Bread Baking Results - 2020
Listed below are the breads that I baked during the ninth year of my bread baking journey.
1/14/2020 Loaf #250
Happy Valley Garlic & Herb Beer Bread
<this entry should probably not be in my database, but since I actually baked it and ate it, I’ll go ahead and make a database entry> I received a bottle of dry ingredients as a gift from Lee & Dee Stout - the bottle of dry ingredients was from Happy Valley Beer Bread - the directions indicated that I should add a 12 oz room-temperature beer; mix thoroughly; and bake at a 375F for 50-60 minutes - the taste was surprisingly good!
2/11/2020 Loaves #251 & #251
Saturday 75% Whole Wheat Bread
We hosted a get-together with Mike & Deb Kauffman, Carrie Kauffman, & Dave Yoxtheimer to watch the Penn State at Pursue men’s basketball game (which Penn State won, their first win at Purdue’s home court in about 17 years). Mike made oysters rockefeller, Carrie brought cookies; Roxie made an Indian-Spiced chicken/cauliflower/potato sheet roast & a green salad. I pulled together some cheese and crackers for an appetizer, but we also concluded it would be nice to complement the meal with some bread. I decided to go with a whole wheat bread that we’ve enjoyed before - Ken Forkish’s Saturday 75% Whole Wheat Bread. This bread is a fairly simple bread to bake & can be completed in a single day.
I baked 2 loaves. One loaf went in the freezer for later and the other was cut up for dinner.
In both cases, I over-proofed the dough. Both doughs were too loose and had lost some of their gluten. This resulted in poor oven spring in both cases.
I baked 2 loaves. One loaf went in the freezer for later and the other was cut up for dinner.
In both cases, I over-proofed the dough. Both doughs were too loose and had lost some of their gluten. This resulted in poor oven spring in both cases.
3/25/2020 Loaf #252
Sourdough Crackers
I've often been frustrated about discarding sourdough starter during the regular 'feeding' process. These crackers turned out to be an easy way to use some of that sourdough starter. During a 'feeding', instead of discarding the excess sourdough starter, I just pulled aside 225g and used it later that day to make these crackers. They were easy to make and really tasted good - I'll be doing this again in the future. I picked up the recipe from King Arthur Flour.
3/28/2020 Loaf #253
Sourdough Crackers
Having had reasonably good results baking these crackers a few days earlier, I decided to try them again. This time, I rolled them out further, resulting in thinner crackers. - a good change Taste was really good, but I need to be more careful when sprinkling the salt on top, as it was inconsistently applied and some crackers were very salty.
I let Teagan and Owen try a few of the first batch a couple of days ago and they really liked them. As a result, I sent over a small quantity of this batch for them to enjoy at home. I also sent a small quantity over to Lee & Dee’s house and they both seemed to enjoy them
This is a great way of using excess sourdough starter that might otherwise be discarded during the standard ‘feeding’ process.
I let Teagan and Owen try a few of the first batch a couple of days ago and they really liked them. As a result, I sent over a small quantity of this batch for them to enjoy at home. I also sent a small quantity over to Lee & Dee’s house and they both seemed to enjoy them
This is a great way of using excess sourdough starter that might otherwise be discarded during the standard ‘feeding’ process.
3/28/2020 Loaves #254, #255, & #256
Emmanuel's Sourdough
This is one of our favorite breads and I hadn’t baked it since mid-December, so, wanting to use my sourdough starter, I went with Emmanuel’s Sourdough bread. I was mindful of not over-proofing the dough and this seemed to work out well. I ended up baking 3 loaves.
While I was in the middle of baking, PA Governor Wolf announced that Centre County would be on a mandatory ‘Stay at Home’ order beginning at 8:00pm that night due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. I decided that I only had a couple of hours before the ‘Stay at Home’ order was in effect, so I ended up giving 2 of the 3 loaves to Mike, Chris, Teagan, and Owen - they really seem to like this bread and they had donated a 5pound bag of flour to me earlier in the week. As it turns out, Lee & Dee had donated a 5 pound bag of flour to me also, so I took the 3rd loaf over to them to enjoy. They had it for dinner and indicated how much they enjoyed it.
