Blog posts

My SIL, brother and niece really pulled out all the stops for tonight's dinner In Houston.  We drove from Lee's Summit, MO. to their home two days ago.

My SIL had brought back some home grown tomatoes from Wellington MO.  She had some French baguettes and ciabatta in the freezer.  My brother cooked up some wild sockeye salmon on the grill.  SIL made some Sandy Capellini.

Nancy Silverton's Walnut Bread is one of my favorite breads.

It takes 3 days to make it, but it's worth the effort.

Here it is in BBGA format, but first let me anticipate 2 questions:

Sending this to Yeastspotting.

Index for my blog entries

I'm posting this bread hoping that it will inspire other TFL members to bake it, because it is a great bread. It took me a long time till I decided to make it and now I regret that I haven't done it sooner. Full of flavor, easy to make and friendly with rye beginners, it is light and healthy and for my taste, it's perfect.

I followed mr. Hamelman's formula from "BREAD" page 194, with few modifications:

- I didn't used commercial yeast.

- I increased hydration from 68% to almost 73%.

A lovely weekend on the North Coast of California. 

First, the Fauna.  Our yard seems to be the pasture of choice for our neighborhood herd of Mule Deer.  And the herd has grown in the last few weeks.  We’ve seen at least three new babies (we refer to them, collectively, as “The Fonz”).  And the young buckeroos were particularly rowdy this weekend.  After the pictures below were taken, a large group assembled not 20 yards from our porch (perhaps drawn by the smell of Focaccia buns baking; more likely by the dandelions in bloom).

For this bread you make your own starter using some WW flour, ground cumin, a tsp of milk and some water that is built up over 3-4 days.  sweetbird did a similar boule that shows how to make it here:

 http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27528/joe-ortiz-pain-de-campagne-wonderful

Finally, I have made the videos I have been promising. I hope these will illustrate my process, and help those who have not yet been able to make this dough work for them. I have simplified the process, and made it easier on your beloved mixers!

First, to build the dough, you will need both your paddle attachment and your hook attachment. Here is the ingerdients list:

Flour: 450 grams (100%)

Water - at room temperature: 360 grams (80%)

Salt: 9 grams (2%)

Yeast: 8 grams (1.75%)

These are quite possibly the best thing I've ever made from my sourdough starter, and by far the quickest and easiest.  Crumpets are my most favorite storebought baked item - they are soft & chewy with big, open holes on the top for the butter and honey to seep into.  They are wonderful, and I had almost given up hope of making my own when I happened across this old recipe on the King Arthur website.

It worked like a charm!

I love everything and anything that has pecans in it.  While I was at a local market called Wild by Nature which is similar to Whole Foods I stumbled on some pecan butter, and a couple of new grains I have not seen before.