The Fresh Loaf

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October 29, 2006 - 6:48pm
breadnerd's picture
breadnerd

Sunday afternoon with the mud oven

We had plans with friends for a mud oven pizza party, and the weather was extremely cooperative. A lovely fall afternoon! We built our mud oven this spring/summer following Kiko Denzer's book, and after a few runs I'm now getting the hang of baking with it.

 

Today's baking, besides the pizza, was three kinds of bread: Sourdough (I used the basic Bread Alone formula, which is a pretty standard sourdough recipe). I was quite happy with how these turned out, and they smell really good. I shifted my sourdough culture over to whole wheat since I've been trying out a few whole wheat recipes, but used white flour for the final dough--the result was a lovely colored dough--just a touch wheaty but still light.

 

some plain ol' french,

and a test recipe for Reinhart's 100% whole wheat Struan (a multigrain).

 

 

The baguettes were not my best! Loading off the peel didn't go as smoothly as it could have. Then, I took them out a little too early and the crust softened up after they cooled. They'll still be tasty, but I can do better! The oven was a bit too hot when the Struan went in (probably close to 450) so they're a little dark. I haven't tasted them yet (too full on pizza) but I'm looking forward to it.

 

After bread baking, we let the oven cool down a bit and then roasted some pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-lanterns. Finally, the temp was down to about 325 degrees, and I threw in some granola. This has been a surprising good use of the oven, and I'm so fond of it I have to make a batch every time so I don't run out! I'll add some dried fruit to it one it cools off--usually cranberries and raisins.

 

Joe Fisher's picture

Assorted breads from TBBA

October 29, 2006 - 3:15pm -- Joe Fisher
Forums: 
Artisan Baking

The Bread Baker's Apprentice strikes again! First, we have Kaiser rolls. My wife was making sloppy Joes, so we needed something to put it on. Since I don't own a Kaiser cutter, I used the knotted dough method. It worked out really well!

These were unbelievable. Just like a Kaiser should be - thin, crisp crust, almost flaky. Tender inside.

Next came some Vienna bread pistoles. I couldn't resist cutting one open to have a second sloppy Joe :) These had a soft crust and a soft, spongy inside. Delicious!

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bottleny's picture

Ask the name of a book

October 28, 2006 - 3:00am -- bottleny
Forums: 
Books

Maybe few days ago, I saw a post in this forum (but not under "Book") mentioning a book that will be available soon. The book is about the the traditional and new ways of bread baking in France. I think the author's last name starts with "K". I tried to search for it in the forum but couldn't find that post. Does anyone know the book I'm talking about? What's the title of that book?

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Loafer's picture

Can I actually get flour from my Corona Mill? What mill next?

October 23, 2006 - 8:26am -- Loafer
Forums: 
Baking Equipment

I bought a Corona Mill and I got it for really cheap, so even if all I can get out of it is cornmeal and peanut butter, I won't be disappointed. However, I was expecting to get at least passable flour if I ran it through a couple times. I am using hard red wheat from my local health food store, and grinding it several times. I end up with meal that has some flour in it, but is mostly sand sized grains of grain ;) I am wary of tightening the coarseness adjustment too much and damaging the burrs. Any advice?

I'd love to use this one for a while before I commit to a more expensive mill, so I'd appreciate help figuring this out. But my next step will be to get a better mill. I am very tempted to get the Family Living mill because I can get the adapter for my Kitchen Aid and can also get the rollers and flakers later. The next option that I like (probably the best) is the Country Living Grain Mill. I like that because it is beatuiful, well respected, and durable. It doesn't adapt to other things as well, but it would certainly turn out the flour I need! I don't think that I would be able to justify any of the models that are more expensive than the Country Living mill, so it won't help to recommend the $3k models :)

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cognitivefun's picture

here's how I create great sourdough loaves without kneading

October 19, 2006 - 7:19pm -- cognitivefun
Forums: 
Artisan Baking

My recipe for sourdough wheat bread

4 cups unbleached bread flour
1/2 cup of unbleached full-flavor (dark) whole wheat flour
2 tspns fine sea salt
2 tbspns safflower or other good quality, flavorless oil
4 tbspns good local honey
2 cups wheat sourdough starter
3 - 4 cups icewater

My starter is flour and water only. It doesn't matter if you
use a firm or slack starter. Just make sure it is a good
lively starter that smells good.

In this recipe, I make my dough in a food processor in two batches
because home food processors can't handle the full amount of
dough in one batch. I have tested this with the classic Cuisinart

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Paddyscake's picture

Rappin'

July 25, 2006 - 6:10pm -- Paddyscake
Forums: 
Artisan Baking

Not an important question, but I was wondering why when checking to see if
a loaf is done, we rap the bottom of the loaf as opposed to the top, for
the hollow sound? I have done both and can't discern any difference.

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Mini Oven's picture

The recycle loaf

July 20, 2006 - 5:55pm -- Mini Oven
Forums: 
Introductions and Ideas

Well someone has gone and done it, given me half a loaf I can't eat but too good to give away. I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth so I'm off to bake a recycle loaf. It is an Austrian Rye (at least 70% rye) loaf rather flat, dense, lots of molasses flavor and way too much salt. The only way to enjoy eating it is to delute it. It is the only rye within a 100 mile radius, I'm sure, with the exception to the other loaf half. Will report back later.... All comments welcome. :) Mini Oven

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July 18, 2006 - 8:08am
longlivegoku's picture
longlivegoku

Wood fired brick oven....soon

I have been on a quest for several months now to build a brick oven. I bought Alan Scott's book and also ordered some building CD's from a guy in Australia named Rado. While Alan's book was amazing (I will be re-reading it here soon) I ended up going with Rado's plans for what he calls a Masterly Tail oven. He gives amazingly detailed pictures of each step along with instructions for the mixtures needed. I think in all, I received 1000 photos of him building an MTO. Anyhow, I'm less than a month away (hopefully) from finally being able to bake and thought I would post some pics of the progress so far. It's been fun and a challenge to build. Fireclay was the only ingredient I've had trouble finding locally. I ended up running out yesterday while building the arches or there would be more done at this point. So it goes!

Hearth

Hearth with wall

One arch

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