Isand66's blog

Cherry season is going strong and they are readily available for a good price at the supermarket so I figured it was a good time to bake another version.

I had some leftover grits from a recent brunch so that was added for some extra texture and flavor. These had some cheese and butter added and added quite a bit of extra hydration along with the fresh cherries to the dough. The cherries were pitted and cut into pieces and drained in some paper towels before adding.

 I’ve made bread with rice several times before and always love the added flavor and texture it brings to the party.  I used a purple (more black) rice I made with some onion stock which was very tasty.

The flours I used were freshly grounded whole wheat (Rouge de Bordeaux ) and Rye from Barton Spring Mill) sifted twice and milled twice as well as some KAF bread flour.  

The overall hydration is higher than indicated in the formula since the rice added some extra moisture.  The dough was pretty wet but was manageable.

     Grilling season is upon us so I needed to make some soft tasty rolls for burgers.  These are pretty straight forward and ended up just as I expected.

I used a combination of freshly milled and double sifted Butlers Gold whole wheat flour from Barton Springs Mill and KAF bread flour plus some KAF AP in the starter.  Softened butter along with the ricotta cheese really added to the softness of the crumb and the honey added just enough sweetness to pull it all together.

I have not made a bread with dates for quite some time and for whatever reason it popped into my head the other day that I needed to make one.

This bake also used some purple sweet potatoes that I baked and then mashed up.  I decided to add a little bit into the levain to see what would happen.  It did a nice job of making a slightly sweet levain and when added with the sweet dates and the rest of the purple sweet potatoes the flavor on this bake was amazing. 

 I’ve made bread with carrots before and I loved the extra sweetness it provides.  Previously I have roasted them and cut them into little pieces to add to the dough.  I decided to puree them in the mini-food processor this time.  I had seen a video on FB of a professional baker who juiced the carrots and added the carrot juice in place of the water so I wanted to try and get the carrots as liquid as I could.  They were not really like carrot juice but the pureed version did add nice purple striations to the dough.

 I had some leftover cheesy grits from a recent brunch at one of our favorite local places and it needed to go someplace besides my belly.  I decided to add some egg yolks and a mixture of freshly milled high extraction flours similar to my last bake.  

 I love adding cooked rice to bread.  It adds a nice flavor and texture to the final loaf.  For this bake I used Organic Jade Pearl Rice that was cooked with some chicken stock.  I also added some mashed potatoes for some extra softness.  

 I recently picked up a can of coconut milk at Trader Joe’s and wanted to try using it in a bread.  I wish I had bought 2 cans so I could have made some Thai style soup to go with the bread.

I wasn’t expecting the coconut milk to be so solidified and had to microwave it for about 20 seconds and then stir it up so it became more liquid like.

  I’ve been staring at the bottle of Baileys we bought during the holidays on top of my refrigerator all week.  I’ve been trying to lose some weight so drinking it was not an option.  Using it in a bread….now that could work!

   Fresh milled durum and potatoes make a great combination.  I added some high extraction fresh milled whole wheat and a little KAF bread flour as well.

I was very happy with how this one turned out.  The crumb was moderately open and you can really taste the nutty flavor of the durum and clean flavor from the whole wheat.  The potatoes add a nice softness to the crumb.  

This a perfect bread to mop up some homemade sauce and it makes some great grilled bread.