Blog posts

I modified Mike Avery's San Francisco sourdough recipe by adding 3 stretch and folds over 2 hours.  I like this recipe for its nice sour flavor. Used my 100% hydration whole wheat starter. Proofed 11 hours overnight at room temperature, @ 75F here in sunny coastal New England, after shaping. Baked @ 400F for 20 minutes w/steam, then 35 more @ 375, with 10 minute, oven-off drying. I think it's a bit overproofed. I did not get the oven spring I expected, but very happy with the flavor and crumb. The slump on the left happened when it kind of slid off the stone on its way in.

Rye Sourdough with a Sunflower and Pumpkin Seed Cold Soaker

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a few sourdough starters lurking in your fridge. One I made from organic California grapes lovingly teased into fruition over 10 days some years ago. Another from rye flour that naturally ferments. And last fall’s brainchild, made from mountain berries plucked at 3600 feet. That last one yielded 6 lovely loaves and then promptly went into a funk.

This is my first atempt to bake a 66% rye bread. I don't know if it looks as it should, but it was incredible good! Sweet, not too sour, nice crumb texture, I enjoyed eating this bread, plain, or toast, with goat cheese or salmon.

My daughter requested challah with raisins, so I decided to make a 2+ kg batch to have enough for us, her and to give away.

This is my second try at baguettes, my first was unworthy of a blog, it was overmixed, shaping was lousy, and crust and color were lacking. Now that iam getting the hang of it, i really love Poolish baguettes. The nutty fragrance of a poolish is indeed intoxicating.

My last week at work brfore going on leave rolled around and i decided to make a batch of bread and give my starter to someone that i hope to be able to trust looking after it, i chose someone who loves my bread and has promised to look after it in the manner that it has been accustomed.