Cedarmountain's blog

There are many reasons why people bake bread...for many it is a basic necessity of daily life to feed themselves and their families; for some it is a business while for others it is simply an enjoyable pastime, a hobby.  That's why I started baking bread a few years ago, just a hobby.  But after many loaves baked over the past few years I have come to appreciate there is much more to this hobby than I first thought; the reason I bake bread is because of the meditative and calming nature of the process, the honest and universally understood gesture of sharing fresh b

The basic ingredients for good bread - flour, salt, water, yeast - are simple yet can produce such a wonderful variety of breads with complex flavours, crumb textures, crusts.  Sometimes in my tinkering and experimenting I need to remind myself that bread made just with these basic ingredients can be really good bread!  So with that in mind, today's bake focused on the basics - good grain, salt, water and yeast. 

Cracked Grain Porridge Sourdough Bread

I have been exploring the delicious world of porridge breads lately but today I decided to venture away from that...sort of.  When I first started baking bread, apart from the therapeutic value of the process, my motivation was primarily nutritional.

Oat porridge sourdough has become one of my favourite breads. This is a variation on the oat porridge bread in Chad Robertson's "Tartine 3". I was intrigued by Robertson's addition of almonds and almond oil to complement the texture and flavour of the oat porridge and have been using the basic oat porridge bread recipe to explore other additions.  

I have been tinkering, experimenting with various porridge breads for the past while; various attempts to create a lighter crumb, more custardy texture, deriving different flavours in the breads using various porridge mixtures while trying to keep a solid nutritional profile with the fresh milled grains and additions, using younger levains, varying final dough hydration. But sometime I just want a good porridge bread, like the one I first discovered working my way through Chad Robertson's Tartine 3...today was one of those days  Nothing complicat

Marquis Wheat Sourdough

Fresh milled high extraction organic Marquis wheat; young levain; 85% hydration; cold proofed overnight

Bacon Cheddar Caramelized Onion Sourdough