The flour donations mentioned above were due to hoarders making runs on flour and yeast and emptying the shelves before I went to get some. This was all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I had tried Wegman’s, Trader Joes, Weis, Giant, Nature’s Pantry, WalMart, and even Amazon - none of them had any bread flour.
I typically use King Arthur Bread Flour (protein content: 12.7%). For this bread, I ended up (out of necessity) using King Arthur All Purpose Flour (protein content: 11.7%). This lower protein percentage didn’t appear to impact the results!
While I was in the middle of baking, PA Governor Wolf announced that Centre County would be on a mandatory ‘Stay at Home’ order beginning at 8:00pm that night due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. I decided that I only had a couple of hours before the ‘Stay at Home’ order was in effect, so I ended up giving 2 of the 3 loaves to Mike, Chris, Teagan, and Owen - they really seem to like this bread and they had donated a 5pound bag of flour to me earlier in the week. As it turns out, Lee & Dee had donated a 5 pound bag of flour to me also, so I took the 3rd loaf over to them to enjoy. They had it for dinner and indicated how much they enjoyed it.
The flour donations mentioned above were due to hoarders making runs on flour and yeast and emptying the shelves before I went to get some. This was all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I had tried Wegman’s, Trader Joes, Weis, Giant, Nature’s Pantry, WalMart, and even Amazon - none of them had any bread flour.
I typically use King Arthur Bread Flour (protein content: 12.7%). For this bread, I ended up (out of necessity) using King Arthur All Purpose Flour (protein content: 11.7%). This lower protein percentage didn’t appear to impact the results!
3/29/2020 Loaves #257, #258, & #259
Emmanuel's Sourdough
I baked Emmanuel’s Sourdough the day before this, but since I gave all 3 of those loaves away, I decided to bake 3 more loaves of the same style bread today. Once again, I used King Arthur All Purpose Flour, with a protein content of 11.7% (compared to King Arthur Bread Flour, with a protein content of 12.7%).. Results were very satisfactory.
We’re still in the midst of a county-wide ‘Stay at Home’ order from PA Governor Wolf and, in an effort to support local businesses, I order a pair of running shoes from Rapid Transit Sports. They indicated that, due to the ‘Stay at Home’ order, they would even deliver the shoes. Since one fo the Rapid Transit Sports employees went out of his way to make the delivery, I gave him 1 of the 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough that I had baked today.
We’re still in the midst of a county-wide ‘Stay at Home’ order from PA Governor Wolf and, in an effort to support local businesses, I order a pair of running shoes from Rapid Transit Sports. They indicated that, due to the ‘Stay at Home’ order, they would even deliver the shoes. Since one fo the Rapid Transit Sports employees went out of his way to make the delivery, I gave him 1 of the 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough that I had baked today.
3/30/2020 Loaves #260 & #261
Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough
I realized recently that I had not baked a certain bread in almost 4 years, and this was a bread that we both really enjoyed. So, I made 2 loaves of Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough bread, based on a recipe from 'Sourdough' by Sarah Owens. Once again, they turned out really good. Of interest, the two original dough balls started out about the same size & shape, but the final baked product showed that one was much rounder, (pictured on left), while the other seemed to be slightly shorter and more oblong (pictured on right). I believe the difference was in my slashing - on the 2nd loaf (the oblong one), I purposely ran my blade much deeper into the dough when slashing - this resulted in a much wider opening when the dough expanded.
Since I had just baked some bread the day before, both of these loaves were placed in the freezer for a later day.
Since I had just baked some bread the day before, both of these loaves were placed in the freezer for a later day.
4/28/2020 Loaves #262, #263, & #264
Emmanuel's Sourdough
Once again, I baked 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough. Due to the pandemic, I am unable to secure any King Arthur Bread Flour. This time around, I used Wegman’s Bread Flour. Although it has a lower protein % than King Arthur’s Bread Flour, it seemed to work ok.
