KathyF's blog

So, I tried this recipe from Teresa Greenway's e-book "Discovering Sourdough Part III-A". It's a lower hydration dough at 61% using a stiff starter that has been fermenting for 3 days in the fridge; a warm bulk ferment (80-90 degrees F.), and a 12 to 15 hour retard. The flavor and texture is very reminiscent of my memories of the San Francisco sourdoughs of my youth. I'm quite excited about it!

Here is a crumb shot:

With the hot weather and no central air conditioning, I needed to be able to bake in the morning when it is still cool. Trevor helped me to work out the timing with his Champlain Sourdough. First day, in the early evening, I mixed the flour, water and salt for the long "autolyze" and popped it in the fridge. Took it out at bedtime and set on counter. In the morning I mixed in the starter and for the next six hours did hourly stretch and folds. Then I pre-shaped and let it rest for an hour. Shaped it, put in the banneton and let it rise for one hour, then popped it back in the fridge for the next 12 hours. Baked it this morning and I think the long retard really helped me with the crumb. And it tastes great!

Also wanted to use up some starter this morning so decided to wing it with some waffles.

1 cup starter straight from the fridge
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
2 T. oil (I'm guessing. I just poured some in)
2 T. sugar (guessing again!)
3/4 t. of baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
dash of salt

Turned out great!

So, I was browsing on Instagram and ran across a post by @nanascakekitchen for a really yummy looking dessert. It turned out to be a recipe for Sourdough Latvian Apple Cake by Teresa Greenway at Northwest Sourdough. So, I just had to try it. It's a fun way to use up any extra starter you might have. And it turned out so well that my daughter and her family told me that I need to make another one soon!

I followed the recipe exactly, except I do not have a 10" round casserole dish, so I used my iron skillet instead. It worked like a champ!

Well, it has been a while. Having sufficiently recovered from my broken wrist, I have finally been able to start baking bread again. I have been chronicling my progress on Instagram, but was so excited with this new recipe that I decided to come back and blog about it. I ran across Trevor Wilson on Instagram (I see that he is also here. Hi Trevor!) and was drooling over his yummy loaves and then the video for his Champlain sourdough came up on my YouTube suggestion list. I was intrigued by his technique that I just had to try it! The only change I made to his recipe was to replace the spelt with sprouted whole wheat since I didn't have any spelt. 

I was really pleased with the result. The crumb wasn't as open as Trevor's, but I may have under-proofed a bit and may have handled the dough a little too much though I tried to follow what he was doing closely. The texture and flavor is great! I never tried such a long autolyse before, so that may account for the improvement. Here is my crumb shot:

I have been trying raisin bread off and on for a while, but haven't been totally satisfied with the result. This one, however, turned out very well so I want to document it for future reference. Here is the recipe:

Central Milling all-purpose flour: 400 grams
King Arthur white whole wheat: 35 grams
Water: 261 grams
100% starter: 145 grams
Salt: 10 grams
Golden raisins: 1 cup
cinnamon: 2 teaspoons
butter: 1 tablespoon
honey: 2 tablespoons

I put all the ingredients, except the raisins, into the breadmaker to mix. After the ingredients were combined I added the raisins to incorporate. Once the raisins were incorporated I turned it all out into a 2-quart cambro bucket for the bulk rise. Since the temperature has dropped and it was 64° in my kitchen, I placed my dough bucket on a rack over my seedling heat mat and draped a flour sack towel over it. It took about four hours for it to rise sufficiently (next purchase... a proofing box).

I turned it out onto my board; pre-shaped and let it rest for 15 minutes; final shaping and placed in the floured banneton to rise for about 1.5 hours. Maybe 2 hours. I wasn't keeping track. Baked in my dutch oven for 25 minutes at 450°, took off the lid and baked 10 minutes at 435°, took out of pan and baked on the oven rack for 10 minutes at 425°. I did cover the loaf with foil during the last 10 minutes as the crust on top was already quite dark.

All in all, I think my best effort yet. I am going to have to make another tomorrow for a friend using the fruitcake fruit blend I just got in from King Arthur Flour.

