I am a bread baking enthusiast – I love sourdough but also love the immediacy of yeast bread. I am keeping two starters alive – one is a white starter and one is whole wheat. This page is to record what I make with my thoughts and pictures of each loaf. The most recent baking is at the top of the page.
October 31, 2010 - Whole Wheat Sourdough boule. Fantastic oven spring and an almost perfect bread.
October 31, 2010 - White sourdough boule - perfect crunch crust, really delicious bread.
September 15, 2010 - Ciabatta bread made with Hector's recipe, but half whole wheat starter and some wheat germ added. Delicious.
September 13, 2010 - Blackberry pie with whole wheat crust. Paul had been craving blackberry pie since I told him about the one we made in Tacoma. We bought frozen berries, and it turned out great! I think my signature top crust is the polka dots.
September 11, 2010 - Half Whole Wheat sourdough. I kneaded this by hand because my mixer is broken... it turned out just great!
September 10, 2010 - Dog cookies made using the new cookie cutters I brought back from my trip to the US in August. The recipe is Nancy Silverton's - uses sourdough starter along with half whole wheat flour and half white flour. I substituted a cup of Maseca (the cornmeal they use for tortillas) instead of a cup of white flour. The mint is from my patio.
August 18,2010 - Half Whole Wheat, using Country White yeast bread recipe with a couple of changes... a tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of honey. Huge loaves, turned out great.
July 31, 2010 - Sourdough with half whole wheat starter and chia seeds. This bread was on the way to being so fantastic... until the power went off for more than an hour after it had been baking only 10 minutes. I reheated the oven and finished baking it when the power came back but it was a fraction of what it could have been. Like my new signature?
July 31, 2010 - Sourdough with half whole wheat starter and chia seeds. This is the bread, above, that the power going off goofed up. Oh well, it still tasted good!
July 23, 2010 - Sourdough bread - This is the flip side of the one bread below that was edible. Can you see it blew out the bottom and side? I should have scored it around but I was so sure it would be a failure I didn't bother. This was actually very good bread, and I still have half of it in the freezer!
July 23, 2010 - Sourdough bread from Hector's recipe. We went out for a walk and ended up having a beer and watching the sunset at PV so the first rising went way too high. I shaped them and put them in the fridge overnight and the one on the right was a complete failure. Never really rose right and I thought the oven spring would help. No. The other one I rose separately and in a bowl and it was much better, very good actually.
July 22, 2010 - Cranberry Walnut bread - Made using Hector's recipe for Country White and the addition of wheat germ and some whole wheat starter along with the yeast. Next time I'll add some honey or sugar to the dough, but it was fantastic.
July 14, 2010 - Ciabatta Bread - I made this using Hector's recipe again but I used the required amount of salt. It is delicious and very easy. It is strange working with such wet dough, but that's what makes this dough so good. I'll be making this often.
July 13, 2010 - Pain de Campagne bread from the Ultimate Bread cookbook. Substituted graham flour for rye. It has both yeast and sourdough starter but is made in one day... not as big a loaf as I expected. This bread disappointed me, too dense and not much flavor. Next time if I don't have rye flour I will just use white or whole wheat.
Kalamata Olive - Sundried tomato - Olive oil Sourdough July 6, 2010 - This bread is to die for. Seriously amazing. I used Hector's sourdough recipe (1 kg) with the additions. It didn't rise as high as normal because of the oil, etc. but the flavor is incredible. It proofed in the fridge overnight, but the night before I took the other half of the dough and we made a pizza with it, only putting a bit of nice parmesan grated on top. With vegetable soup today at lunch I took a bit more of that dough and made some breadsticks. This is incredible. A+++++
Cinnamon Raisin Cranberry bread - July 2, 2010 - Country White recipe with additions. Makes fantastic toast. Quick and easy.
Ciabatta Bread - June 29, 2010 I made Hector's full recipe of dough - only I made a mistake and used the salt called for in a half recipe. They turned out great, just not salty enough! I made croutons with some of it, gave two loaves away, and still have a loaf in the freezer.
Sourdough Bread - June 15, 2010 Fantastic, excellent sourdough bread that was wonderful with Cream of Poblano pepper soup! (Hector's recipe)
Sourdough Bread - June 15, 2010 Fantastic, excellent sourdough bread that was wonderful with Cream of Poblano pepper soup! (Hector's recipe)
Country White Bread - June 11, 2010 Made with Hector's recipe and a bit of white sourdough starter added. Very good.
Half Whole Wheat Sourdough - June 4, 2010 Look at this fabulous bread! It was amazing. I used Hector's sourdough recipe but mixed the two starters and some vital wheat gluten. I used a couple of baskets to try to simulate a proofing basket. Look at the oven spring on these! I loved them.
Half Whole Wheat Sourdough - June 4, 2010 Look at this fabulous bread! It was amazing. I used Hector's sourdough recipe but mixed the two starters and some vital wheat gluten. I used a couple of baskets to try to simulate a proofing basket. Look at the oven spring on these! I loved them.
Sourdough Dog Cookies - May 26, 2010 from Nancy Silverton's book - these have mint and vegetable broth and are brushed with egg. The dogs love them.
White Yeast bread with added sourdough starter - May 22, 2010 From Nancy Silverton's book. This turned out fantastic although the crust could have been better.
Whole Wheat Bread - May 13, 2010 Nancy Silverton's recipe. Delicious.
Cinnamon Raisin Cranberry bread - May 11,2010 Hector's recipe for Country White with cranberries, raisins, and cinnamon as well as some wheat germ. Delicious.
