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Holiday Breads Recipe Testing

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A couple of weekends ago, I was doing some test bakes to finalize recipes for a class that I will teach in December.

First up, Julekake, glossy with egg wash:

And the Julekake crumb:

And it tastes even better than it looks, what with the fruit and cardamom flavors.

It's a brick

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And how!

50% sprouted wheat (commercial) and 50% BF, 80% hydration, 20% starter (100% hydration), 2% salt, 12% sprouted grain. 40 minute autolyse (flours and water only), slap and folds x 6, 1 and 1 minutes, then 3 sets of stretch and folds at 20-30 minutes apart. The dough was beautiful, smooth, supple, elastic.

Covered and into the refrigerator for the night, where it rose maybe 50%. Pulled it out and cranked the oven to the max (500 F+) to preheat while I preshaped, then shaped a tight boule.

Mistakes mistakes mistakes....

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I'm writing this well after making this loaf last week or thereabouts.  Unlike so many of you, I'm boring in my bread tastes, I don't really want to make lots of different varieties, as long as I make this particular loaf and have it on hand for egg sandwiches, I'm reasonably happy.  I do use sourdough in it, as it tastes better with mustard and egg, than when it's made only with sweet yeast.

Halloween Bake

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I have baked Pumpkin Pain De Mie and Pumpkin and Pepita Rustic bread for Halloween, and two batches of Pretzel.

 

First Rye Test (Group B)

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Never having baked, tasted or even seen these skinny loaves before now their shape is my best guess based on Stan's instructions.

I may not have got the shape right, but I'm sure I got the recipe right. They are loaded with flavors! We're planning a small get together with friends to eat these; each guest will bring a dip or spread they think appropriate for rye. I'm making a roasted beet, yogurt, bleu cheese and bacon dip.

Crumb.

David G

Whole Wheat Sour

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I often ask for requests but seldom get one.  "Oh whatever you want to make" is the most common.  This time around the lovely lady requested a Sour Wheat bread.  I was thrilled.  I decided I'd build a new formula just for this/her.  And since I'm so happy with the results I thought I'd share.  A note on how my spreadsheet functions.  The

Managing Starter - Not the way of Ken Forkish!

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People often criticize the Forkish method of managing one's starter.  For example, if you were to make his double-fed sweet levain according to his instructions, you would throw away everything but 50 grams of your starter that you fed 24 hours ago, feed it 250 grams of flour and (200 grams of water) for a total of 450 grams of levain.

A Newbie

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Hello all TFL'ers.  I stepped away from baking bread for awhile and just started again about 18 months ago, but this time with SD.  I want to say thank you to everyone that posts on this site.  What a wealth of information, passion and willingness to share. There are many folks here that have inspired me to keep learning and challenging myself.   I felt after "lurking" on the site for so long that I'd log-in.  My hat goes off to Floyd for such a great site that he tirelessly maintains. (IMO). Until next time.... happy baking.