CAphyl's blog

I have wanted to make this recipe for some time, and I have finally done it.  Very exciting. There are just so many on the list to do!  My husband and I love olives, and I make so many dishes with lemon zest that this seemed a natural for me.  My starter was getting a bit tired, so I refreshed it just before beginning this recipe. I have adapted this recipe from a blogger, foodtravelthought.

Makes two large loaves. (The one below was 2 lbs. 6 oz).

I have made this recipe a few times since I first posted it on this site, and I received some great suggestions from TFL bakers.  Steve22802 did two cold fermentations rather than one, and Tanorama added fruit, so I tried a few different twists on this batch of dough, which makes three loaves.  I did three things differently than the recipe (link below) on this bake:  1. I did everything by hand and didn't use my KitchenAid stand mixer; 2. I did two cold proofs, one after the room temperature bulk proof, per the recipe, and a second overnight proof after shaping. 3.

Well, I had to try it again, to see if I can do better than my last effort.  I would say that this is the best gluten-free loaf I've ever made, and it's sourdough, which I prefer. Not close to regular sourdough, but OK.

Gluten-free bread tends to be much heavier than gluten-bread, and this was no exception.  However, I got decent crust this time, and the crumb was OK. The taste was good, very dense and moist compared to gluten bread, but tasty and tangy.

I actually baked this recipe while I was in the Midwest twice and again today back in California.  The new twist is using a mixed starter (AP/WW/Rye), which adds some texture to the loaf and a much different cold proofing process.  This was produced a wonderful crust, moist interior and the most tangy, sourdough loaf I ever baked. This is the CA loaf (above); the Midwest loaf is at top.

Cheddar and Apple Sourdough, adapted from Paul Hollywood

I have enjoyed making a number of Paul Hollywood recipes, and this one is a favorite of my friends.  They aren't as fond of sourdough, so I had to do something different.  My sister likes this recipe, too, and she is not into bread or sourdough.  It's tough not to live cheddar, apples and sourdough together. I halved the recipe to make one loaf instead of two, as these loaves tend to be quite big. I’ve left the original recipe below, which will result in two loaves.

When I first made this bread (recipe currently on the top right of FL), I froze two loaves.  I baked the first of the frozen loaves today, and it really came out well. I defrosted the dough in the fridge during the day yesterday, and did a stretch and fold and shaping before putting it into the covered baker to retard in the fridge overnight.

I made my first gluten-free sourdough loaf, adapted from a recipe by Nicole Hunn in her book, Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread.

When I was in the UK last week, I made David's excellent recipe below.  As I have done many times in the past, I prepared the dough and froze half of it to bake later.  I hadn't tried this with baguettes, so I was interested in how it would turn out.  I froze the dough for four days. On the first batch, I had a heck of a time moving them, as I didn't have all the tools I have in my home kitchen.  They got a bit flat as I moved them.

I adapted the Hamelman recipe below, as I really wanted to make a multi-grain bread with a soaker. I didn't have any bulghur, so I used cous cous instead. I continue to go for the bold crust, so I allow a little extra time on the bake.

It is just so much fun getting that soaker going, isn't it?

I was inspired by Syd's bake to try my first Pain de Campagne.  I wasn't happy with the first bake, although my husband really enjoyed the taste and texture of the bread.  It was extremely light and made great sandwiches. As I often do, I froze the other half of the dough to make at a later date, and I baked it today.  As usual, my second bake from the frozen loaf turned out better than the first bake from fresh.  The first loaf didn't get much height, but had good crumb. The second loaf had much better oven spring and more height. Both had excellent, tangy taste.