Blog posts

After reading all the discussions about "flour vs. micro organisms" in getting a good starter, I decided to run my own test.

I believe that the flour has all the vital nutrients that a starter needs to survive, but I also believe that the location and local flora and fauna play a part. I believe that is what makes San Francisco sourdough taste different than a Russian sourdough, which tastes different from a European sourdough.

I started my first ever sourdough starter last night. So tonights feeding is feeding 2...24 hours after it began.

Here is where it is up to now. No sign of anything happening yet but I know it can take up to a week, so my fingers are crossed.

I also made the buttermilk cluster today with wholemeal wheat and wholeleal spelt flour.

Yummo! I am eating it as I write!

My mission has been to get large, glossy holes in a bread like the wonderful examples I have been admiring. I achieved some degree of success with the NYT no knead recipe this weekend. I followed the recipe faithfully and even used the floured cotton towel technique. The soft dough stuck to the cotton, but not too badly. There was no problem with the bread sticking to the dutch oven. It pulled away from the sides as it baked.  I did leave it in the oven long enough to scorch the bottom a bit in an attempt to get a deeper brown top crust.

Since the breads I made most recently were both sourdough ryes, I was looking for something different this time around that would work well for sandwiches. My first inclination was to haul out an old favorite, a honey whole wheat bread. While flipping through Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads, I happened across a buttermilk whole wheat recipe that I had not tried previously. Since I had all of the necessary materials on hand, I thought that I would give it a try. The recipe follows [with my notes]. I'll also include additional comments at the end

Olive Bread - Sourdough Yeast Hybrid (1) 

Olive Bread - Sourdough Yeast Hybrid (2)

A Hamburger Bun

I just got a new barbecue grill, so hamburgers were in order. As a home bread baker, I've occasionally made homemade hamburger buns, and there is no question that a hamburger is just better with freshly baked buns.

I love getting up early on sundays with a good excuse to bake. Today we have family passing through town, and they'll be on the road a bit so I wanted to make them some portable snacks.

BBA Bagels, with oh about 50% wheat flour. I love this recipe because you can leave them in the fridge until you've got everything set up for baking, and because you can have hot bagels first thing in the morning without a lot of effort. I made a few toppings--poppyseed, salt, "everything" (with fresh onion and garlic tossed in olive oil, mixed with the previous toppings).

Ah, there are so many things I want to try but the counter is covered with ciabatta requiring me to slow down on the baking. So sad. I cared for my starters and they are thriving.  My 4 day old rye and grapefruit starter was ready for its first feeding of AP flour and water and it really took off. At the same time, I refreshed my old potato water starter for the third time and it was interesting to note the comparative rise and fall of the two. Jes look!