Blog posts

This is a very simple recipe 'White-Wheat Rolls' from Maggie Glezer's book Artisan Baking!  Great easy recipe for using up that little extra sourdough.  I made bun shaped rolls using King Arthur Organic White Wheat and King Arthur All Purpose Flour.  I hand mixed the dough using stretch and folds.  Adding sesame seeds and poppy seeds with the suggested sourdough gave nice flavorful buns with a crispy thin crust and a nice chew...great for sandwiches.  I doubled the recipe and also have 2 loaves baking.

The "San Joaquin Sourdough" evolved from Anis Bouabsa's formula for baguettes. Most of my deviations developed in discussion on TheFreshLoaf.com with Janedo, who first suggested adding sourdough starter and rye, and, then, leaving out the baker's yeast and making it as a "pure" pain au levain.

On top: black pepper and parmesan

Underneath: fresh rosemary and garlic

12.5% protein flour, 66% hydration, 5% olive oil, 2% salt, 2% fresh yeast, baked on a stone at 400 for 18 minutes.

Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com

Hey All,

Just wanted to share with you some more stuff.  This is my own improvisation of Pain de Beaucaire.  I decided to make them more stick like, which actually made them resemble the Chinese fried doughnut "yauh tiuh".  For more info, please check out the following websites:

http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=121

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2009/04/13/pain-de-beaucaire/

Enjoy!

Tim

Living in southern Japan, where even the most basic of ovens, beloved from childhood , are rare and extraordinarily expensive makes a baker's life challenging, and a home baker's more than just a bit frustrating. In need of crusty, heavy, unsweet breads, my sweetheart of a husband purchased  an 'oven' for me quite a few years ago. At least he thought it was an oven.

The first "real" bread book I ever read was Amy's Bread, borrowed from the library. I copied out some of the recipes and over the years looked for it again in different libraries with no luck. There were copies on Amazon but they were out of my price range, so I was thrilled to find the new version.

I just recently started baking bread and I'm having trouble with flat loaves. The bread recently baked was San Francisco Sourdough from Peter Reinharts book Artisan Breads Every Day. The dough rose fine overnight in the refridgerator and when it was proofed. I was careful not to deflate  it during forming or handling but the loaves are 2 1/2" high and 10" round after baking. The bread does have a nice crumb large irregular holes and a great taste. Thanks for any help

Ed

I've read that sugar will "feed the yeast"... I'm not exactly sure what that means. How does sugar affect the rise process, density of the bread, etc.. If I add honey to a recipe that calls for sugar, should I reduce the amount of sugar? Also, does milk and butter cause bread to be more dense? What's the benefits to adding milk and butter? I've made bread with and without and I don't notice too much of a flavor difference. The biggest difference I find is in the texture.

Thank you!

Darren

Hansjoakim described this gorgeous rye bread in his blog last Fall, and I made Hansjoakim's Favorite 70% Sourdough Rye myself in September. I made it again today, inspired by the delicious-looking ryes Mini and Eric have showed us recently.

I finally invested in a new baking stone, one that fills an oven shelf with only a couple of inches to spare. Now I can make baguettes that approach 18" to 20" in place of the stubby ones I baked before. Consequently, along with sourdough, sticky buns, foccacia, and getting familiar with spelt, I've been baking my own baguette formula that has borrowed heavily from Anis Bouabsa's formula and especially his process, and, in the most recent batch, Peter Reinhart's pain a' l'ancienne procedures.