Blog posts

Seemed like a good day to try some challah.

Both leavened with wild yeast. Traditional round baked in a cloche.

5 braid baked on an outdoor grill.  Both delicious.

So I thought I'd try my Home brew beer in this bread taking all your previous comments into account.

English muffins.  I started with Gisslen's formula, but have to avoid milk, so take it out.  I am still using a very similar formula, but not with a straight dough process, rather adapted to sponge and dough.  I'm slowly increasing the hydration until I get a somewhat flat top during proof.  Next time I'll try 75%.  Gisslen includes 2.3% milk solids, which have an absorbancy of some value, maybe about 1:1. This is the second time I've used gypsum, the first time it accelerated yeast growth, replacing the calcium removed by the water filter.

When a friend showed up at my front door with a freshly picked pumpkin in her arms I didn't have to think much as to how it would be 'put to use'.  Recently I had found a recipe for a spiced pumpkin loaf on a food blogger's site (Annie's Eats) that had caught my attention.  While the original recipe didn't include cardamom, I somehow decided to include it in my ingredient list. I am glad I did.  I also used WY to leaven the loaves rather than IY…..I just can't resist tweaking recipes :*)

With Rosh Hashanah right around the corner, Lucy always tries something new for knish fillings.  This year we caramelized some onions, then threw in some cabbage, a clove of minced garlic and some  home made / smoked shopped corned beef.

A song of the good green grass!

A song no more of the city streets;

A song of farms - a song of the soil of fields.

A song with the smell of sun-dried hay, where the nimble pitchers handle the pitch fork;

A song tasting of new wheat and of fresh husk'd maize.

A Carol of Harvest, for 1867.  Walt Whitman (1819-1898)

While I love rustic free-form loaves with a bold, crackling crust, complex flavor, and a crumb riddled with holes, my family does like whole wheat bread with a denser crumb, softer crust, and low acidity, in a shape good for sandwiches and toast. I hope that I was able to deliver something to satisfy that need, providing a healthful loaf with the previously mentioned qualities.

Here are some pictures of the loaves, including some crumb shots.

This past weekend, I attended a conference in Portland, Oregon, so I wasn't home to bake. I want to assure you my suffering was not intolerable. Susan and managed a long-deferred visit to Ken's Artisan Bakery. 

As some of you may know I've had serious problems trying to get my Sourdough bread to rise, after posting my problem in the forum many of you guys took the time to give me some advice, for which I'm truly thankful. So for those who hadn't read my question before, here it is, and apologies for repeating myself to those who have.