Blog posts

Currants Galore...

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We picked gallons of currant this year growing in the wild, red ones, black ones, orange ones....

We made tons of fresh-currant ice-cream to start with.

Then I made banbury cakes:

Whole Wheat pastry flour- Banbury cakesWhole Wheat pastry flour- Banbury cakes

Babury 2Banbury 2

They were ummmmmm.... so goood

Vermont Sourdough

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Today's Vermont Sourdough came out better than the last. I tried to be brave and really work the slashes and I think they're better but need work. It made me a wreck because I thought the whole thing would collapse. They didn't and next time I will cut deeper.

Sesame seed & Saffron Bread

This Bread is quick ,easy and tasty.it is good for breakfast or for afternoon snack with tea.

*2 cups white self-raising flour.

*1 cup whole wheat self-raising flour.

1 teaspoon dry yeast.

1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

1/4 teaspoon salt.

4 tablespoons oil.

4 Tablespoons rose water.

2 Tablespoons sugar.

Results of Bread Baking This week

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Hi Bill,

 The results were not great! LOL, I forgot the salt. And my mind is having trouble focusing right now due to health. I flipped the amount of flour and water so had to try to fly by the seat of my pant and increase the flour. I knew I had more than enough of the preferment and more than enough starter was added. I made batards and they eat ok enough but I prefer your true pagnotta recipe.

 

Will write more later.

Eureka! I've found the best white bread recipe

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Wonderfully Soft White Bread
Original Recipe was from recipezaar.com, but I've tweaked it quite a bit as far as prep/rising/baking. I've been searching endlessly for the "perfect" wonder bread type texture/crumb, and this one is the BOMB. ;)

1 cup tepid water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons margarine
1 tablespoon honey ( I used buckwheat honey)
3 cups all purpose flour (I used Robin Hood-Best for Bread-Homestyle White) This made a BIG difference in the texture of the bread.
1/4 cup powdered whole milk
2 teaspoons sugar

BBA Basic Sourdough

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I wrote recently about being disappointed with my loaves and several kind people suggested overproofing was the problem. Katie urged me to keep trying, so today was the day - I used my starter instead of barm and spiked the final dough with instant yeast as suggested by PR. My firm starter rose nicely and stayed over night in the frig and this morning I chopped it up and left it to warm up.

The Not-So-Sour Sourdough Experiment

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The Goal:

The idea for this test came from a thread by KipperCat asking about how to make a less sour sourdough. There was a general consensus in the thread that starter maintenance routines (feeding ratios and hydration) would have a small effect on the sour aspect of sourdough while varying the rise and proofing times would have a much more pronounced effect. Bill suggested an experiment, and as I was planning on baking a couple of loaves, I gave it a shot.

 

The Process: