Blog posts

Homemade fresh yeast for the starter.

ChiaRosemary Campagne with black seed, caraway seed, garlic and cheese

In my little Turkish Phase at the moment…

I love Turkish food but haven’t really explored their breads much apart from

Well, really to the In Laws.  I've been baking up and warehousing a few different breads to pack in my bags as treats for them.  They've been documented here before, but here's the lot of them:

1 dmsnyder style son of SJSD batard (sesame seeds added just for kicks!)

1 Forkish bakery style Raisin Pecan Whole Wheat Levain batard

1 FWSY Field Blend #2 Levain batard

Finally - a Bread-o-lution post that is actually on time! This month I am making an old family favourite - Russian Boroidinsky bread that even got a stamp of approval from my Russian grandmother.

Full recipe and step by step instructions on my blog here

This weekend I ended up with some of the best olive bread I've ever tasted, through a completely accidental process.

The first accident was that I needed to refresh a neglected rye starter. I made a whole lot of it then, rather than throwing out the excess, I mixed it with some all purpose flour. The proportions were 225 g rye starter at 100% hydration, 500 g all purpose flour, 350 g water and 1 1/2 t Kosher salt. After bulk proofing I tossed the dough in the refrigerator for a couple days because I like my bread really sour.

Very very late in the day, but the wait was totally worth it! The lightest, tastiest sourdough Colomba Pasquale ever - massive thanks to bakes on this site. 

Full recipe and LOADS of photos on my blog here

This bread was inspired by one in Kathleen Weber 's book. I was curious how flattening the dough, spreading it with garlic puree and shredded cheese (a combination of Jarlsburg Swiss and Parmesan), and wrapping it up into a boule would work. The main concern was that the loaf would  end up with a concentration of garlic and cheese goo in the center. That didn't happen. There is a pretty good dispersion throughout. Well worth  trying with other ingredient combos.

Happy Memorial day. 

Stu

This bread box was made by my brother. The wood is from an oak tree that was removed when a house was built 5 miles away 15 years ago. Lumber was milled from the tree and used as trim and stair treads in the house. The leftover was given to my brother. 

I feel like I must brag a little bit, with this loaf that I just pulled out of the oven. After much trial and tribulation, and lots of loaves donated to the garbage can, I think I mostly understand how to bake a GOOD loaf of sourdough bread.

My initial plan was to use the basic tartine method. Since I'm not (not at all actually) familiar with spelt flour I didn't stick to the schedule after all.  

I fed my levain at 10 pm:

-50 g whole wheat  

-50 g white all purpose flour

-100 g water 

-1 tbsp active sourdough starter 

Next morning (around 8 am):

-100 g active levain (passed float test)

-300 g water (room temperature)

-100 g all purpose flour 

-400 g whole wheat spelt flour 

Autolyse 40 minutes.