We actually weren’t in high need for more bread - I just felt like baking. I recently had a bicycle accident that injured my right arm and restricts what I can do with that arm. There are so many projects that I’d like to be doing right now, but have put those projects off until I have a better-functioning right arm. I did feel confident though that I could bake bread, and it wasn’t particularly difficult. A few motions were uncomfortable, but overall, it worked just fine.
I gave one of these loaves to Mike and family and the other two loaves went in the freezer for later.
The oblong loaf didn’t turn out like I had planned. Although I suspect the taste is fine, the shape was terrible. I had scored the top of the loaf with 5 parallel slashes. Well, apparently I didn’t take the slashes deep enough - when the loaf was expanding during baking, instead of expanding through my scores, it really ‘exploded’ out the side. Oh well, I learned a lesson. This was one of the few times that I’ve used an X-acto knife to score bread and I was apparently too tentative.
We actually weren’t in high need for more bread - I just felt like baking. I recently had a bicycle accident that injured my right arm and restricts what I can do with that arm. There are so many projects that I’d like to be doing right now, but have put those projects off until I have a better-functioning right arm. I did feel confident though that I could bake bread, and it wasn’t particularly difficult. A few motions were uncomfortable, but overall, it worked just fine.
I gave one of these loaves to Mike and family and the other two loaves went in the freezer for later.
The oblong loaf didn’t turn out like I had planned. Although I suspect the taste is fine, the shape was terrible. I had scored the top of the loaf with 5 parallel slashes. Well, apparently I didn’t take the slashes deep enough - when the loaf was expanding during baking, instead of expanding through my scores, it really ‘exploded’ out the side. Oh well, I learned a lesson. This was one of the few times that I’ve used an X-acto knife to score bread and I was apparently too tentative.
4/28/2020 Loaves #265 & #266
Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough
We’ve always enjoyed this particular bread, so I decided to once again bake 2 loaves of Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough bread, based on a recipe from 'Sourdough' by Sarah Owens. Once again, they turned out fairly good, at least in appearance. They could have had a little better oven spring, but overall they were ‘ok’. I can’t attest to the taste of these loaves since I ended up giving both loaves away. Mike & family have never tried this bread, so I sent one of the loaves over to them. I decided to give the other loaf to friends, Carrie & Dave. We had been invited to dinner at their home several months ago and I offered to provide the bread. I made baguettes and overbooked them Big Time. As a result, I felt a need to make amends and get them a better loaf of bread.
5/8/2020 'Loaf' #267
Sourdough 'Discard' Crumpets
This is extremely quick to cook (cooking 4 took 30 minutes after sourdough discard was at room temp); tasted reasonable plain; great with strawberry jam; and really good toasted and then buttered.
This is a really great use of sourdough starter ‘discard’.
For most home griddles, you can likely only cook 4 at a time using the 4" muffins rings. Hence, if you double the recipe to make 8, plan on just another 10-15 minutes for 2nd batch.
This is a really great use of sourdough starter ‘discard’.
For most home griddles, you can likely only cook 4 at a time using the 4" muffins rings. Hence, if you double the recipe to make 8, plan on just another 10-15 minutes for 2nd batch.
5/11/2020 'Loaf' #268
Sourdough 'Discard' Crackers
I had accumulated some 'discard' sourdough starter in the refrigerator a couple of weeks ago. Not wanting to throw it away, I decided to bake some sourdough 'discard' crackers. The previous times that I've baked these, I used starter that had been recently fed. This time was a bit of an experiment to see what the difference would be if I used starter that had not been fed in 2 weeks. The results were fine! <although I did manage to over-bake one of the trays of crackers>
5/13/2020 Loaves #269 & #270
Forkish Saturday White Bread
Since I’m scheduled for surgery soon, I decided to do some baking so we’d have bread on hand for a while. Since I’ve been doing sourdough lately, I decided to go with yeast-based breads for a change. I settled on Ken Forkish’s Saturday Morning White.
