Blog posts

I've been wanting to take Cariah Marey on a test for enriched loaf. I mean what's even the point of making sweet starter if not making true sourdough enriched dough at all?

Her current state is 8:4:2:1 fine bran:water:skim milk powder:sugar. This is 75% hydration no-water-added sweet potato milk loaf. Basically my usual potato loaf, but less hydration (which means less potato puree), to 'test the water' (both metaphorically and literally) before going all in.

I baked the first batch of Colomba this year, to try out my new 1 kg size paper pans, and to think about new flavor combinations. Also, the tweaks I’ve made to my lievito madre, mixing and fermentation techniques as they pertain to Colomba. 

I’m also using a different flour this year - Mille Bolle from Molino Pasini; this is easily the best panettone flour I have tried, and it really worked well for this batch.

Oh boy. Who knew it would take 4 disastrous batches just to put a layer of chocolate dough! lol. The chocolate layer kept tearing during oven spring.

I needed to practice this because I need something gimmicky for pain au chocolat. I want everything to look inviting once I'm ready for career pivot.

Today's bake: Sweet Sour Rye Bread -  Saldskaba Maize (Latvia)

Source: The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg

Notes: None
Substitutions: None

We had some matcha in the cupboard that we never had much success with so I decided to try baking with it. I use a recipe from the King Arthur site.

So my wife is starting to get the 'Pizza again? Really?' look in her eye, so I may wait a few days for the next experiment :)

This is still a grocery store dough ball rolled out to 2-3mm, but I replaced the store jar with homemade no-cook sauce. The salami is homemade, as is the shredded gruyere. Mozz balls from the store, basil from the garden. The wild mushrooms were a mix of Blue Oyster, Lion's Mane and Chestnut mushrooms, cooked way down in olive oil until they gave up most of their moisture, but hadn't started to get crispy. 

I felt like making my standard loaf yesterday but also felt like messing up processes that I have settled into for some time, just for the fun of it. 

Continuation of the panettone saga with a seasonal change: colomba, classic recipe, just substituted 20% candied orange peel with dark and milk chocolate.
 

The LM showed good balance, the primo tripled in size within 12 hours. The secondo was pretty sluggish, taking its time to rise. It didn't took off until I increased the temperature from my usual 27C to 29-30C. That made me quite skeptical.

I'm not very good in documenting the process. Only some random pictures.

After about 20-25min in the oven:

Unfortunately John Dough my trusty starter of many years has a fatal infection.  Finally returning home after 3 months away, I found grey mold on top and some orangey discolouration.  That orange mold is said to be quite dangerous so I tossed the whole thing.  Fortunately, I had dried him over the past 2 years and kept the dried flakes of starter in ziplock bags in the freezer.

Made with fresh milled flour except for some KAF bread flour in the levain. Mixed in my Ankarsrum and open baked with steam.

I added quite a large amount of purple potatoes, which, along with some Greek Yogurt, brought the overall hydration to around 110%. I’m surprised that the potatoes had zero purple coloring. I guess sweet potatoes work better in that regard.

The crumb is moist and open, and the flavor is fantastic. Next time, I would hold back some water to make the dough a little bit more manageable, but overall this one’s a keeper.