Blog posts

All things require fine tuning and experimentation. This time I used more coals--including some mesquite which burns really hot, moved the grill to the lee side of the house (out of the wind)and did not bother with water of any kind (no water in wood fired ovens, right?). I did throw a couple water soaked wood chips through the air vent. The temperature inside got up to 600+. I was resolved not to do anything that wood cause the temp inside the grill to drop so, no water and no opening the grill to peek. In my oven, at 450 the bread takes 40-45 mins. I figured 30-35 mins in the grill.

what i refer to as 'rye light', naturally leavened, organic, and 100% hand made... i baked seven of these yesterday, 3 lbs each. pictured are half-loaves.

We had guests over for Saturday night dinner. Here's two of the poolish baguettes I baked, along with a very buttery Brioche that we ate for dessert with lemon curd and raspberries.

Raisin & rye loaf baked yesterday

We finally got our hands on some mozzarella di bufala when we visited a Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor, MI this last weekend. The olives were yummy as well and from the "olive bar" at WFM. Can't wait to make these in the new brick oven! This one is just a variation, with pesto as the sauce instead.

My starter finally kicked into gear yesterday afternoon (started, Sunday 26th, March). It looked ready so I had a go at a lunch loaf. After a nice and quick first rise I shaped the dough and let it sit for a couple of hours before putting in my little proofer thingy. It didn't seem to be going well so I decided I was going to put in the fridge before going to bed. I forgot about it until I was on my way to bed when I noticed it was ready to bake, so on goes the oven at 12:30 at night. I took it out of the oven around 1:30 wrapped it in a tea towel and went to bed.

Pain L'Ancienne is easily one of my favorite breads. I'm applying this technique (delayed fermentation) to the following... 12 oz flour ( 4 semolina, 8 bread ) 10.2 oz ice water 1 tsp instant yeast 1 1/2 tsp salt I'm interested to see the flavor/texture of this method using the 1/3 semolina flour. I went with 85% hydration figuring the semolina will absorb quite a bit of water. I put it together last night, and it's been de-chilling for about an hour, so I plan to bake in another 2-3 hrs. I'll post pics when it's done. I also have a batch of pain sur poolish going just in case:) KP

I’d love to have one but since I don’t… I set out to determine if I could approximate the wood burning brick oven effect by baking the bread in my Cast Aluminum PK charcoal grill. I was hopeful because one of the nice features of the PK is the heat radiating effects of Aluminum. “Aluminum reflects 97% of heat rays

I had a go at baked yeast doughnuts that were not very good. The baguette here is from some dough left in the fridge on Sunday and baked Friday, it was not good. Today I thought I'd have a crack at a chocolate sponge roll using the recipe from my cake class I missed last Thursday. The roll didn't work out so I cut it in half and stacked it with some cream in the middle.

I've been making Sourdough breads for a couple months now from a culture I started myself with water and unbleached flour. The original inspiration and methodology came from OUTLAW COOK by John Thorne. There are two great bread chapters in the book: An Artisanal Loaf and One Loaf Three Ways. The former explores the mystery and delight of making bread from nature, the latter gives practical instruction.