I ended up changing my mind on what to do with the bread. Instead of stashing it in the freezer for a while, I decided to give these 2 loaves to two friends working at CVIM during the pandemic (Elizabeth and Emma). Both have children at home and are balancing working during challenging times with keeping the kids happy while they are social distancing. Both seemed top appreciate the bread. Elizabeth even sent me a picture of her twin boys with bread in one hand and a ‘thumbs up’ from the other hand!
I ended up changing my mind on what to do with the bread. Instead of stashing it in the freezer for a while, I decided to give these 2 loaves to two friends working at CVIM during the pandemic (Elizabeth and Emma). Both have children at home and are balancing working during challenging times with keeping the kids happy while they are social distancing. Both seemed top appreciate the bread. Elizabeth even sent me a picture of her twin boys with bread in one hand and a ‘thumbs up’ from the other hand!
5/14/2020 Loaves #271 & #272
Forkish White Bread with 80% Biga
Let’s try this again - since I’m scheduled for surgery soon, I decided to do some baking so we’d have bread on hand for a while. The bread I baked yesterday I ended up giving away, so I decided to bake something for our inventory. I went with an experiment this time and baked Ken Forkish’s White Bread with 80% Biga, a rather high percent of Biga to resultant dough.
It seemed like an extremely wet dough and I wasn’t particularly convinced it would turn out. Although the dough seemed flat when entering the oven, it did have some oven spring and created huge loaves. We had some bread that night with a great black bean soup. The bread was really nice - crusty, but with a very soft & moist crumb.
It seemed like an extremely wet dough and I wasn’t particularly convinced it would turn out. Although the dough seemed flat when entering the oven, it did have some oven spring and created huge loaves. We had some bread that night with a great black bean soup. The bread was really nice - crusty, but with a very soft & moist crumb.
5/15/2020 Loaves #273 & #274
Forkish 50% Whole Wheat Bread with Biga
This is the third consecutive day that I’ve baked bread. Since the prior two days I baked white breads, today I went with a 50% whole wheat. Although I thought I had limited the proofing cycle, the dough seemed to collapse when I scored it. It had some oven spring, but was still more ‘spread out’ than I would have liked. I ended up giving one of the loaves to our neighbors across the street - Mark & Jen Lachendro and their family. The other loaf, I sliced in quarters and popped it in the freezer.
6/12/2020 Loaves #275, #276, & #277
Emmanuel's Sourdough
We’re at Keuka Lake and ran out of bread. I pulled my sourdough starter (The Wongster) out of the refrigerator a couple of days ago so I could revitalize it. When feeding The Wongster, I saved all starter that would have been ‘discard’, with plans to use it for crackers later.
Today I baked Emmanuel’s Sourdough, a type that it easy to make and one that we really enjoy. Three loaves later: one to use right away; one to the freezer; and one for a neighbor (Ginny & Tom McCollough).
Today I baked Emmanuel’s Sourdough, a type that it easy to make and one that we really enjoy. Three loaves later: one to use right away; one to the freezer; and one for a neighbor (Ginny & Tom McCollough).
6/13/2020 Loaves #278 & #279
Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough
Since we’ve always enjoyed this particular bread, I decided to bake 2 loaves of Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough bread, based on a recipe from 'Sourdough' by Sarah Owens. The bread turned out ok, although lacked the oven spring I would have liked. Since I had baked the day before, one of these loaves was popped in the freezer and the other was given to some neighbors (Brenda & Dave Houck).
7/17/2020 Loaves #280, #281, & #282
Emmanuel's Sourdough
We’re at Keuka Lake and ran out of bread. We even had to buy a loaf of bread from Wegman’s to hold us over until I could bake some more. I baked 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough - we cut into one loaf for dinner & popped there other 2 loaves in the freezer for later.
The oblong loaf had a strange shape - when launching it from the pizza peel onto the baking stone, it didn't really want to leave the pizza peel - I kept shaking the peel & sliding a knife blade under the trailing edge (over and over) - it eventually landed on the baking stone, but only after some disconfiguration.
