Blog posts

This is my first blog post on The Fresh Loaf.  Hopefully this bread will interest some of you.

I call this bread Diablo Bread, The Bread of the Devil.  The Sriracha hot sauce in the recipe is amped up by copious amounts of crushed red pepper flakes.  The orange-red color of the baked result is a warning that this is not a bread to be messed with.

If you haven't subscribed to Jarkko Laine's Bread Magazine, do it! It's an amazing publication! (http://bread.insanelyinterested.com/)

Now for the transparency disclaimer: Dabrownman and I collaborated on this article for the winter 2014 issue. It was his formulas and photos that really made the article. Check it out here: http://www.goodfoodworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Kamut-in-Bread-Magazine.pdf

If you haven't tried Dabrownman's No Fuss, No Muss Starter - look it up right now. Amazingly simple and more energy and "oomph" than any levain I've tried so far... in my very short baking career...

This formula included a little bit of freshly ground purple barley and the crumb took on a slightly lavender tint from the grain. Love the way the levain perks up with the "little hard bits!"

Happy baking!!

Here's the crumb:

What to do when you are in the middle of making bread and your trusted Kitchen Aid goes kaput? 

Carry on, comrade - recipe for a hand made Sesame Sourdough loaf can be found on my blog here

When I got Hamelman's bread book, I decided to try new recipe every week

my 2nd bread was the Vermont sourdough with whole wheat - got stuck there

I just love it!. This is the 5th time I bake it

Before anything, I want to apologize for the poor picture quality. I didnt realize my phone's camera had the HDR function turned on, but it made the photos look all weird.

Moving on, then...

Today was a busy day of baking, for sure. 7 loaves! I'm planning on giving some to family and freinds, though, and if there is extra, I can just stick it in the (already bread-filled) freezer.

Rustic Sicilian Semolina Bread

I was very skeptical when I took the dough out of the fridge after 24 hours, as it didn't seem like it had risen at all. I felt like the youthfulness of my starter had failed me, but what the hell, give it some warmth and see what happens. After maybe 5 hours on the counter we were in business! Nice bubbling and doubled in volume! I couldn't believe it.

I'm already at my dorm for more than two weeks but the bread baking addiction hasn't stopped. I really need to get my hands on some dough manipulation or else...! They say to stop an addiction you must identify your danger zones; when you are most likely to do the thing you are addicted in like when you don't have something to do for two days because of your work schedule from 4 consecutive sleepless nights because new bread baking ideas are plaguing your mind like mad piranhas swarming on an unsuspecting prey! And did I mention that I brought my flour and yeast with me in my dorm?

Hello,  everyone! Gosh, it's been forever since I've posted, right? I've still been baking like mad; just haven't been documenting everything too well. Here's a little update on what I've been baking (not really in chronological order)

Ciabatta 

Pizza Bianca from ciabatta dough

This is the most sour porridge bread I've made to date.  I think the 2 day rest in the fridge for the Einkorn and European Style flour starter may have contributed to it.

I used some pearled barley and Organic Six Grain Flakes from KAF for the porridge and added some cooked grits with cheddar cheese.  I didn't measure the cheese added to the grits but it wasn't a large amount.  Feel free to indulge.  I always make a lot more grits than needed and eat them with dinner or breakfast later on.