The family has been asking for fluffy white bread, so lately I have been baking very fluffy, plain white rolls (actually a hamburger bun recipe). They love it. Go figure. Did sneak wheat germ in it though.

For a change, I thought I would try adapting one of Hamelman's recipes to see if I could make a light, but more nutritious loaf that also includes some sourdough starter. So, this is what I came up with:

The night before build levain and leave on counter overnight:
Bread flour: 72 grams
Water: 90 grams
Starter: 14 grams

The ingredients for final mix:
Bread flour: 288 grams
White whole wheat flour: 90 grams
Bob's Red Mill 7-grain cereal: 45 grams
Water: 191 grams
Milk: 50 grams
Honey: 34 grams
Oil: 34 grams
Levain: 162 grams (I just use all of it)
Salt: 10 grams
Instant yeast: 1/2 teaspoon

First I put the 7-grain cereal in the water and let it soak for several minutes while I assemble the rest of the ingredients. I then put everything in my bread machine and let it knead thoroughly until it window panes. I then take it out and put it in a cambro 2-quart container to rise. It seems to rise rather quickly as it was ready in 1 1/2 hours. (I think it has to do with the warm weather we are having. I suspect that when it cools down it will take longer.)

I shaped the bread and put in the loaf pan. Lately I have been shaping my loaves in 3 little boules and then putting them next to each other in the pan. For me, it seems to rise more evenly across the pan... except this loaf puffed up more in the middle anyways just to make a liar out of me!

I let it rise for an hour and then baked it at 375°F for 40 minutes. Here is a crumb shot:

Nice fluffy bread and the family seems to like it! Yay!

I went through a spell of baking scones last year, but stopped when everyone in my family seemed to have their fill of them. Lately though, they have been asking for scones. I have been having really good success with my sourdough biscuits, so I decided to try my hand at sourdough scones. I have always used volume measurements for my biscuits and scones, so I'm comfortable using that method for this recipe. The starter is leftover starter straight out of my fridge. The scones turned out fluffy and flaky. Might of been even more fluffy if I had used starter that was more active.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
few drops lemon extract
lemon zest
handful of raisins
1/2 cup cold butter cut in small pieces
1 cup sourdough starter
heavy cream

1 beaten egg for glaze
sugar sprinkles

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and baking soda; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins.

Add vanilla and lemon extract to the sourdough starter and stir the mixture into crumb mixture with a fork adding splashes of cream until dough forms a ball.

Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead very lightly and roll to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut into triangles and place on a greased baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle on the sugar sprinkles.

Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

So, my first loaf turned out really well. But I thought maybe I would tweak it a bit and see if I could adjust the flavor a bit. The original recipe for the levain was 35% in the final build. I decided to up it to 50% so that more of the whole wheat flour would be in the preferment. Certainly made for a very active dough. I only bulk fermented for a little over 2 hours and the final rise was a little over an hour.

I also added butter (actually, I had added butter in the first loaf too), diastatic malt, and a little honey. I have to say, I think the malt and honey added just a touch of sweetness that worked really well with the whole wheat flour. I liked it a lot.

Here is a crumb shot:

I have a friend who wanted a loaf with more whole wheat in it, so I decided to try Jeffrey Hamelman's Whole Wheat Levain. It is 50% whole wheat and 50% bread flour. Hydration is 69%. I used KA white whole wheat. I think it turned out pretty good! I like how the crumb turned out. I am working on using a lighter touch when handling and forming the loaf.

Today a friend and I took a little trip up to the tiny town of Freestone to visit the popular Wild Flour Bread bakery. They bake sourdough bread in a wood fired oven. I gotta say I think their stellar reputation is well deserved! Here is the menu:

This time around I chose the "Wonder" white sourdough and the "Wildflour" loaf. Also had to try the lemon blueberry poppy seed, peach pecan, and apple cherry marzipan scones.

The scones were outstanding!

And the sourdough loaves were very tasty. More sour than I expected it to be. Not sure why I expected them to be less sour, but they were quite tangy. The wheat is on the left and the white sourdough on the right:

And here is a shot of their oven:

I definitely look forward to going back and trying some of their other breads and the sticky bun, which I hear is absolutely delicious.