New here and having a great time!
Hi to everyone. I'm an experienced yeast bread baker, starting many years ago with the Tassajara bread book. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered someone I knew through gardening was a baker. I was at her house for the first time and noticed all the bread books on her bookshelf. She gave me some starter, and loaned me The Village Baker. I started researching sourdough, and discovered this site. Wow! So much information and experience here.
Well, I have been reading and baking, so far five different breads, fantastic sourdough waffles this morning, pizza dough, and sourdough Eng. muffins. And, I've ordered four baking books that I'll pick up next month when I visit in the U.S. (live in Mexico at 5,000'). Yesterday I made bwraith's Sourdough Pagnotta, and these loaves were my best yet! Wonderful thin, crisp crust, great flavor! Looking forward to more baking adventures. I can see it can become a habit :)
I'm jealous of your geography (although I know the higher altitude makes for baking challenges.) And you're absolutely right about that habit thing. Even when I'm not baking, I can't resist checking in with The Fresh Loaf every day just to see what cool new adventures our fellow bakers are pursuing. I guarantee you'll have plenty of chances to follow your bwraith recipe triumph with more scrumptious discoveries, thanks to the most excellent baking buddies you will find here.
"I am not a cook. But I am sorta cooky."
Thanks Cooky for the welcome. I am so impressed by the baking enthusiasm and experience on this site, and yes, there will be more discoveries to come. I love to hear about people's favorite recipes because that inspires me to try them.
I favor at least half whole wheat, and I did add in more whole wheat flour than specified on bwraith's recipe. Next time I plan to push the amount of WW to half the flour. We're still eating it - a delicious bread!
Re the elevation, I think 5,000' is not too difficult compared to a couple of thousand feet higher. I think baking times, temperature and moisture all are a bit different, so I play around trying to find what seems to work best, not terribly scientific! The climate here is wonderful, very moderate, not too hot or cold, though the humidity is low in the dry season.