Sauna-like temperatures helped me hatch a scientific explanation for the mysterious connection between liquors and teen sneakers.
http://hanseata.blogspot.com/2010/07/liquors-and-sneakers-sprituosen-und.html
It has been quite awhile since I've baked much of anything, particularly sourdough, as since getting pregnant in March I've found the smell of the sourdough and the thought of making it completely nauseating (which is bizarre seeing as I was totally addicted to it before getting pregnant, and baking everyday. Or maybe that is why....) Anyway, this pregnancy has seen the nausea last an unreasonably long time, so only in the last few weeks have I felt inclined to get back to baking. When I was baking regularly earlier in the year, I deliberated over the available options for
Summer is most definitely my favourite time of the year. And finally it's here! Few things are better than wandering about outdoors in the early hours of morning, letting the sun shine down on you and inhaling the refreshing scents of wet grass, blooming flowers and the fresh, salty air blowing in from the sea.
Been working on my own sourdough formula named after where I live and from where the culture was grown. It's not finished so I won't be releasing the formula just yet.
Turned out very well this time although I think I need to increase the hydration a tiny bit as I want a more holey crumb. Maybe make the levain a bit more stiff for increased sourness too.
My first attempt at these loaves from Daniel T.
I made Poliane Miche from BBA last year, tried Hamelman's version this weekend. A lot more water, still used Golden Buffalo flour, came out of the oven yesterday morning.
We're back from Portland after a relaxing week in the city and at the beach.
It's really hard to decide where to have breakfast - at Stumptown Downtown for the best espresso (and good bagels or decent pastries) or the Pearl Bakery for the best bread and pastries (and decent espresso). We opted for the Pearl Bakery.
Gibassier and Cappuccino at Pearl Bakery
Baked my second sourdough ever yesterday, and I couldn't be happier with the results.
I used the 1-2-3 Method described by Shiao-Ping at Sourdough Companion. I was persuaded by its simplicity--no traditional recipe to follow, just a ratio.
The starter was a 50% hydration that had sat in the back of my fridge totally untouched for at least 5 months. It was based on Reinhart's starter formula in BBA; after a single failure of a loaf, I pushed it behind the mayo and forgot about it while pursuing other projects.
I have been focusing on sourdough to the exclusion of all other breadmaking since May. I finally decided to make Kaiser Rolls from "bread baker's apprentice." by Reinhart. This is the first recipe I made when I started trying to become a better "artisan" baker. We spent a month in Austria in 2006 and loved the bread over there so much that I got this cookbook. I picked it because of the many good shaping pictures. I knew I could make good tasting bread but I wanted to move on in my technique to well-shaped bread too.
I did it: finally found a way of resolving a couple of oven problems and made a nice loaf of whole wheat bread from Leader's book.
