Blog posts

Last weekend, I wanted to get my baguette experiments on the way, and used one of David’s (dmsnyder) comments and his wonderful posts (how fantastic to be able to benefit from them and the ensuing comments of the members here) as a starting point. My goal eventually is to try all of his three favorites, the one by Samuel Fromartz and any other styles that catch my attention, to see which one I might favor in the end.

Focaccia baked from the recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. I meant to take a picture when it first came out of the oven, but it smelled so dang good, dinner was ready, and we were hungry!

It all started with this picture when I dropped my son at his mate's house for tennis and saw these colors:   

I spent my summers on Cape Cod where there were cranberry bogs in our back yard. After the harvest was over there were often many berries just lying on top of the bog that got missed in the harvest and we would collect them and make muffins, cranberry bread and mix them with apple pie - they add a little tartness to the pie that I really like. 

View my recipe for Cranberry Walnut bread  at

http://turosdolci.wordpress.com

gave Reinhart's Pane Siciliano a go yesterday...followed formula pretty much to the letter...I absaloutely LOVED the flavor of this loaf...something about it was remniscent of hot buttered popcorn....of course there was no cornmeal, or butter involved in the formula. So i'm guessing it was the combo of the 3 day fermentation/proofing process and the sesame seeds and semolina, that evoked that flavor........

Wine is abundant in our household; a day rarely goes by without some consumption of wine.  When I read Erzsebet Gilbert's post: A winemaker wants to be a wine-baker, I thought what a good idea.  There was a lot of discussion there whether or not alcohol kills off the yeasts.  I thought the only way to find out is to try.  Recently I have been making mainly Pain au Levain breads, so I took my formula and simply replaced 60% of hydration with wine.  This number was a matter of convenience and also because I felt any

Here's the AP version of my usual sourdough.  It's 61% hydration. Next time I'll stretch the hydration to 65%.  Trial and Error.  It includes 20g of dry brown sesame seeds and 25g of whole wheat flour. 

I like a more chewy crumb than this loaf provides, but for those who want a crispy crust with a soft crumb, here you go:

Susan

In Italy desserts are often flavored with honey, chestnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts and almonds. Cantucci originated in the Tuscany and it is thought that they were flavored with almonds from Prato. They can be found in every pasticceria in the Tuscany. Cantucci are mostly eaten with a glass of “Vin Santo” a sweet wine. Many restaurants serve small almond biscotti with coffee and some will have a bowl of them on the table at all times. It is probably the most well-known and popular biscotti in Italy.

Recently friends asked me to bring an appetizer to their dinner parties. For the first one I prepared Gougères, French cheese puffs, made of a savory pâte à choux, very easy to make but I’ve heard that some people are intimidated by this type of cooked dough.