La masa's blog

Hello all.
I have written a dough calculator, in the hope to create a useful tool, but also to get some practice with javascript/HTML. It is a table-based calculator, but includes a feature I have not found in other calculators: a graphical interface for calculating starter feedings.

You can find it here.

This all started as a joke in the Spanish forum http://www.elforodelpan.com

I commented on my way of kneading, which is basically the slap & fold method using just one hand. It's a very convenient method for the amount of dough I use to make, about 1.2 Kg or 2.65 lb, but I've used it with up to 2.5 Kg of dough.

Good-humoured discussiong followed, with some forum members ironically questioning the possibility of such a thing as one-hand slap & fold, so I decided to make a little video and this is the result.

Bread can be so beautiful...

I know this is not the perfect bread, and quoting Hamelman, "If the holes are big enough to hide a mouse, your shaping skills need some attention", but I love my bread anyway.

So, I happen to have a lot of rye flour, because of a communication problem when placing my order :-/

I usually add a small percentage of rye to my flour mix, but now I'm forced to try 100% rye loaves in every bake.

This week rye loaf was loosely based on Dan Lepard's 100% rye bread from "The Art Of Handmade Bread",

I soaked 50 gr of wheat berries in a bottle (330 ml) of Guinness Special Export overnight, and then boiled them for 45' on a very low heat, till the berries were tender.

Beat in 65 gr of rye flour and let it cool.

The Roscón de Reyes is the traditional breakfast in Spain for the Epiphany day. It's also found in many Latin American countries and it's very similar to the Gâteau des Rois from the Provence.

I don't have a mixer, and don't really miss it... except when I make this bread. Kneading this dough is hard work, by far the hardest of all the doughs I make.

Fortunately, it's the traditional breakfast for the Epiphany day, and not the traditional breakfast for Saturdays :-)

I thought these ciabattas would make a nice first entry for my brand new blog .

• 200 gr of  a 100% hydration whole rye poolish (sourdough, of course)
• 500 gr bread flour (with a pretty high gluten content)
• 380 gr water
• 9 gr salt

3 hour bulk fermentation, retarded overnight in the fridge, 1 hour out of the fridge, shape (kind of) and 2 hour proof.

25 minutes in a very hot oven, 10 more with the oven turned off.