The oblong loaf had a strange shape - when launching it from the pizza peel onto the baking stone, it didn't really want to leave the pizza peel - I kept shaking the peel & sliding a knife blade under the trailing edge (over and over) - it eventually landed on the baking stone, but only after some disconfiguration.
8/14/2020 Loaves #283 & #284
Forkish Saturday White Bread
We’re at the cottage and on our last loaf of home-made bread. And later today, we’re getting company (Mike/Chris/Teagan/Owen & Betsy/Jasper). So, I decided that I better bake some bread. I didn’t have time to bake with sourdough, so decided to go with a yeasted bread that I could finish the same day I started. Ken Forkish’s Saturday White Bread was the choice.
I decided to experiment placing the dough in the dutch oven using parchment paper (instead of just plopping the dough in directly out of the banneton). I placed the parchment paper over the top of the banneton; covered this with a pizza peel; and then just gently turned it over. The dough came out of the banneton nicely. I then lowered the dough & parchment paper into the dutch oven. This all worked fine, but the baked bread ended up sticking to the parchment paper and took a little effort to separate the two for cooling of the loaf. I tried AP flour between dough & parchment, but still had it stick. I’ll try rice flour or semolina next time.
The loaves lacked good oven spring. It was a hot day & I suspect I over-proofed them.
I decided to experiment placing the dough in the dutch oven using parchment paper (instead of just plopping the dough in directly out of the banneton). I placed the parchment paper over the top of the banneton; covered this with a pizza peel; and then just gently turned it over. The dough came out of the banneton nicely. I then lowered the dough & parchment paper into the dutch oven. This all worked fine, but the baked bread ended up sticking to the parchment paper and took a little effort to separate the two for cooling of the loaf. I tried AP flour between dough & parchment, but still had it stick. I’ll try rice flour or semolina next time.
The loaves lacked good oven spring. It was a hot day & I suspect I over-proofed them.
8/19/2020 Loaves #285 & #286
Forkish Saturday White Bread
I baked 2 loaves of bread 6 days ago and it was all consumed over the weekend with family here (Mike/Chris/Teagan/Owen & Betsy/Jasper). So, we needed more bread. As was the case 6 days ago, I went with something quick, a yeasted bread (Forkish Saturday White Bread).
Last time, the loaves lacked oven spring, so I focused on improving that part of the process. It was a cooler day, so the proofing was easier to predict and confirm. Loaf#1 had good oven spring. About 5 minutes before baking Loaf#1, I put the dough for both loaves in the refrigerator to (1) stabilize dough#1 & (2) retard the proofing of dough#2. I then brought Dough#2 black out of the refrigerator 3-4 minutes baking it. Loaf#2 didn’t have nearly the same oven spring. I’ve concluded that I waited too long to put dough#2 in the refrigerator.
I decided to continue experimenting with placing the dough in the dutch oven using parchment paper (instead of just plopping the dough in directly out of the banneton). The last time I tried this, the parchment stuck to the baked bread. This time, I rubbed a small amount of olive oil on the parchment paper - this kept the parchment from sticking to the baked bread. My procedure: I oiled the parchment paper lightly; placed the parchment paper over the top of the banneton (oiled side down above dough); covered this with a pizza peel; and then just gently turned it over. The dough came out of the banneton nicely and the parchment didn’t adhere to the baked bread.
Last time, the loaves lacked oven spring, so I focused on improving that part of the process. It was a cooler day, so the proofing was easier to predict and confirm. Loaf#1 had good oven spring. About 5 minutes before baking Loaf#1, I put the dough for both loaves in the refrigerator to (1) stabilize dough#1 & (2) retard the proofing of dough#2. I then brought Dough#2 black out of the refrigerator 3-4 minutes baking it. Loaf#2 didn’t have nearly the same oven spring. I’ve concluded that I waited too long to put dough#2 in the refrigerator.
