Shiao-Ping's beautiful miches, based on MC's interviews with Gérard Rubaud, inspired me to attempt Rubaud's pain au levain myself.
I'm a longtime bread-lover and baker, and have been checking out the site for about a year now. What to post for a first entry on the amazing Fresh Loaf Bakers Blogs?
Whenever I'm invited to a potluck, I generally volunteer to bring the bread. This time, it was a friend's birthday. I asked my fiancé, "What kind of bread should I make?" while flipping through "The World Encyclopedia of Bread".
I woke up this morning wanting to try making sourdough pancakes with my leftover starter. I looked up the KAF recipe that people mentioned here, and saw that it used an overnight sponge. I wanted to whip something out fast and simple, and spontaneous. So...no sponge for me! I love the result...light, fluffy (they rose quite a bit), healthy (well, the plate that is pictured is my husband's...mine was healthier). I had some pumpkin in the freezer that went into the mix. I don't have exact measurements because I was just tossing stuff in, but here goes:
Hello all,
Hello! I am new. I love this site! So many brilliant bread tips! In the few weeks I have lurked (my first encounter was in looking for a Kaiser Roll recipe)--I found Floyd's, made and loved it! I stuck around a bit longer in search of something else: pizza dough. Found Floyd's post on that, too. Loved it. Purchased the Bread Baker's Apprentice last week. I just made Peter Reinhart's Ciabatta yesterday. I know I am behind the curve on that one--the book having been published a while ago--but new to me! There was flour everywhere!
I've been looking at this formula for a couple of weeks now. The mix of rye and whole wheat looks so darn inviting! Even the starter is 50/50. Finally, I get the chance to bake it!
This poor loaf was doomed from the start. I was so excited about this formula. To begin with, I had to retard the starter because I needed more than 12 hours (more like 24) between the last build and starting my final dough. So, I did as the book says and added salt, put it in a cool place. (outdoors) Ok, so it was nicely domed and looks good at this point, we're doing fine.
I am totally exhausted after packing and cleaning my house for the last three weeks in anticipation of perspective renters coming to look at it on Saturday....I can see the light end of the tunnel with my fingers crossed. One more day of cleaning and then a quick trimming of my sleeping garden and I can get to the real business at hand, taxes, getting a plane ticket, studying French, once again packing and of course, the weekly bread fix!
A lot of TFLoafers have been doing pizza's. Hopefully you are like me and never tire of pizza photos : ) It must be the weather. It rained so hard water ran inside my WFO and now I can't fire it up until it dries out. I learned my lesson. Not all storms are the same. So from now on the oven front gets covered for storms. It just makes me want pizza even more not being able to fire it up.
Has anyone tried to rec reate this delicious sounding bread. After adding all the ingredients the dough has the consistency of fudge. Stretching and folding does not seem possible. HELP! Herb
