Blog posts

Hi all,

So 150 million years ago I had a sort of compulsion to give up the day job, pick up the peel and become a baker.  It may not have been exactly 150 million years ago, the timeline is a little fuzzy, but it sure does feel like a long time to me.  

In the intervening years I did go on to realise my ambition and after many a misadventure along the way I'm sitting here today writing this post in a comfortable sunlit booth in the front of my own little bakery in a pleasant seaside town in the north east of England.

I recently bought a sack of Hayden AP flour.  This flour features Sonoran white wheat, which is supposed to be very extensible, rather soft flour.  In this AP it is combined with some bread flour.  Sonoran white is used to make those incredibly thin, large Sonoran tortillas - see

https://ladyandpups.com/2021/05/13/paper-thin-soft-chewy-sonoran-style-flour-tortilla/

Here's a link to the flour -

My 1st S/D bread using my new mixer  its a 15% Garlic granules   8 hours bulk and overnight retard in the fridge 

Today's bake: Ukrainian Black Bread - Chornyy Khlib

Source: The Ukrainian Classic Kitchen - Olga Drozd

https://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/index.php?topic=1255.0%20%20%20by%20Olga%20Drozd

The restaurant in Petty Harbour Nfld that always made the best lobster rolls I have ever eaten disappointed me for the first time this past July.  Because of that, I decided I wanted to make rolls that I could use to make shrimp rolls.  Lobster is crazy expensive at the moment and my partner isn’t a fan of it, so why bother with lobster.  I wanted to make the rolls so that two sides could be toasted in butter on my cast iron skillet.  The slice in each roll would be vertically cut rather than horizontally so these would not be hotdog buns.

Well, after three test batches, my English Muffins were proclaimed ready for prime time by the taste testers here at my place!

 In my new mixer first cab off the rank was 1800g fruit dough so about half as much again as usual. the new mixer managed it easily. I have been eating a few date recently and they are the cheapest dried fruit at our local Aldi store plus i love them  i got to think if i blitzed them in the liquidizer i could get a paste that i could use in scrolls so thats what i did, i did need to add a little water to obtain a workable paste.

 You Often see CHRISTMAS IN JULY themes  which seem to especially appeal to some of us that have moved from cold winter climates to the other side of the Equator. A better time to  enjoy a hot roast dinner and its trimmings rather than December days here  when a salad and an early morning swim at the beach which is more the norm .

Still working on these.  Getting close, but not quite there yet.  My formula is essentially unchanged from last time, though I did remember the butter this time!  Used my Ankarsrum mixer to get these mixed up, and that was a breeze.  Overnight cold bulk followed by about a 2 hour RT proof after shaping.  I experimented with cooking these in the oven, on a stone, covered @ 350°......that worked fine, except that they got NO color (even with no cover for half the time.)  I ended up firing up the griddle on the stove pretty hot to just quickly get them some color.

 So I was up at 5am, starting my polenta sourdough. Bubbly starter, in with flour and polenta from the polenta tin. Hmmmm, dough is really tight, add more water. 30 mins later, dough even tighter. More water. Another wait, then.... yep, more water. Three hours with stretch and folds, tighter and tighter, finally give in and bench rest sad little lumps of partially risen dough.

Puzzled,  check polenta tin. Funny, the label says Powdered Gelatine. So That’s where the water went.