I decided to continue experimenting with placing the dough in the dutch oven using parchment paper (instead of just plopping the dough in directly out of the banneton). The last time I tried this, the parchment stuck to the baked bread. This time, I rubbed a small amount of olive oil on the parchment paper - this kept the parchment from sticking to the baked bread. My procedure: I oiled the parchment paper lightly; placed the parchment paper over the top of the banneton (oiled side down above dough); covered this with a pizza peel; and then just gently turned it over. The dough came out of the banneton nicely and the parchment didn’t adhere to the baked bread.
9/4/2020 Loaves #287, #288, & #289
Emmanuel's Sourdough
We’re at Keuka Lake and are almost out of bread. We were expecting family for the Labor Day weekend, so I baked 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough. As it turns out, the expected company couldn’t make it. We cut into loaf#1 for dinner - the freshly-baked bread tasted great! We froze loaf#2 and gave loaf#3 to our neighbors, Pat & Tom Sudek.
10/21/2020 Loaves #290 & #291
Forkish 50% Whole Wheat Bread with Biga
We’re at the lake and attempting to use some food items up for the year. We had 2 partial loaves of bread in the freezer and having finished both of those loaves, ended up with no bread in the cottage. I also had some whole wheat flour I felt a need to use, so I decided to bake 2 loaves of 50% whole wheat bread to hold us over until we head back to PA. One loaf went in the freezer and we cut right into the other loaf for dinner. Although I didn’t achieve the oven spring I was hoping for, we both really like the flavor of this particular bread.
11/3/2020 Loaves #292, #293, & #294
Emmanuel's Sourdough
I had some friends (Mike & Deb Kauffman and Renee Shuey) who have expressed an interest in getting some of my sourdough starter so that they can begin their sourdough journey. Since I need to revitalize the starter before sharing, it seemed like the perfect time to bake some bread. I decided to go with my new favorite, Emmanuel’s Sourdough, and I baked 3 loaves. I paid much closer attention to the dough in the proofing cycle and seemed to get it right. All 3 loaves turned out good - good firm crust and good oven spring. We cut into one of the loaves and the crumb was good and it tasted really good. I shared one loaf with our son, Mike, for his family. I was able to get some of my sourdough starter to Mike & Deb Kauffman, and ended up also giving them one of the fresh loaves baked today. I’ll get some of my sourdough starter to Renee later this month.
11/4/2020 'Loaf' #295
Sourdough Bagels
Since I had my sourdough starter fed and ready to go, I decided to do something different. I went with bagels for the first time. The process was fairly straightforward, although I did rip the dough during the kneading process. Along with my poor shaping, the dough rips adversely affected the shapes of the bagels. I tried 1/4 bagel toasted and topped with butter and another 1/4 bagel toasted with butter & cream cheese. The texture and taste weren’t up to commercial bagel standards, but both were somewhat ‘ok’. They seemed to have areas with slightly undercooked dough - I’m not sure if this was due to me not boiling them long enough or not baking them long enough. Future experiments are in order.
11/5/2020 Loaves #296 & #297
Cranberry-Poppy Semolina Sourdough
I was ‘on a roll’ with sourdough this week and decided to try something completely different. I went with this sweet-flavored bread, compliments of Sarah Owens. It was a reasonably easy bread to prepare and bake. I ended up baking it in bread pans, contrary to Sarah Owens’ preference. When I split the dough, shaped it, and popped it in the bread pans, each dough ball only filled about 1/2 of the bread pan. After 5-6 minutes of baking, it didn’t appear as though I was going to get any rise in the oven, but eventually the loaves rose nicely. We tried one of the two loaves right away and I gave the other loaf to Lee and Dee Stout. Although I am not a particular fan of sweet-flavored breads, this bread did get very positive reviews from Roxie and Dee.
11/6/2020 Loaves #298, #299, & #300
Emmanuel's Sourdough
I baked some of Emmanuel’s sourdough bread 3 days ago - after giving away 2 of the loaves and eating 1/2 of the 3rd loaf, I figured I better bake some more to have on hand. All 3 of the new loaves were immediately popped into the freezer for laster use.
