trailrunner's blog

I finally got around to purchasing a container of food grade lye . I had tried to find info on lye baths for bagels but there is very little out there and the percent of lye to water that was used seemed way off. I am glad that I pursued this and have some data that I hope will help others. I purchased the lye on Amazon  here . Will likely last me a good long while. I used 5 grams in 1 gallon of filtered tap water. This is approx. 12-12.5 % alkalinity.

I had several of these ordered so couldn't cut them. I made one more for our cookout tonight. Wonderful family dinner by the pool. The Challah was so tender and slightly sweet with the addition of some extra honey and the golden raisins. 

David said he had not tried this so I decided to give it a shot. I do it with every SD I bake. I  remove from baskets and bake right from refrigerator. It worked fantastically well !  I did 4 loaves as a test one day and then the other 12 the next. I mixed the formula in batches of 4 loaves in my KA for one minute to moisten the flour and transferred  them one batch  on top of the other to  my 13 qt bowl to autolyse. I then did "in the bowl" s and f for 3 turns...this is 6 kilo of dough !  ( I am 5'2" and 115 # :) )  Did 2 s and f on the board.

Have been baking up a storm for 2 days. All is preordered so no guess work as to what to prepare. Orders have grown like crazy ! I have converted my sunroom that is adjacent to my kitchen into a kitchen annex. Added a large maple table that I already had and a bookcase from the used furniture store to hold supplies. So far it is working out great. Here is some of the bounty. My husband is making his pasta also for sale by order. 

In my other post I showed the lasagna that I made from sourdough pasta. My husband is the pasta maker and I turn it into dinner...so it is a joint effort. It makes the most remarkably tender and flavorful pasta. I use what ever white starter I have  . Mine is usually at 100% hydration. One very nice thing about the SD pasta is its keeping quality in the fridge after you let it dry on the counter. It will last easily for a week if you wrap it well. We make extra and then dry on the counter on cloth towels and then store in fridge to be eaten with various toppings.

I had enough orders this week so I have some crumb shots and some not as most was going toward orders. I made my usual 100 % sourdough bagels from Wild Yeast blog but I used whey from my kefir for all of the liquid including feeding the staters..I use 1/2 rye starter and 1/2 white staters for the formula. They were all spoken for but the fragrance and shape are lovely so I have high hopes for the reviews on texture and flavor . I also had more orders for the Oatmeal Bread.

I keep noting the folks on here that are milling their own flour from whole grains. I have never tried it and would like to get my feet wet. What did you buy ? Do you like it or do you have misgivings and think you would prefer another one ? A general overview and  review would be great and help me make a selection. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated. 

As an additional piece  of info where do you get the grains you mill ?  Online or local ? Thanks in advance. c

This is a straight dough. Old recipe..regular cup/tsp measures. Sometimes the tried and true is the best. I did wet the shaped dough and pressed the top into the oatmeal,read about it here on TFL ..worked like a charm !  The bread is for a customer so no pic of crumb. 

Here is the dough just before going in the oven. c

It is hard to keep up on the forum lately. So many innovative techniques being used . I decided to combine several things that I have wanted to try . So far noone else has done this particular set of combinations so hopefully it will be informative. First I made a sourdough focaccia. I used my kefir whey for all of the liquid. I added some sun dried tomatoes and topped with dried orgeano and New Orleans olive salad from our favorite place Central Grocery. It was wonderful. The crust top and bottom was crisp and browned...oweing in part to the black steel pan .

Wowzer....today at church a member brought a huge bag of extra grapes . Hmm...I had a 1/2 batch of semolina pizza dough at home just waiting for something creative to happen. Voila !  This is SO yum !! I can't  even describe how good it is. I used raw sugar and EVOO on top and sprinkled with Herbs de Provence...lots of lavender. Whoa...we have devoured a 1/2 loaf !  Made Conchiglie con Salsiccia e Peperoni as well. Grated parmagiano reggiano ..what a Sunday night feast.