Blog posts

Does anyone else struggle with naming their breads, or is it just me?

Anyway, this turned out really nice so I thought I'share it :)

I've been feeding my starter wit a mix of 70% whole wheat and 30% whole rye flour; and I've also been experimenting with sandwich loaves, so I thought why not mix both ideas? 

The general recipe is this:

Bread flour: 300 gr. (50%)

Whole wheat flour: 120 gr. (20%)

Whole rye flour: 180 gr. (30%)

Salt: 15 gr (2.5%)

Water: 500 gr. (83.3%)

Levain: 120 gr. (100% hidration) (20%)

This used a mix of my two starters - wheat and rye. Pretty straight forward with some sunflower seeds added for crunchy deliciousness.

      I was in the mood for a nice Durum loaf and figured I would use the Tangzhong method to lighten it up a bit.  I've used this method for rolls several times but not on an actual loaf.

I have to say this simple recipe turned out amazing with a nice thin crust and moist and open crumb.  This is one of those breads you can just eat with some butter or cheese or olive oil and call it a day.

I highly recommend you give this one a try.  It makes great toast, grilled bread and sandwiches or goes well with some "Italian Gravy"!

Am I the only one who takes some sort of idiotic pride in using the minimum amount of flour to get the job done -- and by job, I mean, having the dough release from the basket without ripping?  And by "idiotic pride" I mean, using too little and having my dough stick/rip on occasion because I put it in the basket somewhat sticky instead of adequately floured?

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all the Canadians here!

We are having some friends over who've never had a turkey dinner and putting on the whole production with stuffing, sweet potatoes, and cranberries tomorrow.  I'd like to also bake rolls using Peter Reinhart's Wild Rice & Onion dough, which is still one of my all time favourites. 

* * * 

I don't have anything too exciting or interesting coming out of my oven these days. I've been baking once a week just to make sure we have enough bread to feed ourselves for the week. My storage starter is still doing great. It's been in the refrigerator for 8 weeks (unfed) and amazingly there's no sign of mold. Only a tiny bit of clear hooch is developing. Every Thursday evening, I take about 6-8 g starter and feed it once (usually about 1:3:3 or 1:3:4). I build my levain Friday morning and let it ferment while I'm at work. I mix my dough Friday night and bake on Saturday.

I was moved to post this after seeing dab's lovely nut apricot bread. This is a riff on isand66's date nut SD that he posted in the past. Here is quick review of how to put it together. I find I simplify more and more and the bread is just as good  . Here goes ! 

528g 100% hydration starter

autolyse for 1 hr:

100g spelt flour

250g durum flour

250g AP flour

422g whey ( or use milk if you have no whey)