Ru007's blog

 Hello friends!

The plan was to return some sort of normalcy to my baking this weekend. I was going to find a nice formula, dust off my scales and bake a loaf that I could actually say whats in it. .

It didn’t happen that way. I was running late and I needed to start the first stage of my levain build before I left for work so I ended up just throwing together some flour, water and starter. I think the last couple of bakes gave me the confidence to know that it’ll all work out.

I was not at all sure what to call this loaf (besides a bit overproofed) because I don’t really know what’s in it.

Well, I know there’s some rye starter, whole wheat flour, unbleached white bread flour, water and salt. That’s it. This was another “let’s just eye ball it” loaf.

To be honest, I’m much happier with how this one turned out than my last try at a “winging it loaf”. I still over proofed it a bit, but not nearly as much as the last one. I also managed to get the consistency of the dough to be a lot less wet and impossible (for me) to handle.

This weekend's baking was totally different from my normal style. 

I dug out a package of IDY that I bought a year ago (it's been that long since i've used it) and made a focaccia.

It turned out good. I didn't manage to get a crumb shot, because i made it for a dinner party and, you know, its a bit awkward to stop everyone from eating while I take a few photos! LOL! But the crumb was nice and open, full of bubbles and I think that's how it's supposed to be. 

After a few weeks of making really basic loaves, nothing fancy just 1-2-3 loaves, I thought it was time for a high rye.

I’ve made 70% rye before so I thought I should be brave and try 80%. I was going to load it up with all sorts of seeds and nuts but I ended up going for a fairly plain rye. The only extra in this loaf is a bit of Star Anise (which I’m not usually a big fan of, but bread tends to make things better).

So here’s the formula:

What a fun challenge this was! This was my first ever attempt at doughnuts, which I’ve been meaning to try, but given that I don’t really have a sweet tooth, I’ve never found quite enough motivation. This challenge was it. 

Here’s the formula:

Chocolate and hazelnut SD

I ended up with extra lavain this week and a little tub of rye and whole wheat flour I had mixed for … something. I hate wasting food and I’d been planning a chocolate loaf for a while, but just hadn’t mustered up the courage, so I decided to give it a try.

Having some hazelnuts left over from my last couple of bakes and a slab of dark chocolate that had been sitting around in my cupboard for a long time made me think “Chocolate + hazelnuts = YUM” (we can’t all be wrong about Nutella, right?!)

Formula:

This weekend was busy in the kitchen. I was asked to make bread for a thanksgiving dinner.

Okay, so I’m 3 days late for homemade bread day, but this is the soonest I could get a loaf baked this week.

My last bake was a butternut squash loaf, and I really enjoyed it. This time I wanted to try something a little different.

Formula:

Last week, I went to a steak house with some work colleagues. This was not an ideal situation for me, only because I’m a vegetarian. The meatless main course options were severely limited. There was literally one choice, a roast vegetable dish.

It was a really delicious mix of roasted sweet potato, butternut squash, walnuts and pumpkin seeds topped with a generous amount of goat’s cheese, rocket and a sundried tomato vinaigrette/sauce/puree. To make it all even better, there was really great sourdough bread on the table!