Blog posts

This all started as a joke in the Spanish forum http://www.elforodelpan.com

I commented on my way of kneading, which is basically the slap & fold method using just one hand. It's a very convenient method for the amount of dough I use to make, about 1.2 Kg or 2.65 lb, but I've used it with up to 2.5 Kg of dough.

Good-humoured discussiong followed, with some forum members ironically questioning the possibility of such a thing as one-hand slap & fold, so I decided to make a little video and this is the result.

The "San Joaquin Sourdough" is my own recipe. It evolved through multiple iterations from Anis Bouabsa's formula for baguettes. Most of my deviations developed in discussion on TFL with Janedo, who first suggested adding sourdough starter and rye, and, then, leaving out the baker's yeast and making it as a "pure" pain au levain.

I have tried many modifications of ingredients and procedures. The current formula uses the ingredients specified below.

Hello, I tried Mr. Hamelman's Baguettes with Poolish (half-recipe) again today. A big thank you to khalid who gave me some very useful comments after my first baguette post, which were a great help this time around. This time the baguettes were easier to score.
I am still hoping for more holes:
 

I am in search of bread recipes using peanut flour; I have searched this site and have not found much in the way of bread recipes.  In particular, I wish to know how much peanut flour per loaf of bread I can use in proportion to other flours.

This is the WW loaf from the new "Tartine" Book, the procedure is very similar to the basic country loaf (which I posted about here), just with more WW flour(~70%) , even more water(80%+),  and slightly lower mixing temperature since whole grain flour fermentate faster.

*** Previous blog: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/19777/calculating-baker

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon where I am - good time to tap out a post. Besides, it's 10-10-10...gotta commemorate that somehow!

Here is one of my recent bake from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook, the Chorizo and Thyme roll.

The roll is really nice and the flavour is really well-balanced with chorizo and carmelised onion.

It was an easy and quick recipe, apart from slicing 500g of onions and having to cook them until they become really caramelised. But it's all worth it.

The recipe is also quite versatile that any filling combination is endless. I'm thinking chicken pesto with sundried tomato for my next bake.

When I took the Artisan I workshop at the San Francisco Baking Institute last August, Miyuki demonstrated the method of oven steaming they recommend for home bakers.

The oven is not pre-steamed (before loading the loaves). A cast iron skillet filled with steel pieces (nuts and bolts, rebar pieces) is pre-heated in the oven along with two baking stones. One stone is placed on a rack above the stone and rack on which the loaves will be loaded.

My quest for a passable baguette continues.  To recap: In an attempt to improve my baguette skills, I'm making the Baguettes with Poolish formula from Hamelman's Bread every weekend until I get it right(-ish).  Following my experience from week 1, I made two changes: