March 18, 2007 - 5:04pm
Columbia
Columbia: Here is the photo of my Columbia loaves. When I got ready to slash them they had formed a thin skin and I could tell they would be hard to slash like the recipe directed so I just did one long slash. I think they came out nice and tasted very good.
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Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, Loretta!
Susan
Those look great, I agree.
Bill
Thank you both very much. This site is so enjoyable with the information, the photos and the feedback.weavershouse
I agree with the above comments, lovely looking loaves with a nice golden colour.
What denotes a columbia loaf?
Regards from southern mexico.
Hi, Thank you for the kind words. The bread is called Essential's Columbia and the recipe is in Maggie Glezer's book ARTISAN BAKING.
mountaindog did a great write up on this bread somewhere on this site. You can probably find it by doing a search. Just put in Columbia French bread, or just Columbia. She gives the recipe and her notes which were a great help.
Regards from Northern Ohio weavershouse
Beautiful - looks delicious!
I haven't made these in awhile so you are inspiring me to make them again this weekend. Nice job!
Like I said in the above post, your notes were a great help. I enjoy all your photos and helpful information.
Is it going to thaw enough to plant peas early this year? weavershouse
Weaverhouse - are you located in the Northeast? We just got dumped with over 2 feet of fresh powdery snow on St. Patty's day here in the Catkills, so I was lamenting my inability to start working my garden this month...I doubt I will see all of this snow melted until mid-April the way things are going now! Oh well, more time to make bread before I get too busy with the gardens...here's one of my dogs this week standing on a 6 ft snow bank from the plow!
Wow, I don't know what/who's more beautiful, your bread or your dog!
You do have a lot of snow. I'm in Ohio about 50 miles SW of Lake Erie. This winter we did watch as several snow storms passed by North of us and headed in your direction. Sorry.
We're free of snow right now and I would have planted some greens today but it rained all day. I could have planted in our raised beds but not in the rest of the garden. Oh well, like you said more time to bake so I started another batch of Columbia and this time put it in the fridge to finish the fermenting till tomorrow. Did I read somewhere that you put the shaped loaves in the fridge overnight also? weavershouse
I made Columbia yesterday and put the shaped loaves into the fridge. I'm about to take them out so I can bake them in about an hour. This process is supposed to create a more acetic flavor and create blistering on the loaves in addition to making the crumb taste more rich.
It also gets the work out of the way and then you have the easy part of only having the bake off the loaves which is oddly satisfying.
This is incredible tasting bread, huh! Yours looks awesome!
Where am I going to find room in the fridge for different flours, sourdough starters, fermenting doughs and rising loaves? I need a walk-in cooler. And another freezer for more flours, seeds and baked breads.
Well, I'm not getting any of those things so I better go make space in the fridge for my Columbia loaves. Thanks for the compliment and like I said the taste was very good but I think you're right and I may get more taste out of them by refrigerating the shaped loaves. Thanks. weavershouse
Hi Weavershouse,
Yes, I also like to occasionally retard my shaped loaves in the frig for a few hours or overnight. The last few times I did that was out of neccessity - having to leave the house for a few hours suddenly and not having time to finish the breadmaking. They did come out nice though, and had equally great oven spring as my non-refrigerated loaves, and as zolablue says, the lengthier ferment brings out more flavor - but can also make it more sour, depending on your starter's characteristics. Reinhart advocates retarding in the frig in the BBA as well.
To save some room in your frig, do you have basement with a cool corner? Place an instant read thermometer around and you'd be surprised at how cool some areas in un-heated basements can stay, even as the weather warms up. At least you could keep your garden seeds and flours in a mildly cool spot like that. I am extremely fortunate to have a cool root cellar off of my basement, it is like having a walk-in refrigerator. I store a lot of bulk ingredients there, plus my seeds, extra flour, wine, beer, fermenting doughs, even leftovers from big meals like Thanksgiving when needed, it's great. It was built outside the envelope of, but adjacent to my basement and is completely underground, so the temps stay consistent.
Also, the snow we got last week is melting surprisingly fast this week, esp. today, so I may be able to get my peas in sooner than I thought! :-)
Good luck with your Columbias, I'm sure they will come out as beautiful as the ones on this page. I'm taking some more Thom Leonards out of the oven right now.
Thanks for the reply Mountaindog. We do have an old cellar under our farmhouse and it works great for storing our onions, garlic, potatoes, etc. but unfortunately, I have no access to it from inside the house. It has an outside entrance only. Sometime in the history of the house one of the owners decided to close off the inside entrance. I do have an unheated room at the back of the house (the back entrance) and I use it all winter for cold storage like you use your basement and it's great but now that it's warming up I have to find a cooler place. I always wished for a root cellar.
Anyway, I will try shaping the loaves and letting them sit in the fridge overnight. Hope we all get to see pictures of your Thom Leonards. weavershouse