The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

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saltandserenity's picture
saltandserenity

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

On the third day of holiday baking, I present you with white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.  This is an unusual recipe in that the butter and brown sugar are creamed together and the white sugar is added later with the dry ingredients.  It's how I learned to make these but I don't know why.  They are crispy at the edges and chewy in the middle!

http://saltandserenity.com/2010/12/09/day-three-white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-cookies/ 

httcookiesp 

CountryBoy's picture
CountryBoy

Is a Rye bread recipe possible without soughdough?

Is a Rye bread recipe possible without sourghdough?

Everywhere I search I see sourdough.........for good rye bread.

Thanks.

CB

 

 

jim baugh's picture
jim baugh

Muffuletta Bread and olive salad recipe

We just made some Muffuletta bread for our olive salad turned out great. Baked in cast iron skillets to get those nice round loafs. First try on this one, but, turned out really good.

Recipe and info at our blog

http://jimsgalley.blogspot.com/2010/12/muffuletta-jbs-recipe-and-muff-tips.html

 

Have a great day!!

Jim Baugh

JBO TV

italianlady61's picture
italianlady61

Italian Lady baking bread

I am new to this sight - my sister googled and found this site for me.  It is so interesting that there are others who have a passion for learning how and perfecting recipes they hold dear.  I have been cooking since I was little and have started up with baking my own bread once again.  I consider myself adept at cooking - I'm italian - what can I say - anyway - I am putting myself out there if anyone wants homemade bread - so far white and herb bread is what I do but will be working on doing other breads as well.  If there is anyone who is interested in purchasing good grade, natural fresh ingredients bread for the holidays or I can teach you how to cook some italian food, please e-mail me at italianlady61@hotmail.com

 

I would love to connect with someone who appreciates homemade.  Meanwhile I will love to go through the site for great ideas!  so cool!

 

 

saltandserenity's picture
saltandserenity

It's sweet but it's not baked -Almond Pecan Caramel Corn

I have started my holiday baking.  For the next 7 days I plan to post a new treat each day.  This caramel corn is sweet, salty, crunchy and very addictive.

http://saltandserenity.com/2010/12/07/day-one-almond-pecan-caramel-corn/

bowl of caramel corn

Mylissa20's picture
Mylissa20

WW sweet rolls ideas?

I want to make some beautiful sweet rolls as neighbor gifts this christmas, but I am afraid that people won't like them because they're whole wheat.  I don't bake with white,  and I feel like you can't separate fluffy white bread from cinnamon rolls in most people's minds.  Is there a combination that you think would naturally compliment the flavor of whole wheat, like pear or orange rolls?  I'm just looking for some good ideas.

mamatojade's picture
mamatojade

Help - I dropped my dough on the floor... Need a QUICK recipe

I just pulled my PR Pain a L'Ancienne Focaccia out of the fridge to shape it and let it rest and dropped it on the floor and broke the bowl.

 

I need to bring bread to a party tonight - does anybody have a link to a quick bread dough that I can mix, rise and put in the oven in 5.5 hours?

 

dzolotas's picture
dzolotas

Hello, and a Excel that may help

Hello

My name is Zolotas Dimitris and I live in Greece. I'm baking bread for my family the last 5-6 years.

You have a great site and I've learned a lot from there. I have made for myself a Excel spreadsheet for helping me with the bread formulas, and i thing that it may be useful to someone here.

I can't find a way to post this file, is there any way to do this ?

(I have upload it to Rapidshare, for download anyway)

http://rapidshare.com/files/436031166/Bread_calculator.xls

Thanks a lot !!!

Dimitris Zolotas

 

petercook's picture
petercook

Sponge confusion

I am a home baker and I have been cooking for the last 55 years. Now that I am a retiree I want to refine the art and make not just good bread but really great bread. Which leads me to my question concerning the preferment called a sponge. In my studies I have noticed a wide difference in the hydration rate for sponges. Example: Rose Levy Beranbaum, in her book "The Bread Bible" page #32 she says,"I usually make a sponge with equal VOLUMES of flour and water. This is about  one and a half times the weight of the flour in water ( 151% hrdration."  Ok, now listen to what Daniel T. DiMuzio says in his book "Bread Baking: An Artists Perspective" page #69, "Sponge is often the name applied to stiffer mixtures of flour, water and yeast that are fermented ahead of time. The hydration level of sponges made from North Americican flour is usually 60-63% and they can be fermented for 5-24 hours". And, James Peterson in his book "Baking" page 285 says, " A classic sponge is equal parts flour and water by VOLUME is typical." So, we can see that Beranbaum and Peterson are in agreement with a very liquid sponge, BUT DiMuzio's sponge is extremely stiff , at least as stiff "old dough"  Far be it from me to find fault with such professionals but it is confusing. When I make a more liquid sponges and put them in the fridg  the flour and water separates and the sponge just sits there and does nothing. When I make the stiffer sponge and put it in the fridg it puffs somewhat but not a lot. I am wondering how two very different preferments can both be called a sponge?  And also,I'd be interested to know how different bakers handle the sponge (at room temp or in the fridg).  Thanks for your in-put.

breadsong's picture
breadsong

One more bake from the weekend - Almond, Cranberry & Orange Sourdough

Hello, These small loaves are based on Eric Kastel's Almond, Currant and Orange Sourdough from his book Artisan Breads at Home.
The scoring is an homage to EdTheEngineer's recent spiral-scored boule, that he pictured along with his other lovely breads.

I had some extra orange peel from making Christmas fruitcake, so into the bread it went. I used dried cranberries instead of currants, and reduced the amount of fruit and nuts to a little over 25% of the flour weight.

This bread uses a wheat sour; I just fed my regular starter with white and whole wheat flour and let it ferment for about 16 hours before mixing.
The dough was mixed with a combination of bread and white whole wheat flour.

The loaves were retarded in the fridge for 15 hours, and warmed up this morning for about 75 minutes before I baked them.
(I use an inverted clear plastic storage box as a cover for loaves when proofing - I can see a thermometer through it & can keep an eye on temperature. I've been filling my french coffee press with boiling water and placing it alongside the bread - it's been working out really well for getting and maintaining a humid, 78-80F proofing environment.)

Here are the pics. The four smaller loaves were divided at 230g each, and the bigger one I think was about 300g.
They sprung up in the oven!   Husband had some of the bread with lunch today and he really liked it. I'll try some tomorrow for breakfast.
This bread has a yummy aroma! I can't see any cranberry in this crumb shot but I hope it's in there somewhere!
Regards, breadsong

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