Hearth Bread
Deeper Bake Whole Wheat Boule
Jul 02, 2012This is promising. I’ve been planning on letting my oven temperature fall further before loading my bread, and had the chance to try it today. To pretty good effect. The bread’s crust is thicker and denser, without becoming overwhelming. After firing my pizza oven and cleaning out the coals, I allowed the oven to fall to roughly 500F. I will do some research on baking temperature and crumb development and... Read More
My KitchenAid Pro 600 Died
Jul 02, 2012RIP. It makes a loud whining noise, but the dough hook doesn’t go around. I have mixed feelings about this mixer. It is 5 years old, making it a 2007 model, which was during the time when KitchenAid claimed that they had gone back to metal gears after getting a lot of bad press. On one hand, I know that I bake a lot of bread and mix a lot... Read More
Pizza Oven Bread Baking Temperature
Jun 28, 2012There is a trade-off when baking bread between higher temperature baking, which gives you a lighter, crisper crust, and more moderate (lower) baking temperatures, which give your bread a thicker and denser crust. Of course not all breads are the same, and a sourdough miche typically sports a thicker, chewier crust, why traditional light, yeasted breads, such as baguettes and ciabatta’s, have the thinnest and crunchiest of crusts. But I... Read More
Wood-Fired Baguette as Sandwich Bread
Jun 26, 2012It’s perfect! 🙂 Just cut it lengthwise. Read More
Peanut Butter on Whole Wheat Olive Bread
Jun 25, 2012No, really. Here is a nice while whole wheat boule with kalamata olives that tastes great with peanut butter. The olives seem to give the bread a nice moistness, without overwhelming it. It doesn’t cry out for olive oil and red wine; in fact it’s a really nice bread for lunch. Or in my case, right after running. The Forumula 800 grams white whole wheat flour 200 grams of general... Read More
Yeast is Free (well, almost)
Jun 25, 2012Every year or so it time to buy yeast again. At least that’s how it feels. I really did run out of Dry Active Yeast the other day, and luckily had already scheduled a trip to Costco for vegetables, so I could stock up. What really struck we was how inexpensive yeast can be — if you buy in bulk. I don’t remember the exact cost, but 2 lbs. were... Read More
Wood-Fired Ciabatta
Jun 23, 2012I changed gears baking today — from France to Italy and from baguettes to Ciabatta. And I had a ball. Working with a classic Italian bread brought back some happy memories, and the bread was really nice. Very nice. The techniques that I have been developing making other types of bread really spilled over into today’s baking. There are lots of little things to say. First, my dough was 82%... Read More
My New (and very nice) Bread Peel
Jun 22, 2012I have been struggling to find a good way to load multiple baguettes into my pizza oven off and on for years. With my recent round of bread baking, my struggles have come to a head. I’ve tried the back of baking pans, short wood pizza peels designed for (that’s right) pizza, standard metal pizza placing peels, my new baguette flipping board and a homemade attempt to making a true... Read More
More Whole Wheat Oatmeal
Jun 19, 2012I’m starting to get my hands around the weights and characteristics of whole wheat oatmeal bread. If you remember back to a couple of earlier attempts, I basically mixed 1 cup of old fashioned oats with 2 cups of boiling water and a pinch of salt, and added it to a 60% hydrated, 1kg whole wheat bread formula. Not very scientific, and not very accurate. So today, I weighed the... Read More
