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Bake, bake, bake

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This is a whole new world. Thank you!!! I have been making pizzas for my family's enjoyment and I can do pretty well with my Weber, but now I am baking! Very cool, indeed!

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

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Bread (Whole Wheat Molasses)

Serves: 6

"The Sponge"

1st Add to Mixer (Add in this Order)

3 Cups unbleached flour

2 1/2 Tbls Yeast

2 Tbls salt

1/4 Cup sugar

4 Cups water warm 95*

Let above ingredients rise for 10-15 min until doubled

2nd Mix in 4 cup Measuring Cup

(Add in this Order)

1 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup olive oil

1/3 Cup molasses

2 1/2 Cups water warm 95*

Mix Measuring cup ingredients into mixer then add approx

Not-quite-Struan bread

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It started simply enough.  I needed to make bread this weekend for sandwiches this week.  Since I hadn't gotten my starter out of the refrigerator and activated soon enough, it had to be a yeasted dough.  And there are so many formulas to try in BBA . . .

Sourdough Enlish Muffins

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This weekend's baking exercise focused on sourdough Enlish muffins, using the recipe from King Arthurs Flour.  The taste is wonderful!  Even my 4-year old grandson polished his off and he is at a stage where he is developing some very strong opinions about what flavors are or aren't acceptable. 

Buckwheat berries

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July 28, 2006 Found Buckwheat berries in the market. They are hulled, meaning I can crush them between a finger and fingernail. This ought to be fun, one more whole grain without gluten to experiment with. The locals mix and cook them with rice to enrich it. I will first wash and soak them and add to my Poolish. They are shaped like little hearts with three sides reminding me of Austrian Löffel Kraut, a sort of nutty herb that grows everywhere there, picked for salads and high in vit C.

Weekend Bake - New York Deli Rye from BBA

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My wife purchased a copy of BBA as a birthday present some weeks back and I finally got around to using a formula from the book; in this case, the New York Deli Rye sandwich loaf. It is a definite keeper. I have been admonished to put a big star next to that particular formula. The bread is a wonderful base for a corned beef and swiss cheese sandwich, to start with. We'll keep experimenting and see what else works, too.

Wood fired brick oven....soon

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I have been on a quest for several months now to build a brick oven. I bought Alan Scott's book and also ordered some building CD's from a guy in Australia named Rado. While Alan's book was amazing (I will be re-reading it here soon) I ended up going with Rado's plans for what he calls a Masterly Tail oven. He gives amazingly detailed pictures of each step along with instructions for the mixtures needed. I think in all, I received 1000 photos of him building an MTO.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

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Have made this 3 times for my cafe and it sells rapidly. Blueberry and cream cheese combination is a new flavour combinatiion for New Zealanders. I drizzle a little lemon juice icing over the braid which adds to ita appeal. Thank you for the recipe as muffins are becoming passe

Sourdough with a SUPER wet starter

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A comment from Joe Fisher in this lesson I put together got me thinking about trying a really wet starter to see how it turned out. I usually make my sourdough with a 50% hydration starter (1 part water to 2 parts flour) which makes a really stiff starter. What if I reversed it? What if I had a starter at 200% (2 parts water to 1 part flour)? Well, I tried it.