Chocolate Sourdough Beer Bread
Saturday, March 30, 2024This sourdough bread, adapted from tastecooking, is made with plain wheat flour, freshly milled kamut and Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Like any sourdough bread, this one takes time too. Plan to make it over two days, mixing the dough on day one, letting it ferment overnight, then baking it the following morning. The combo of beer and chocolate might sound a little strange, but the bitterness in the two play well off each other. I used lager beer, but you can use whatever beer you like. If you prefer it bitterer, richer, use stout or other dark beer. It is perfect for grilled cheeses, nut butters, homemade jam and pate. Use rice flour to dust the banneton if you it on hand as it's less sticky and won't burn easily.
Turmeric and Mustard Sourdough Bread
Saturday, February 17, 2024This bread is delicious, unique, and smells amazing while it is baking. It has a soft, chewy crumb and crackly, crispy crust. The beautifully golden colour comes from turmeric and mustard sauce. It's pleasantly mustardy in flavour and great with some aged Cheddar (or smoked Gouda), Bresaola, or liver pate. It go well with a bowl of soup too.
100% Rye Bread (Roggen Brot)
Monday, October 30, 2023Compared to typical wheat bread, rye bread is considered more nutritious, lower in gluten, more in soluble fiber and have less of an impact on blood sugar. This recipe uses coarsely ground rye meal and light rye flour to create a deliciously crispy, healthy and rustic bread with chewy texture and depth of flavour.
Walnut Boule with Wild Yeast Water
Thursday, June 08, 2023Rich, wholesome with roasted walnuts, combined with medium rye flour gives this rustic, hearty artisan boule a darker colour and more robust rye flavour. It's perfect for any sandwich or toasted and slathered with butter and honey for a deliciosu and fulfilling breakfast. The bread is naturally leavened with wild yeast water - the most organic, natural and fascinating way of leavening bread. The bread has a thin, super crispy crust that crackles in your hand with even a gentle squeeze and a soft open crumb with some nutty bites.
Sourdough Spelt Ring
Sunday, November 27, 2022A delicious, airy sourdough bread with open crumb made from 100% spelt, which makes this bread extra delicious with its nutty, complex flavour and keeps you fuller for longer, and help maintain steady blood sugar levels. This 100% spelt bread recipe is leavened with sourdough starter with NO commercial yeast added. It has a crusty exterior and a soft, tender and moist center. Exactly what you look for in artisan bread. When you shape the bread, do not apply too much pressure as you want to retain the gas pockets (don't punch the dough down like you do with regular bread dough), but still build the adequate tension and structure in the dough.
Country Crust Bread
Thursday, October 06, 2022Thin crispy crust and a tender, moist interior - that's exactly how this delicious and aromatic country crust bread turned out to be and perfect for tearing, dipping or slathering with butter. I have baked this bread directly on a baking stone with steam, but you certainly can use a baking tray instead or a Dutch-Oven. Divide the dough into two at the end of bulk fermentation if desired and shape each into different forms (batards and boules). The baking temperature can be left as it is, but the baking time must be adjusted depending on the size of the loaves.
Sourdough Bread with Blackberry Rosemary Pomace
Monday, August 15, 2022Baked with Blackberry Rosemary Pomace | Baked with leftover pulp from juicing |
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A pomace is the pulpy remains after fruit (or vegetable) has been crushed in order to extract its juice or oil. It contains skins, pulp, seeds and stems of the fruit. It's a cheap source of dietary fibers, antioxidants, pectin and other nutrients. Pomace can be turned into the distilled products, used to make animal feed, recycled as mulch, processed to make grapeseed oil and flour.
In this recipe I am incoperating blackberry and rosemary residues from making fruit curd into the sourdough bread. The add of pomace adds more freshness, fruitiness, depth and colour to the bread. Last but not least nothing is wasted. You can bake the bread into a batard, boule or a regular sandwich loaf. Although pomace is absolutely compostable and perfectly okay inside a composting bin, it's still better if it ends up on the plate.
Spelt Emmer Sourdough Wholemeal Bread using a Scalding Method
Monday, August 01, 2022baked with seam side down | baked with seam side up |
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Scalding, a very common process in grain preparation and cooking, is a technique involving cooking a portion of the flour (5%-20%) for a bread dough with relatively high hydration at a specific temperature which creates a gelatinized starch which can hold a lot more water than a normal bread dough mix. It also induces chemical reactions that create a sweeter flavor and make the bread more easily digestible. Usually 5% to 20% of flour are scalded one way or another. Higher percentages usually result in poor rise. Scald hydration is usually between 200% to 400%.
Scalding has been a part of bread baking for a long time, particularly in Northern Europe and Russia for many rye breads and for some wheat breads. There are different types of scalds (Scalds by gelatinisation degree, by saccharinification degree, by flavouring additives, by preservation and fermented scalds) and multiple ways to create a scald (cool down method - flour is measured, then boiling water is added and mixed in thoroughly; heat up method, like tangzhong where the flour is mixed with cold water, then slowly heated up to 65C/150F).
This bread uses a mixture of wholemeal spelt and emmer flour, which is not only very healthy, but also aromatic and very delicious. If you don't have emmer, then replace it with regular wheat or spelt flour.
Sourdough Discard Bread
Saturday, July 23, 2022Baked with old spelt bread
Baked with old rye bread
Field of Rye
In the spirit of "ZERO Food Waste", this bread uses old bread and no longer needed sourdough starter, which results in a sensational, aromatic and crispy bread. A fantastic sourdough bread that is also known as "Discard Bread". It is very tasty and versatile. This discard bread has very pleasant sour note because of sourdough starter. Make sure that the proportion of sourdough discard does not exceed 40% of total soaker, otherwise the bread might be too sour. You can easily add 10% of this sourdough / old bread powder mixture to any other soakers without adjusting the recipe. This will add a little more flavour to your bread and you won't have to dispose of the leftover starter.
Peter Reinhart’s Kaiser Rolls with Pâte Fermentée
Tuesday, July 12, 2022The distinguishing characteristics of a Kaiser roll / bun (In German, it's known as a Kaisersemmel, Kaiserbrötchen or Sternsemmel) is the star pattern on the top, a thin, slightly crisp crust and a soft, dense, and chewy crumb. They are invented in Vienna, and thought to have been named to honor Emperor Franz Joseph. In the 18th century, the price and weight of the bread roll were regulated by law. In 1789, the bakers' association therefore sent a delegation to Emperor Joseph II to ask for free pricing for the roll. The emperor was so impressed with the bakers' craftsmanship that he approved the removal of the roll from the statutes and the roll was therefore called the emperor's roll / Kaisersemmel.
They are excellent for all kinds of savory and sweet breakfast toppings but also a great base for any sandwich variations. The traditional method for sharing a kaiser roll requires a series of overlappign folds, like making a paper flower. I am using Peter Reinhart’s simpler knotted roll design showed on The Bread Baker's Apprentice page 82. If you want them to be perfect, use a kaiser roll stamp or use an apple cutter to make the roll more like a rosetta.
Pâte Fermentée is the French word for ‘old dough’, a type of preferment that can either be freshly prepared or a piece of "old" bread dough separated from the last dough after bulk fermentation. It is made up of flour, water, salt and commercial baker’s yeast. It is the only yeasted pre-ferment that contains salt. It gives a complex flavour to the bread, it enhances crust colour and makes the gluten network stronger, making the resulting rolls significantly better than their commerical counterparts.