Friday, November 6, 2015
Five Grain SourDough with WW and Spelt
This bake used "Bobs Red Mill" 5 grain cereal, about 100 gm soaked in 200 gm water. Flour was 80% organic AP ,10% WW and 10% Spelt.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Corn flour and spelt Baguette
I made these using about 10% Masa Harina and about 10% Spelt. 25% of the total dough weight was Sourdough. They had a great chew an not a strong corn taste.
Starter, Poolish, Biga, oh my
Here is a simple spreadsheet for converting the stiffness of your starter. I usually keep a 100% starter ( 50% water,50% flour) cause its easier to feed and maintain. But if I need a biga , preferment or levain that is stiffer, I just use my master starter and use some to convert.
Download it Here
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Download it Here
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Sunday, September 20, 2015
Chicken Brazilian Style !
A friend of ours gave us some sauce she made using Malageta peppers . It was so good we used in on everything we could think of . The original recipe is here
We used the left overs on pizza and also with pasta, both were excellent. It is Just the right amount of spiciness without being too hot. But of course you can make it as hot as you want.
Using a couple of bricks helps support the skewers and keep everything lifted just a bit to avoid sticking to the grill.
We used the left overs on pizza and also with pasta, both were excellent. It is Just the right amount of spiciness without being too hot. But of course you can make it as hot as you want.
Using a couple of bricks helps support the skewers and keep everything lifted just a bit to avoid sticking to the grill.
Walnut + Asian Pear
We have an assign pear in out back yard and have tons of pears this summer. I have made the walnut bread before but I thought I would try the addition of fresh pears about 1.5 cups diced.
This bread is made with a WW sourdough starter made into a sponge based on Nancy Silvertons recipe. The Sponce brews for several hours and then is mixed with the main dough. After needing the main dough a bit with stretch and folds , I folded in the walnuts and pear. In The refrigerator for 24 hours and baked the following night.
A great bread with the sweetness of the pear.
This bread is made with a WW sourdough starter made into a sponge based on Nancy Silvertons recipe. The Sponce brews for several hours and then is mixed with the main dough. After needing the main dough a bit with stretch and folds , I folded in the walnuts and pear. In The refrigerator for 24 hours and baked the following night.
A great bread with the sweetness of the pear.
Pizza 50/50
Bialy's
Bialys are easier to make than bagels because you don't have to boil them .
plus you get that great sweet onion mix!
These are best eaten same day
plus you get that great sweet onion mix!
These are best eaten same day
Friday, May 29, 2015
Orange Tumeric Bread
Monday, May 11, 2015
Millet Bread
This bread used the Tartine method for a #Porridge bread with one modification. I doubled the amount of levain from 15% to 30%. It was so wet that it I could not really score it.
I am not sure why he suggests soaking the millet overnight and then cooking it ? Maybe it starts some fermentation, but would't cooking it then just kill and cancel out any benefit from the soaking?
Regardless The crunch and taste is excellent. It has almost 2 cups of cooked millet !
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Toasted Fennel seed and Orange Honey bread with Bobs red mill 8 grain cereal
For this weeks breakfast bread . I pan toasted some fennel seed and crushed them using my Mortar bowl.
Then I added some ground dried Orange peel and honey. After kneading I folded in about 1/2 cup soaked 8 grain cereal.
My recipe used a Biga at 25% of the total dough weight. I went for a total dough hydration of about 70%
It has a nice Fennel sent but not overpowering.
Then I added some ground dried Orange peel and honey. After kneading I folded in about 1/2 cup soaked 8 grain cereal.
My recipe used a Biga at 25% of the total dough weight. I went for a total dough hydration of about 70%
It has a nice Fennel sent but not overpowering.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Roasted Potato and Feta Pizza
As is often the case, I make from what I have at hand. I had some nice organic red potatoes, feta cheese, and a bell pepper .
Cooked at about 750Deg F. 2 min. 69 % dough hydration with same day mix
I did not want to waste all that oven heat so I cut up some more potatoes and make a potato bake with cheese and an egg Panko & Farina de mandioca crusted topper.
Cooked at about 750Deg F. 2 min. 69 % dough hydration with same day mixI did not want to waste all that oven heat so I cut up some more potatoes and make a potato bake with cheese and an egg Panko & Farina de mandioca crusted topper.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Seattle Iconic Cuban Roast pork Sandwich Wood fired oven style
I found an article in the Seattle Times that approximates their recipe for their roast pork sandwich.
