Blog posts

Hello TFLers! Long time no read! I miss all of you and this great community.

It's been a while and I've been very busy with work. I'm already three months in the service and I just harvested the fruits of my labor. You're asking why I'm asking if I should change my name? When I had my first salary, I bought an oven to I don't know how to put it into words but all of you who have done the same back then would know. :)

Time to retake the 100%-spelt-with-half-sprouted challenge! This time, I put in some add-ins instead of leaving it plain to change things up.

50% Sprouted Spelt Thai Basil Sun-Dried Tomatoes Walnuts SD

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

Follow the yellow brick road To Babka land.

I have done a deep dive into Babka bakingCulminating in packing two large loaves in my suitcase and traveling with them to Texas! Where they have been the hit of the breakfast brunch

Yesterday I did my big bake of ten loaves to take to the neighbors for the holidays. After lots of head scratching I decided to work in two batches, the second following 2.5 hours after the first. For once I had plenty of refrigerator space available but only 6 bannetons and 2 Dutch ovens (actually I have more but the oven will only hold 2).

Lucy feels back in her element when she starts getting close to anything remotely close to German baking and the next thing you know she has lost her mind and starts putting all kinds of stuff in whatever recipe she is concocting.  She really went wild with this one.

What recipe to make? Ihave been dithering for days. so decided to make 2 sorts and see what I end up.  Sorry Abe, might try your suggestion another tme.

Crusty Rolls

320 g flour 

3/4 tspn yeast

1 tspn salt

283 g water. 

My lovely wife asked Lucy and I to come up with a bread to give to a married couple who are also friends, mine too, who just happen to own a very nice hair salon in downtown Mesa AZ.  They been taking care of the girl’s hair, daughter too, for decades.  The catch is, if I mess it up, my girls might look bit odd the next time they come back from the salon – which might be worth it?

For this bake, I used Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough (10% whole rye) as my base, but I made a few modifications for flavor and dough handling. I've made this recipe before and enjoyed it, but I found the dough a little too stiff when shaping, so I increased the hydration from 65% to 75%.

I did this by making a rye soaker the night before, hydrating the rye at 100%, without reducing the water in the final mix. This particular loaf retarded overnight (around 13 hours) in the fridge.

No not mad like crazy whack job mad but mad as hell none the less.  I go to Whole Foods ….eeeerrr…… whole paycheck, to get my normal load for whole grains – some oats, spelt, Kamut and who knows what else from the bins.  I don’t buy anything else there because I can get the same things I buy much cheaper anywhere else.