Blog posts

CAKE

-----------------dry stuff--------------------

240 / 2 C AP-Flour

85 / 1 C Coco Powder

8 / 1-1/2 tsp Baking Soda

2 / 1/2 tsp Salt

-----------------wet stuff---------------------

353 / 1-1/2 C Buttermilk

8 / 1 tsp vanilla

-----------------creamy stuff---------------

115 / 1 stick Butter, unsalted

305 / 1-1/2 C Sugar

----------------eggie stuff-----------------

150 / 3 Lg eggs

---------------technical stuff-------------

Combine dry in its own bowl

I guess I should begin with a disclaimer:  I’m not usually one to put chunks of fresh fruit in my breads.  Nuts, seeds, grains, even a bit of dried fruit, sure.  But something about having all those mushy bits in the bread has made me wary of the whole concept.  Plus, the sandwich possibilities can be limited.

A couple of recent bakes here... The first a 50% whole wheat sourdough.

My loaves were a bit small for the brotforms I used so they didn't come out too impressive looking, but they tasted really nice, nutty and tart.  I used Nunweiller's Red Fife Flour, which contributed significantly to the flavour.

I also made Hamelman's Golden Raisin Loaf.

We love pecan sticky buns. We nibble at them for breakfast, lunch, mid-afternoon snacks, and dinner dessert--not all on the same day, mind you.

Until today I've baked sticky buns in 9" x 13" pans, or 9" x 9" pans. Regardless of which I chose the center bun or bun(s) would remain incompletely baked and doughy when the perimeter bun's were perfectly done.

With dabrownman's assistance I was able to successfully start my YW. I used organic raisins and organic  apple with spring water. I did a small test batch of levain using 50 g YW and 50 g AP flour. Growth was evident  in an hour and it tripled in 6 hrs. For this first test batch of SD I simply subbed all YW for the water in the formula. There is a lot of info on TFL about YW. RonRay has cataloged it in one post. He uses all YW for some of his breads in place of regular water. Other folks use only a TBsp or so with flour to make a levain. It is all good as far as I can tell .

. . . okay Karin, dab my first take at this style of bread. I just crossed over to the 'dark side!'  I was almost afraid to cut into this loaf and now I am wondering what to pair it with --  pickled herring, lox with onions and capers and stinky cheese come to mind, but I welcome any suggestions.

So in the end my mix was Karin's Friesisches-schwarzbrot:

Continuing my explorations of Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast, yesterday I baked his "Pain de Campagne" again, but with a difference. Forkish's formula for Pain de Campagne is, basically, a white bread. It has about 10% whole wheat. However, in his introduction to this bread, Forkish encourages the reader to experiment with increased whole wheat and rye and says that his own favorite version of this bread has 70% white flour, 20% whole wheat and 10% rye. Well, that sounded pretty good to me, so I did it. 

We love challenges of all kinds and bread baking ones are no exception.  Anything, within reason, that one can do to learn something new, stretch limited understanding, gain new skills while having some fun at the same time, sounds good to my apprentice.

Top left are rolled oats, top right aresteel cut oats, bottom are whole oat groats.

Just a quick post.

I made some brioche for a camping trip, after all one doesn't need to eat top raman when camping. 

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Cheers,

Wingnut