Blog posts

I recently dropped into our local sake maker and picked up another package of koji rice.  My plan was to make my third batch of homemade miso since our first one is disappearing quickly and the second one is just over a month into its fermentation which will take a fully year or so.  However, I borrowed the book Koji Alchemy and have been reading through it and I’m finding it so fascinating and it is giving me some other ideas for my koji rice.

I love this bread and the whole process is so nice

https://youtu.be/p_zZggD827c

In a pint jar I added some rye malt and raisins,  topped it with lukewarm tap water and then splashed in some homemade apple scrap vinegar. After just 10 hours at 38°C it's already showing the signs of fermentation. It's still not ready yet for making a starter, but maybe tomorrow? 

Reading through the Tartine book my curiosity was peaked by some of the various flavor combinations. The idea of sourdough with roasted walnuts, green olives, some herbs...and lemon made me curious in the best of ways. Thankfully it is just a standard sourdough but with inclusions. A LOT of inclusions. 62% of inclusions. So many inclusions that I was a bit concerned when it was being mixed, proofed, and shaped that it might be more inclusion than bread!

FULL RECIPE AND BREAD CALCULATIONS HERE

My better half has been craving a hamburger for a few weeks now. As the resident bread baker who can guarantee that the bread will not have dairy (allergic), it falls to me to make sure we have the proper buns. She told me that we could just use normal bread but no, that just won't due. Instead I returned to a recipe I've done a few times now as it always provides consistent results, can be made in a mixer, and is easy enough to sub in vegan butter and oat or soy-milk to avoid any dairy. 

FULL RECIPE CALCULATIONS HERE

My attempt at Hamelman’s Hot Cross buns from his Bread book. I made these on previous Easter’s and they were always well received. One of the reasons I like his version is because the crossing paste is extra tasty. It is made with butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, lemon zest and flour. I am not going to post his recipe so buy the book. The recipe makes enough paste for four dozen buns and since I was only making two dozen and I didn’t have a smaller tip, I piped it on thick.

Brioche Bread

Wonderful smell in the house - Happy Easter to everyone.

I’ve been baking a lot of milk breads for some time developing the formula to the point that I’m quite happy with it.  So now I’d like to see what I can do with a vegan version of a sourdough milk bread.  This is my first try at a vegan version of a 100% whole wheat milk bread.  My favourite non dairy milk is soy milk and I prefer the Asian soy milk rather than the North American ones as they are slightly sweetened without any added flavours like vanilla so it was easy to decide to use this.

Isn't it nice when your baked goods smile at you? :p




These are my 'happier' hot cross buns this year

Tangzhong
100g milk
20g all purpose flour

Dough
All of the TZ
165g milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
70g SD discard
55g sugar
6g orange zest
445g all purpose flour
6g salt
3g instant yeast

My sourdough Hokkaido milk bread dough is highly versatile, here is a 50% whole wheat version that I’ve spiced with cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg and added mixed candied peel and currants. These are soft, fluffy and not too sweet, they’ll be perfect for breakfast on the long weekend.  This formula uses a stiff sweet levain once again to avoid a sour tang to the bread.  The final pH measured from the baked bun is 5.02 which is remarkable especially considering the 20 hour long cold retard the dough received.

For years, I worked with various mixes of flour (bread, AP, spelt,  whole wheat, rye) and I used one starter, and it worked on all mixes. It was slow - about the speed indicated in the books on baking.

More recently, I have moved to all whole wheat (with 2% rye & 2% bean flour), all the time, and I have seen my fermentation/final rise times go way down (considering the dough temperature.)