Blog posts

I've been lurking here for a bit and finally decided to join.  I bake for fun and I've recently made a foray back into the kitchen.  Being semi-retired I do have a bit more time on my hands.  Add to that Knitting Club's attendance at a bread baking class and Viola....another hobby!

We started with a sourdough loaf and Challah both of which came out fantastic.  Half of the sourdough still resides in the freezer for later enjoyment...the Challah is gone....the last few slices dipped in egg, fried and smothered in Ron Wenzel's famous maple syrup...yum!

Hello, bakers! There was no school today because of snow, so I thought I would post about some of my more recent baking endeavors. Here they are:

3-Stage 90% Sourdough Rye

Sorry for the lack of a crumb shot; I'll try to explain the crumb as best I can. It was pretty dense, probably because I underproofed a little, but not too bad. Still getting used to rye, I guess. The flavor was excellent; earthy, smooth, tangy, sweet, and something else I cant quite say. 

The past few weeks I’ve had a chance for some good weekend baking, and below are the latest results.

So not such a success yesterday.

I'll keep it short(ish:) but I figured even though it didn't go well I'd post so hopefully others on the baguette path might avoid the same mistakes.

Mistake #1 - I ran two batches at once (dmsnyder's SJSD and txfarmer's practice baguettes), and inadvertently had them both wanting to go into the oven at the same time. The SJSD were seriously overproofed by the time they got into the oven.

For whatever reason, these last few weeks have forced me to challenge my preconceptions about sourdough baking. My previous challenge: Could I bake nice loaves from dough retarded in the back of a Ford Fiesta during an ice storm?

This Bread  was made up of %100 Water Percentage (Hydration)...

Recipe:

- 350 gr APF

- 150 gr Whole WF

- 15 gr Potato Flour

- 15 gr Wheat Germ

- 530 gr Water  (%100 Bakery percentage)

-150 gr Starter (%100 Hydration)

- 12 gr Salt

Overall hydration is : %100...

Adventures in Baby Steam and Razor Blades!

Recipe:  Txfarmer's practice baguettes

Results of Take I - My beginner baguettes

I've been following everyone's posts and successes, but life in the fast lane has kept me busy (and away or in the office). I've baked, but less frequently and the freezer was finally sighing with relief. But a (promised) rainy weekend was perfect for catching up. Saturday's bake was a Seeded Multigrain (Hard) Cider Loaf, with Rye, WW, Whole Spelt, BF and KAF's Harvest Grains.

It's been a while since my last post. The day job has been keeping me quite busy and I haven't had the bandwidth to bake bread as much as I would like. I'm baking every third weekend to keep the bread box full and the freezer stocked.

Was doing weekly grocery shopping and noticed some steel cut oats at a very reasonable price and since I was deciding what bread to make this weekend it was a natural.

150g steelcut oats

75g quinoa

200g milk

230g water

20g agave nectar

300g fresh ground white wheat flour 95% extraction

80g fresh ground spelt flour 95% extraction

20g amaranth

100g 100% hydration starter fed and active

10g salt

additional water