Blog posts

I was wondering what that burning smell was when I tried to preheat the oven...I couldn't find anything! But then, up in the back corner, I found the basket of bread I had put in there (cold!) to proof. In my defense, I am making 9 loaves so there was a lot to keep track of! Anyway, I have been meaning to start a blog here, and I had a whole long introduction planned out, but I think this says it better: Overachiever messes up in a REALLY dumb way. :)

Willie Mae’Big Mama’ Thornton is a Blues Legend.  She didn’t write but had her biggest hit with Hound Dog which was written for her.Elvis had a big hit with it later.  She was a 6’tall, large in; voice, frame and width being well over 200 pounds.  She drank hard too and never turned down a drink from a listener.  She taught herself to play harmonica and drums as well as anyone could and often played both while on stage as she sang. 

Today for our 3 pm dinner of Pork Kabob's, excuse me, that's Pork Kabab's with a Cucumber, Yogurt Sauce.  Inspired by a Saveur magazine recipe.   I wanted a nice easy Naan/Pita bread on the thickish side to enjoy with the PK's.  This was a first for me making a Naan and, I quickly settled on a recipe I found surfing around.  I changed the whole wheat flour addition to an organic white whole wheat, I had been wanting to use up.  I added quite a bit more AP flour.    

This rye recipe is my Chilean version of my favorite rye ratio recipe using a rye sourdough starter and the addition of chia seeds that increase the dough hydration yet maintain a nice shape.  Use a large Dutch oven for a free form shape. 

I designed this recipe for one narrow tapered loaf pan:   cm: 30 x 11 x 7.5   or   inches: 11 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 3 

 I love nuts....some say I am nuts....well, I'll leave that up to you to decide but I think my wife has already made up her mind :).

Well they will not win any awards, but they taste good.

Overnight proof......

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Fairly good crumb......

This is a 100% whole wheat bread with corn slurry. It is an enriched bread with molasses and oil. TFL member Janet (Janetcook) has blogged about it earlier here.

I used sunflower oil, and substituted Molasses for date syrup since i didn't have any. Like janet, i used a sourdough starter (210g) instead of the yeast called for in the recipe. Furthermore, i had storbought fine cornmeal, so i cooked it to a slurry and used it after 1/2 hour.

Since I had Friday off last weekend, and since the weather on Friday and Saturday was rainy, it seemed like a golden opportunity for baking some bread.  While perusing Hamelman's Bread, the Whole Wheat Levain was the one that I kept coming back to as I weighed the alternatives.  

Mellow Yellow - by Donovan

I'm just mad about Saffron
Saffron's mad about me
I'm just mad about Saffron
She's just mad about me

{Refrain}
They call me mellow yellow

With the 3 GMA’s baking their fine cornbread I was all set to make one of my favorite ones with jalapeños, creamed corn, homemade apple and maple smoked bacon and who knows what kind of cheese but Donovan’s song kept spinning around in my apprentices tiny head.

I only recently discovered that one thing that doesn't appear to be available in Canada is Hawaiian Sweet Bread.  At least on the West Coast in the US, King's Hawaiian bread is easy to find at most any grocery store.  It's something I grew up with and that I associate with being a kid and snacking on in the car.  We certainly fed it to our kids a number of times on road trips.