New Obsession
Hello all,
My Name is Michelle and I am new here. The past few weeks I have taken a shine to baking, especially yeast breads. I started making fresh pizza dough a while back but never did find the perfect recipe. I have searched thru many websites and tried more recipes than I can count. I started to become intrested in make some yeast rolls for a WV pepperoni roll craving of my husbands. Found a few ok recipes for yeast rolls but stumbled upon an italian bread recipe that I kinda liked. Then I hit buttermilk biscuits. We don't have a panera bread here like in FL and I had some asiago cheese I needed to use so I went in search of a copy cat panera bread asiago cheeese bagel recipe. That's when I found The Fresh loaf. I read in awe thru the handbook and started making a sourdough starter and some poolish. I have tried my hand first at a ciabatta. amazing! then today I made some asiago rolls, to die for. now I have a ocuple bagettes in the oven! I am amazed by the whole process and enjoying learning as I go. Plus my family is pretty happy about it too!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4360127411_4a5d0ae67f_m.jpg here's some pictures of my fun in the kitchen
Comments
Welcome to TFL, Michelle!
You've certainly accomplished a lot in a few weeks.
Looking forward to seeing photos of your results.
Hi, Michelle.
That positive family feedback sure fuels the obsession, doesn't it?
Now, how long before you discover sourdough baking? 10 ... 9 ... 8 ...7 ...
David
What better way to annoy my teenage daughter than "making" her eat homemade bread ;o) Payback time!
(LOL, I couldn't resist!)
Welcome Michelle!
Thanks guys! I am still trying to figure out how to post pictures here. Also, I am working on my sourdough starter now! can't wait!
Hi Michelle,
Welcome to TFL; I'm pretty new here too, and enjoying sharing knowledge with some excellent people.
For photos, the easiest way is to upload to flickr. It's very easy to open a flickr account. From there, open the photo you want to load to TFL. Click "all sizes" above the photo, and select the appropriate size you want to use. Scroll down beneath the photo and highlight the link that will enable you to upload directly to another site. Right click on this and hit "Copy" Then move back to the comment you are drafting for TFL, and open up the Insert Picture, which is the tree icon on the top right handside. Right click on the space for the URL and click "Paste". Then hit "Insert" in the bottom left of the small box you have opened. The photo should then load to the correct point in your blog entry.
Floyd will probably give you further advice on this if needed.
Best wishes
Andy
So in the past few weeks since I became a member I have been attempting to get a sourdough starter going. Well, the weathers been cold and my kitchen is probably around 60-65 degrees ferenheit and the first attempt didnt work out so well-the starter smelled right but wouldn't grow. After I threw it out and read some more info on here about starters I musterd up the confidence to try again-this time having a better understanding of whata batar i was doing and what those little yesties were up to as well. So I decided to put the starter in the upstairs hallway bencause it's considerable warmer there then in the kitchen.....turns out it was the perfect place for my "pet". My husband calls it my baby because I am always carrying it up and down stairs to feed it and make him smell! Today was like day 7 and I decided to give my first loaf a try. I was following a recipe but the ratio of water and flour was way off...so I added more water till it got the right consistency. I was a little worried that it wouldn't rise well with the cold temps but it doubled in about 4 hours. I seperated into 2 chunks and shapped one and placed it in the warm oven with some hot water for the final rise. I read somewhere on here that can increase the sourness and lower the rising time. i did turn the oven on for a few seconds to get it a little warm in there so that the yeast can have an optimal growth environment. I took the other half of the dough and shaped it into a boule carefully then put in in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap(which I seem to be using a lot more of!), and placed it in the fridge to retard overnight. Anxiously awaiting the findings of my experiment with the 2 different methods. This is just a white sourdough loaf with a mix of all purpose and bread flour. Simple ingredients for my first sourdough. I am just dying to get the oven going here! Will post some pictures when I am done tonight!
Happy Baking!
Michelle
Sorry Michelle, my instructions haven't worked out.
If you need further help, please drop me an e-mail.
Andy
I figured it out, thanks for your help!