Spring is finally here so along with grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and steak it was time to crank up the grill and make some pizza.
My pizza set-up allows me to get the temperature over 700 degrees. I'm not sure how hot is really get since my thermometer only goes to 700 degrees so I would say it's probably closer to 800 or higher.
I love potatoes in my bread and rolls so I figured it was time to try them in pretzel rolls. I had to make this recipe twice as the first time I didn't compensate enough for the moisture in the potatoes and the dough was way too hydrated. The rolls didn't come out the right consistency so I made them again and cut the water back and they came out perfect.
This was supposed to be a high extraction whole wheat loaf but I'm having trouble milling my flour course enough to actually have much bran left to sift out. So, instead I basically used freshly milled whole wheat and added some fresh whole rye flour along with some whole spelt and a whole bunch of caramelized onions.
Finally the weather is starting to turn and actually feel like Spring after one of the longest and coldest winters we have had in a long time. It was time to fire up the grill and make some hamburger and hot dogs to really make it feel like a new season.
One of my good baking friends from "Brot & Bread" and The Fresh Loaf posted her version of the Plotziade challenge which is to use the same exact %'s of flour and salt to build a bread. The kicker is you can use yeast, a starter, biga, etc. and any hydration you would like. You can see Karin's amazing bread here, Below is some more information I borrowed form Karin's post (I hope she won't sue me for plagiarism :))
It doesn't get much better than this. A pretty simple ingredient list....for me at least put together with TxFarmer's amazing 36 hours method and you have an amazing loaf of bread. When you can just eat the bread without anything else, you know you have done something right.
Just in time for St. Paddy's Day I figured I would make another bread using beer along with some freshly milled flours. I had bought some Farmers Cheese meaning to make pierogi again but have not had a chance to do so yet, so into the cauldron it went :).
This is my second and third attempts at making this bread. I really love the sweetness the dates impart to this bread so I've been meaning to make it again for a while. Version 2 I made last week and I rushed the dough into the oven and it was definitely under-proofed. It had some nice fissures and the crumb was much tighter than it should have been. It still tasted good but I had to make it again the right way.
The third time it came out much better and was worth making it again.
I've added cocoa to bread before and it gives the final product a nice dark complexion with a subtle chocolate flavor that resides in the background. I also added some chocolate infused olive oil and chocolate flavored balsamic vinegar to make it interesting.
I used a mix of freshly milled flour along with some French Style flour from KAF and added some left-over mashed potatoes to round out the formula.
