Blogs

It's been a long time that i've wanted to try this (from Reinharts BBA).
The recipe asked for a small portion of pumpernickel grind flour, but i can't find that, so i used a small percentage of wholewheat.

Couronne crease/ cracks didn't came out so well thanks to not making it deep enough. Flavour was great! Tasted mildly sour and of toasted sunflowers.

With my exams over, i just had to test the BBA's pizza recipe method.
I made Pizza Magherita but with Romano and Mimolette cheese . I guess mimolette isn't a good melter, as u can see the lil orange bits.

Also, dough hydration was way too high to toss. Just had to fold it and press it down on the pan.

Made a supposedly Dutch kinda breakfast cake last saturday. But internet's down for the last 2 days.

Groninger Koek? that's the name.. lol
It's made with rye flour, and it contains no eggs or fats. Very spicy smell.
Also, an excuse to meddle with my dad's new camera ;)

Banana Bread, Struan Bread, and Rustic Bread.

The banana bread was plain and simple, not even with nuts or chocolate chips. With the holiday's coming on, it didn't seem necessary.

For the Struan Bread, I used a sample packet of Bob's Red Mill's Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal as my soaker instead of mixing together my own grains. It worked well, tasting slightly different than normal Struan Bread but quite good all the same.

For the Rustic Bread I used the same dishwasher proofing technique I used last weekend. I was so wiped out after a long week that I crashed at 9 o'clock last night before I had a chance to start a sponge. Alas.

I haven't tried the rustic loaves yet, but I shall for breakfast. I kept the dough slack again and proofed them in a flour covered basket. Hence the rings. I expect them to be quite good.

I baked pitas for lunch today. They were great. I did 1/2 cup of the flour whole wheat, which is 1/6th of the total flour in the recipe. That is just about right for my taste.

Making them fit very nicely into my morning schedule: had breakfast, prepared the dough, ran errands while it rose, came home 11:15ish and shaped and baked them. Simple, cheap, and totally rewarding.

After some time, several months, I am finally able to download pictures from my camera to my Linux system. Today I have sent you my first picture from Malaysia. The picture shows our Baguettes, Nutty Mardia Bread, White Unyeasted Bread and some coconut filled buns. The latter are filled with fresh coconut which we buy just up the road from our house.

The coconut is split in half and the meat is grated out on a quite vicious machine that you do not want your hands to get near. We lightly toast it and mix with some Sunflower Oil and
Icing Sugar (powdered sugar), just enough so it will form a ball. When we have bits of dough left over we divide it into 80 gram pieces and place the coconut mixture inside. They are quite popular.

I forgot to mention that when I made the Couronne this weekend I found myself without a poolish, something I rarely forget to do.

I decided to start one at 8 AM. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water, and 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast, which is a bit more yeast than I'd do in an overnight pre-ferment. I then placed the covered bowl in the just-run dishwasher which, being warm, moist, and clean, is about as close to a professional proofbox as one can find in one's household.

I left the pre-ferment in the dishwasher for 4 hours or so, then I used it as the base for my final dough, which had a tablespoon of salt, 3 more cups of bread flour, another teaspoon or two of instant yeast, and a cup or so more water. I totally winged it, adding more flour and water until it felt right. The dough was quite slack, but I didn't want to end up with a whole grain brick, so I decided to push my luck.

I gave it 3 folds a la the Hamelman method, then a final shape and rise. It was probably the tastiest wheat bread I've baked. I definitely will be trying the dishwasher method again.

I tried baking a Couronne this weekend:

The bad news: the dough was too slack for me to shape very well, so it didn't turn out terribly pretty.

The good news: the slack dough made wonderful bread. Even with a quarter of the flour whole wheat, it was light and airy. We gobbled it up.

The recipe was roughly the rustic bread I've baked many times. I think I went a little heavier on the whole wheat than usual, but I wasn't paying close attention.

I first started playing with sourdough breads a couple of years ago. Unfortunately they did not turn out well although I kept trying for almost a year.

This I came across Dan Lepards site (and later this one) and bought his book. I followed his recipe for the levain and after four or five days realised that my previous efforts did not resemble the bubbling mass I now had. My first attempt at the White Loaf was not a success, but I think that was because the climate temperature was around 34 C and I tried to keep to his recipes suggested timings. The dough became very slack, well liquid really.

After contacting Dan through his website, he gave me some advise on the methodology and the next batch I made turned out fine.

This morning when I pulled a couple of loaves out of the oven, they really looked great. They had risen to almost double their size and just looked healthy. My customers love them. (Sorry I have no pictures, I use Linux System Computer and the only thing I cannot get to work with it is my cheapo Kodak digital camera ez200. I must try to get a new camera that has the required driver.)

I reflected on my earlier efforts and am so glad I perservered. I much prefer using the levain to yeast these days for many of my breads. I think levain is more robust and forgiving to work with than yeast and I guess it suits my style of baking.

After used to having bread for breakfast, i was deprived of my usual breakfast treat when my exams came and my last loaf finished recently.
This is what i have to do when i have lil time on my hands.
A loaf prepared in 15 minutes!! ..lol

Had to make a brown soda bread... too much Soda i think. Affected the taste..haha..or is it suppose to be like tht?..i dunno. The people in the place where i live only calls white fluffy, sweet - cake liked things as bread. They would term all my breads as alien... :P