Blog posts

A friend from other state decided to pay a visit and I was asked if I could bake a sourdough bread for her. Having another opportunity to bake, I said yes of course! Also, this bake would probably be my last experiment on baking with different kind of pots as I have come to the conclusion that a stainless steel pot yields a better result compared to a clay pot. The crust is crunchier and oven spring is good too! This bake has also convinced me to purchase a cast iron Dutch Oven ASAP! No more excuses :)

I've made focaccia just a few times, usually as an afterthought when I had some dough left over from another bake. Frankly, it's never been very good. Today, I made a focaccia that was really good. Really, really good! 

This week was the first week of the new summer market in Dryden. Along with a few friends in the Bread Club, we prepared several types of bread for sale. We had a dozen each of Italian Semolina bread, Caraway Rye, and a couple types of Multigrain Sourdough. We also made a couple dozen brioche with different fillings which went pretty fast so I'll have to make more of those next time.

Italian Semolina

I meant to start this batch early yesterday, but welcomed an old friend from out of town in the morning, pushing bake my mixing schedule back. It was HOT here yesterday with the mercury touching 32C outside and my kitchen 24 - 25C. I am following David Snyder's San Joaquin Sourdough formula, but with the elevated temperatures, reduced time between folds to 20 minutes for the first 4 and down to 30 minutes in the bulk stage. After the first 30 minutes the dough had risen by nearly a half.

Cari Amici,

non so da voi ma qui in Toscana il caldo estivo è arrivato prepotentemente e si fa sentire parecchio.....

Gestire gli impasti diventa ancora più complicato se, attenendoci alle tradizioni locali, non inseriamo il sale che normalmente è previsto nelle ricette.

Come ben sapete, in Toscana il Pane è "Sciapo" ovvero senza sale.....e così ho messo in produzione questo Pane, che invece lo prevede, utilizzando una straordinaria Farina del Molino Grassi di Parma che appartiene alla Linea qb e si chiama Montana.

Cari Amici,

non so da voi ma qui in Toscana il caldo estivo è arrivato prepotentemente e si fa sentire parecchio.....

Gestire gli impasti diventa ancora più complicato se, attenendoci alle tradizioni locali, non inseriamo il sale che normalmente è previsto nelle ricette.

Come ben sapete, in Toscana il Pane è "Sciapo" ovvero senza sale.....e così ho messo in produzione questo Pane, che invece lo prevede, utilizzando una straordinaria Farina del Molino Grassi di Parma che appartiene alla Linea qb e si chiama Montana.

Decided to make 2 loaves. Doubled the starter to make the levain (this fermented for 13 hours) and reduced 1/3 of the yeast in the recipe. Also went for a lighter bake. Happy with the results 

I had a good experience that reminded me of the reason why natural leaven is so much superior to commercial yeast and how using different flours add to the depth of flavor.