Christmas 2011

Hi Linda, Thanks for the comment.  You don't need my recipe.  I am sure your recipe from Il Fornaio Baking Book will be better than mine with clearer descriptions of the procedure.   Shiao-Ping

Hi Janet, thank you for your comment.  It's nice having you visiting my post.  Yes, I believe longer retarding in the fridge can result in more translucent, more flavour-some crumbs.  Instead of saying the crumbs are "softer", I would say the crumbs are more springy and having more body; but for this to happen, everything else has to come together too; just having one element right doesn't make a great sourdough.   Try David's 21 hour retarding and see for yourself what differece it makes to your crumb.   My experience for such long retarding time is that it's best for the dough not to have too long an overall first fermentation, but how long is not too long depends on your starter, your dough temperature, room temperature, your hydration, and the rest.  You don't know what is right for you until you experiment for yourself. 

Thanks for your good wishes too.  Shiao-Ping

Arlo, thank you for your comment.  I have just been too busy to post.   I like to do different breads and if I don't have new ideas I don't tend to post.  There are still so many new combinations to try and there are so many talented bakers at TFL.   One would never get bored reading at TFL.    Thank you.  Shiao-Ping 

Mebake, thank you.   Shiao-Ping

Hello, gvz.  The oven my husband put in is Miele's H 5681 BP here.   The function that has steaming built in is called Moisture Plus.  Inside the oven, on the left hand side, there is a tube which sucks in water (about 100 ml) and injects it as steam to the oven at the biginning of the baking.  The steaning last about 5 minutes according to the manual. 

Lemme say, Ross, my organic wholemeal rye flour is Coles brand, and my plain flour is Laucke's Wallaby plain flour also from Coles supermarket.  Thanks for your visiting.   Seasons greetings to you too.  Shiao-Ping

Thanks for you to visit. If my husband had told me he was going
to buy an oven with a steam function, I would have said not to bother.  The silly reason was I, the sourdough lover
and baker, who had taken the trouble every time the dough was loaded into the
oven to steam it painstakingly, were not prepared to believe that a home oven
could do the job by itself!  I had a
wrong view that it was not possible for a home baker to have the professional
gear. This new oven has now changed my view. 
Technology for home equipment has improved so much. 

The funny thing was I was used to seeing my old oven, which
couldn’t even be shut properly, full of steam at the start of the baking, and I
would hear big noises from the water hitting the lava rocks, sizzling inside
the oven.  Now, my new oven does the
steaming so quietly it almost makes me wonder if it really steams.  But the bread came out so crispy and shiny I
had to believe it did.   So far I had baked 5 sourdoughs in three
separate occasions.  Each time I stared
at the oven disbelieving.  The manual says you can program it to do one burst of steam
(100 ml of water), or two (150 ml of water) or three times (250 ml of water)
and that each burst of steam is injected for about 5 minutes.  Five minutes is long for what seems to be a
small amount of water, because when I used to steam my oven I used a whole cup
of water, 250 ml, which seemed to have evaporated in no time at all. With this new oven, the steam is released very gently (if
there is such a thing) and imperceptibly to our eyes from the outside.

I had a look at Brod & Taylor Proofer.  That looks amazing too.

My son is thinking to do medicine.  Everyone is telling him medicine is very difficult and that you would have no social life, etc. etc.  but he seems to be still hard set on the idea, so I am very proud of him.  My daughter is applying for internship in London.  She is the more adventurous one.

Shiao-Ping

Lumos, you bake great looking breads.  It is the baker's hands that would guarantee great breads, not an oven.  I forgot to say that the first sourdough that I baked using the new oven was bad, VERY bad - a crust like leather and crumb sticky and very unpleasant to chew.  Sorry, in my reply to David I said so far I had baked 5 sourdoughs in three separate occasions, I forgot to mention this very first bad bake - the dough was way over fermented.  No amount of gadget can save a bad dough.  Shiao-Ping

Hi Sylvia, Long time no see (as the Chinese would say it). My daughter is at the beach with a girlfriend and her family and my son is also at the beach with a friend and his family. My husband asked why these children leave as soon as Christmas was over.  So, yesterday he rang up his friend; the friend and wife came over, and we had a lovely roast, and too much wine.

This morning, another gorgeous morning!  My husband is at golf, leaving me home alone. I actually enjoy some time alone. I think it’s to do with rhythm.  Periods of low activity is enjoyed more after periods of high activity. I always craze to have more time alone.  You mention “meaning.” I think meaning is to be discovered, or to be re-created.  Sometimes I find I am set in my daily routines and meaning becomes blur, or lost.

You may have already come across this (after all, it’s me who is out of touch with everyone, not you), but check this out: http://weekendloafer.com/ . 

My husband is indeed a very handy person.  His generation may well be the last great Australian DIY generation (but I hope not).  My son is not interested one bit in any of the handy jobs he does around the house.  When he asked me to have a look at Miele’s website, I was in in Taipei and was not interested to look, so he just went ahead and bought the oven.  Yesterday I asked him if the sales girl had said the steam function is good for making bread.  He said No.  He said he bought it because he saw me steaming the oven all the time and thought it would be good for me! It was an impulse purchase, he said, and by no means a well research one.  

I think we bakers made do with whatever we have.  We adapt to our equipment, and our situations. Even though it is a very good oven, I wouldn’t rush and recommend to everyone.

Shiao-Ping

Hi Faith, thank you for your comment.  It is our anniversary today.  My husband left early in the morning to have a game of golf.  I woke up to see this on my messy desk:

                                       These flowers from our yard are more beautiful than any bought ones to me.

Went for a walk and saw more flowers on the road:

                                              The only deciduous tree in my neighborhood, my barometer for seasons.

Came home and baked two breads (pain au levain):

Made a festive fruit & nuts & choc. chip sourdough:

Happy holidays!

Shiao-Ping

Hello codruta,

Thank you for your comment.  Your breads are beautiful.  Hope we all bake more beautiful breads next year. 

Happy holidays!

Shiao-Ping

Hello Phil, I have been out of touch with what's happening at TFL. So many people are baking extraordinary breads, yourself included.  TFL is an exciting place to be.    I can’t get over how fresh, and refreshing, the colors of your photos are.  It’s the Queensland sun, I am sure.  I must be biased.

When I dropped my son at his friend's place, his friend's mum told me that this is the last year she is doing the beach thing for his son.  For my husband there will never be a last year.  Beach and holiday seasons are synonymous, something from his childhood.  But as our own kids get older now, it is us, not them, who are more in need for adjustment.

Best wishes for 2012 to you too.

Shiao-Ping