Blog posts

A few days ago I made Lavash Crackers from Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice.

Inspired by Susan's post on her [url=http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15544/today039s-bread] sesame sourdough [/url] I recently made my own attempt. I admit it isn't as pretty as hers but the taste is great and the crumb is also to my liking.

My first time baking a recipe from Hamelman's Bread. I was a little bit intimidated, especially since I've had mediocre results with the few BBA recipes I've tried, and that's widely regarded as the better intro book for the home baker. I'm fairly certain that my lack of success stemmed, not from a problem in the recipes or instructions, but from mistakes that I made due to being totally distracted by all of the gorgeous photographs. And subbing ingredients. I get in more trouble that way...

I can remember reading complacently about TFL members whose stones had cracked - while sympathetic I was sure it wouldn't happen to my well used stone. That was then. This morning I opened the oven planning to remove the stone while I proofed a sourdough and found it in two pieces! I have no idea when it happened, no accidental hitting it, no dropping of heavy objects onto it. The only thing I have done differently was to place it on the bottom rack to bake baguettes from the King Arthur recipe last week.

I guess that's what I'd call a pizza made with 75% hydration baguette dough.  MMMMmmmmmmm!  Tomato sauce covered with seasoned chicken, marinated artichoke hearts, mozzarella and parm.  Next time you make baguettes, do yourself a favor and reserve some dough for dinner.  Tomorrow night will be calzones.

-Mark

http://TheBackHomeBakery.com

Hello,

Thanks everyone who gave me some earlier advice about my seed culture.  But still, nothing much is happening.

I have one that I started with rye flour and pineapple juice.  After a few days it was accidentally warmed up in the oven.  I tried to revive it by adding more flour and water every couple of days.  But it does not do much.  When I take the seran wrap off it bubbles a tiny bit then stops.  I now keep the wrap loosely covering the glass bowl.

One of the challenges for a home baker is to try and figure out how to make a great bread once you've tasted it. Like encountering the Platonic ideal, you recognize it, reach for it and try and duplicate it -- and then you fail miserably and often give up.

As a newbie to baking bread,  sometimes going back to the basics help to boost my confidence that I still can make a decent loaf.  

Here's a recipe for Japanese Milk Loaf,  secret seems to be whipped cream.  

Hey All,

This is my 15% breadcrumb bread from my 1/15/10 bake.  I had a some baguettes left over from a previous bake, and didn't want to waste them so I made bread crumbs with them, and made more bread...  Enjoy!

Tim

Recipe

Ingredients:

Total Dough Weight: approx 998g

Yield: 2 loaves at 400g weight after bake

85% AP - 470g