wonder?

Well, I just started to challenge for a perfect baguette that I had been trying yesterday.

But I have had always a very weak oven.   I can't increase the temperature over 430F. :(

I am not satisfied with crust, neither scoring that I make.

It has been a long time since we have done any YW baking and it was time to refresh the YW after 4 weeks hiding in the fridge.  We decided at the last minute to do a test comparison bake. One with a YW/SD levain and one with just a SD levain.

This loaf was proofed seam side doen again, Forkish style and baked seam side up. Though I took great pains to seal the seams in both the pre and shape, it looked like they would bloom open and they bloomed open beautifully!

I once again used 25 grams of sweet levain and 25 grams of yeast water levain, 300 grams flour and 231 grams water total. I used 30 grams durham semolina for flavour and colour boost.

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since my last visit to TFL.  I have been quite sick and bedridden for a few weeks. My sister has to take care of Blossom (my seed starter) until I feel better. We miss her so much! I was so happy to have her home last week, healthy and happy.

Summer is around the corner in Melbourne but the weather is still quite cold.  I decided to bake a few country loaves today. Two loaves are to give away as thank you gifts to our good friends who have helped out and sent me so much food.

I've made English Muffins in the past and I thought it was time to try them again but with a few twists.

It's a "cheap thrill." 

I don't seem to habituate to the high from taking a beautiful loaf (or two, or four) out of the oven.

"Overnight Country Brown" loaves from FWYS

I finally remembered not to seal my seams too well and to proof the boules seam-side down in the bannetons! 

I've had bagels on my mind for quite some time now, and since i never tasted one before, i decided to create  some at home. I've searched TFL for other members' posts on the subject, and many were extremely useful and pointed me in the right direction. I've decided to try Hamelman's version, but without the malt extract, which i substituted with a Tbl. of brown sugar and a Tbl of Baking soda.

Perfect on this winter stormy night!

Last week, my breads had a more or less "command performance" in the Italian language class my wife and I are taking. I've been a bit uncomfortable taking food since the class meets in  a deli/cafe/wine bar. Anyway, I decided to let it be on the teacher's head. I took a large wicker basket with half slices of 3 breads - a seeded sourdough Italian bread with 20% durum flour, a walnut-dried fig bread based on my San Francisco-style sourdough and a "Overnight Country Brown" from Ken Forkish.

So yesterday around 11am we decided on a meal that a loaf of fresh bread would be good with.  I didn't have a refreshed starter or preferment going, but I quickly mixed up a cup of AP flour, a cup of luke warm water, and about a third of a teaspoon of yeast and let it sit while I figured out what I wanted to do with it.