Isand66's blog

     Sometimes you feel like a nut....sometimes you don't.....Well I always love nuts; especially pecans!

For this bake I ground some fresh pecans in my mini food processor and added that to the levain with some AP and freshly milled whole wheat.  The idea was to get some extra pecan flavor into this bake and I think it worked.

Cranberries go great with pecans and also complimented the mix of freshly ground spelt, rye and whole wheat.  I added a little honey to give it a touch of sweetness.

If you have never made a bread with cream cheese yet, I urge you to give it a try.  The cream cheese really turns out a moist and creamy crumb.

The addition to the smashed potatoes with the durum and Kamut flours resulted in a moist, flavorful bread with a moderately open crumb.  This one is perfect for grilled bread, panninis, and simply with some olive oil or butter.

I made this bread last weekend after my return from my business trip to Germany.  I wanted to try changing up my method for mixing the porridge bread a bit to see if I could get a better result.  Since I'm home today enjoying the blizzard that's hitting the east coast I finally had some time to post.

For this bake I added some toasted almond flour and fresh corn to rolled oats and barley flakes for the porridge.  I used a mixture of several whole grain flours which were all freshly milled.

I asked my wife to buy me a few bannetons for Hanuka and she bought me enough to start a bakery :).

The first one I used was a square shape.  I at first was going to use the square one and a batard shape but after dividing the dough realized I needed to use all of it to fill the square version.  After combining the two dough's together I probably degassed them a little too much which resulted in a tighter crumb than expected.

   I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah.

For Christmas Eve at our good friends I made some German style pretzel rolls which are always a big hit and went perfectly with the Saurerbraten that was served for dinner.  I also made some potato pancakes to bring as well which everyone seemed to like.

Note to self:  Don't bake bread in your Weber Charcoal Grill when it's 25 degrees outside!

I had some Chocolate Coffee flavored Malted Wheat left-over from a rye bake from last year and it was just crying out to be used in a porridge style bread.  Throw in some cream cheese and shaved Parmesan cheese (not that grated powder stuff that tastes like saw dust) and mix with some freshly ground Spelt and Whole Wheat and a few other goodies and what's not to like?

After returning from my annual pilgrimage to North Carolina and finding my kitchen devoid of fresh bread I got busy milling some fresh flour.

I wanted to use a beer in this bake and decided that fresh spelt and Kamut would go great with the Pale Ale I had in stock.  Of course some caramelized onions would also go well with this combination and some Greek Yogurt and honey rounded out the flavor profile.

I added some smoked sesame seeds and garlic sesame seeds to the top and baked it boldly.

I made these to bring to my Brother-in-laws for Thanks Giving while visiting North Carolina as usual.  I adapted my formula for Potato SD Pretzel rolls and adjusted the water to compensate for the removal of the potatoes.

  After the nice and hearty apple cider walnut rye bread I baked I needed something a little lighter.  This bake with durum, spelt, cream cheese and baby purple potatoes that I roasted the night before was just the ticket.  The cream cheese and potatoes really made for a nice soft and moist crumb.

You can see the pretty purple bits of potato sticking out of the crumb and the nice nutty flavors of the spelt and durum really make this one worth baking again.