It involves marinading the pork in a mix of orange and lime juice, garlic, onion, fresh oregano, and a few other items for 24 hours. I wanted to try it with chicken too, so I threw a couple chicken thigh/leg quarters in with my free range natural Pork shoulder.
A couple other items to prepare include; a big batch of caramelized onions, a garlic Mayo with sweet Relish.
Step 1 Make the marinate - I put the pork and chicken in a ziplock bag overnight
Step 2 Make the Bread - Of course you could buy some - But what's the fun in that. After much searching I decided an Italian style bread would work well . I used Peter Reinharts Italian bread recipe except than I used my sourdough to create the Biga. The rolls were cooked in a 500 deg wood fired oven - they only took about 15 min to cook.
Step 4 - Make the Sandwich - What can I say - fresh made Bread, lightly toasted , spread with garlic/relish mayo , layerd with pickled jalapenos, cilantro, Romain lettuce , a heaping portion of meat and caramelized onions. - One of those tortas you need a bib for, and cannot put down !
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Struan Bread Variation
Trying different combinations is most of the fun of Bread Baking
I adapted this bread from Peter Reinharts Book - BBA, recipe for "Multigrain bread Extraordinaire"
My variations included:
- Using cooked Faro instead of Rice
- Using a Soaker of: Millet, Polenta, and Buckwheat
- Using a mix of Keifer and Milk
It is a fairly quick bread to make . I did not worry about a complex fermentation or Levain because the soaker, Keifer, honey and Brown Sugar give it a rich sweetness. Makes awesome toast , or a great sandwich bread. The soaked but uncooked millet gives it a nice crunch.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Tale of five flours
Performance of Selected Guistos and King Arthur flours for simple rolls.

Guistos, from San Francisco makes several type of flours for the baker. I did a little comparison of a few of their flours along with king Arthur Bread flour and Nashes organic hard red wheat.
Flours compared
- Guistos organic Bakers choice
- Guistos Keith's best unbleached
- Guistos artisans malted bread
- King Arthur Bread
- Nosh's organic hard winter wholewheat
Methods
I mixed up 5 small 250 gram dough balls all under the same environmental conditions and at the same time.
The ambient temp was 70 deg F.
2% salt, 1% instant yeast.
I mixed all small dough balls for 5 min each by hand
Fermented them room temp for 3 hours , shaped them into small rounds , and baked them all together at 450 deg F for 10min then 425 for another 15 min
Results
All the flours had a similar feel and look with the exception of the bakers choice which had a more cream color to it
Right off the bat I could tell that Keiths best and the artisan flours were less thirsty , in fact the artisan flour felt to me the way caputo 00 flour mixes. Guistos Bakers choice and the King Arthur were the most similar but King Arthur was more thirsty making a stiffer dough. The most slack dough was with the artisan blend. Of course the stiffest dough was the Nashes whole wheat water hog. Another reason to remember you cannot substitute WW in recipes for regular flour unless you up the Hydration at least 10%
| Mixed up ready for kneading |
| After 5 min of kneading |
Kneading response
I had to use slap and fold methods for all except the Whole wheat , and the last couple minutes with the KA flour. I worked each one for five minutes and did a quick check of gluten development
Here is how they looked before baking
Baking
They all baked up about the same , the only noticeable difference was with the Artisan flour which gave the best spring. Even the Brick like 100% Whole wheat at 65% hydration looked pretty good.
Crumb and taste
Well, they were all pretty close. the KA had the tightest crumb and the Artisan the lightest. As you can see from the crumb shots below - there was not much difference.
Taste wise , the KA and the Bakers choice had the most toothieness, the Keith's best had a slight sourdough taste - (expected because it contains ascorbic acid)
Not to waste any fresh bread
I made a pulled pork sandwich choosing the artisan roll, and my wife made a veggie burger with the bakers choice roll. I froze the rest . and the dogs got a little too.



Conclusion
All the guistos performed slightly lighter than the KA and were less thirsty. So you would need to adjust the hydrations if your used to KA for example. I think the Artisan was quite nice but I am not sure it justifies the additional cost of it. for the Keith's best, If I want a flour with ascorbic acid , I will add my own or use a SD starter. Also Keith's best says it has other "enhancements" but does not say exactly what enhancements ?
Next Steps
Use the flours in a couple full complex breads with preferments
Try the Guistos 00 flour in my pizza oven compared to Caputo 00.
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