Isand66's blog

I decided I wanted to make some rolls at the same time I made the Crème de Tequila bread and as I opened up my refrigerator to get a snack I spotted the extra potato knishes I had heated up the other day for dinner.  Well...one thing lead to another and the inspiration for my latest bake was born.

My last few bakes for rolls did not use a sourdough starter, so I wanted to use one for this bake while still achieving a nice moist and soft roll.

     The summer will be here before you know it, although with the rainy and cold sub 50 degree weather we had the last couple of days it's hard to believe.  It is nice though to see some of our flowers start to bloom with many more ready to be planted today and tomorrow into the garden soil weather permitting.

It's Memorial Day this weekend believe it or not.  Doesn't feel like it's almost June, but it is certainly time to grill some hot dogs and hamburgers.  I hate using store-bought rolls since I know I can make ones myself that are far superior.

 Ever since I baked my first "Pillow Bread" last month I've been wanting to try baking this again with some modifications.  I wanted to use a 24 hour bulk retardation instead of baking it on the same day and I wanted to add some onions as well.

I also decided to use some of my apple yeast water in the levain and in the final dough but not as a rising agent.  Instead I  just to add some extra flavor and soften the crumb.

I also changed up the flour combination a bit using some Spelt flour in place of some of the Kamut flour and also in the levain.

    I just finished up the last of my decadent cream cheese rolls so it was time to bake a more healthy hearty bread but one that is not too heavy either.

I decided to try a double starter which I've done in the past.  My first inclination for this bread was to try an experiment and make all of the flour come from the pre-ferment but I chickened out at the last moment and only upped the starter amount slightly from my normal formulas.

 A few weeks ago I made some potato rolls using the Tangzhong  process and they came out excellent.

 I love nuts....some say I am nuts....well, I'll leave that up to you to decide but I think my wife has already made up her mind :).

Tangzhong is the technique of heating a portion of the flour and liquid in your recipe to approximately 65C to make a paste (roux).

While traveling for business the last two weeks in China, as usual I read my favorite website, www.thefreshloaf.com and couldn't wait to get home to try some new recipes.  One of the recipes I loved was Varda's Pugliese Revisited.    The

After returning from the first ever TFL gathering in Lexington MA last weekend I wanted to use some the rye starter that Varda gave me to make a rye bread.  Dave Snyder posted his latest bake of the above bread on The Fresh Loaf this past week and pushed me over the edge to try it myself.  You can find the recipe at his original post