Blog posts

Back home and baking again. A new starter bubbling away on the counter. 

My daughter is going to party with a bunch of her Chi Oh Friends from college tomorrow and they are making Bruschetta.  Guess who gets to supply the bread by request – Lucy! Ever since she made her way to the Pumpkin Cover, she has been in big demand – at least in her head.

I followed Chad Robertson's recipe for country rye loaf here, flavour is great, sweet and nutty, although crumb is a little firm

One of my recent efforts, using a refreshed wheat starter based on pineaple juice. The loaf reasonably tasty and crusty - I wished for more air bubbles but perhaps the amount of seeds makes the dough heavier? Either that, or it should have had higher hydration, but it was damn sticky already and not that easy to work with!

Here's how, and below the result.

Tonight I experimented with Russian bread "Stolichny". It was baked with liquid levain. It is the GOST-bread. (GOST (Russian: ГОСТ) refers to a set of technical standards maintained by the a regional standards organization in USSR). 

Levain for this bread needs 3-phase refreshing. On the first two refreshings I added a little bit of barley flour (it will be about 10% of all flour). 

what is too hot for a starter to be kept at if not in the fridge, it gets hot here I can keep in cupboard but still will be 30C plus some days unless we have the aircon on

Meet Park Tae Young, my persimmon yeast water!

After sourdough, I promised myself I will try yeast water. Although it took many months, here she is finally. Ready to raise breads with a different character. I documented another journey of my baking life so I hope you enjoy.

Many TFLers here have used yeast water and posted their beautiful breads made with it. It's really an old thing here and when I read it before I really wanted to try it. I waited so many years before giving it a try, I'm lucky because many have formalized the yeast water method by that time.

           I wanted to bake a nice soft and flavorful bread but one with some healthy grains as well.  In went a soaker left for 24 hours in hot water comprised of grits, rolled oats and barley flakes.  I also added some left-over mashed potatoes and some grilled onions.

Finally bought an Emile Henry baguette baker... 1 year twice daily fed sourdough stater (785 g), 245 g H20, 545 g bread flour, 17 g salt... rise at room temp... and viola!