Blog posts

This is a great recipe from a great book.

The recipe is posted here: 

I actually followed the recipe exactly .. which for some reason is rare for me.   The only difference was I baked at 425 vs. 450.   I wanted a little bit softer crust.. and this worked well.    (so I guess I didn't follow it exactly..).

Anyway, I tripled the batch.. these are 1.5lb loaves.

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.

Was it beginner's luck?

In my previous and first post on The Fresh Loaf, I described my experience of baking the introductory loaf from Floyd's handbook.  This was my first attempt at Artisan Bread, and I liked it!

Not being in the Avocado capital of the world but swimming in avocados, I decided to try an experiment using only avos (avocados) for my liquid.  Started with the basics and going from there.  I happened upon some watery thin skinned fruit that I am told are known as "Florida avocados" and thought at first interesting but then reality set in, sure enough... less fat, more carbs and more water.  Hmmm not exactly what I value in an avo but good enough for a cracker experiment and maybe a bread.  

I haven't baked with my starter in a couple of weeks, so Wednesday evening I fed my starter some rye flour and water.  Thursday mid-day I made my dough (1kg bread flour, 20g salt, 730g water, "a bunch" of starter).  It has turned cool again in Vancouver though and my dough was moving slowly, so I bulk retarded it overnight until Friday morning.

Hello!

I've been wanting to get into baking bread for a while, and coming across the Fresh Loaf site gave me the final push to have a go and get my hands dirty (doughy)!  So here is my first report in baking "artisan" bread from the point of view of a complete novice.

little treats for me and my friends..

ALMOND & ORANGE FLORENTINES WITH LAVENDER SUGAR

INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil for greasing the tray
2 egg whites
50gm caster sugar blend in a food processor with one tablespoons of lavender tea flower
200gm flaked almonds
Grated zest of 1 orange

Today, I took out a portion of the spent grain in the freezer that was leftover from making beer last week. (The beer is resting comfortably for another week after being decanted from the carboy into a second carboy).  The bread made from the spent grain along with a wild yeast starter and whole wheat soaker is rising right now - soon to be baked. 

Linda

I have never been one to put extra stuff into bread.   Flour and water all the way.   And yet, resolve weakens, fruit beckons, fresh loafers keep on posting.    What can one do?    A rhetorical question of course.    The simple answer is throw in a few dried cranberries.   I had already developed a nice seeded levain (after tasting Jong Yang's delcious one at the TFL Boston meet-up)  and thought - just swap out the seeds for the cranberries.   It works.   Two completely different breads on th