11/7/2020 'Loaf' #301
Sourdough Discard Crackers
Still searching for an effective use of sourdough discard, I happened to see ‘burchacres’ post on Instagram for Sourdough Discard Crackers. It sounded so easy and quick that I decided to give it a try. Whoa, talk about simple and quick! From start to finish (including ~40 minutes of bake time), it took less than an hour. They tasted great. I tried one batch using “Everything but the Bagel Seasoning” (strong flavor) and the second batch using “McCormick’s Italian Seasoning” (milder flavor).
11/11/2020 'Loaf' #302
Sourdough Discard Crackers
I tried the burchacres sourdough cracker recipe 2 more times. In both cases, I used Oak Hill Italian Seasoning as a topping - for the 2nd batch, I also added some salt as a topping. I had mixed results this time around. Flavor was milder than when I used other seasonings. Batch-1 was problematic as I had trouble getting a consistent bake - some of the crackers were baked way too much, especially those near the edges. Batch-2 was problematic as it took very long to get them baked - the dough was much thicker which led to the longer bake time - some of the crackers were pretty good, while others were under-baked, yet firm.
11/12/2020 Loaves #303, #304, & #305
Emmanuel's Sourdough
In between cutting down some trees/bushes and patching woodpecker holes in our deck ceiling, I baked 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s sourdough bread. I gave one loaf to Pat & Tom Sudek; one loaf to Nancy/Gary Olin; and the final loaf found its way into our freezer. Although a loaf of bread is inadequate payback, it served as a partial ‘thank you’ to Gary Olin for loaning me & helping me set up his scaffolding so I could reach the woodpecker damage.
11/6/2020 'Loaf' #306
Sourdough 'Discard' Crumpets
This is extremely quick to cook (cooking 4 took less than 30 minutes after sourdough discard was brought to room temp); tasted reasonable plain; great with strawberry jam; and really good toasted and then buttered.
I was participating in a baking class offered by Root Baking Company and during the first class, a demonstration of baking crumpets was shown. Although I had made crumpets once before, I wanted to use the procedure shared by Root Baking. The two procedures (King Arthur Baking & Root Baking) were quite similar and both results were good.
This is a really great use of sourdough starter ‘discard’.
For most home griddles, you can likely only cook 4 at a time using the muffins rings. Hence, if you double the recipe to make 8, plan on just another 10-15 minutes for 2nd batch.
I was participating in a baking class offered by Root Baking Company and during the first class, a demonstration of baking crumpets was shown. Although I had made crumpets once before, I wanted to use the procedure shared by Root Baking. The two procedures (King Arthur Baking & Root Baking) were quite similar and both results were good.
This is a really great use of sourdough starter ‘discard’.
For most home griddles, you can likely only cook 4 at a time using the muffins rings. Hence, if you double the recipe to make 8, plan on just another 10-15 minutes for 2nd batch.
11/17/2020 Loaves #307, #308, & #309
Emmanuel's Sourdough
I was getting my sourdough starter ready to share with Renee Shuey and decided to bake some bread. I went with Emmanuel’s Sourdough again and baked 3 loaves. We cut in to one loaf immediately; shared one with Mike/Chris and family; and shared the third loaf with our neighbors across the street (Rachel, Noah, and Alice).
11/18/2020 Loaves #310, #311, & #312
Brioche
As part of an online class offered by Root Baking Company, we dedicated one class to brioche. We prepared the dough during the class and put it in the refrigerator for extended fermentation. We then witnessed the subsequent steps of shaping and baking the brioche. Although several styles of brioche were described and demonstrated, I ended up baking 3 styles: brioche a tete; brioche hamburg rolls; and a brioche loaf. I didn't achieve the shape I was after with the brioche a tete and the loaf was not shaped very well, but the brioche a tete and brioche hamburg rolls tasted really good. I popped the brioche loaf in the freezer.
12/12/2020 Loaf #313
Seeded Sourdough Discard Crackers
I found a recipe for sourdough crackers online that sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try. It was a fairly easy process with reasonably good results.
I ended up with too much flour on the crackers - next time, I need to use much less flour on the counter when rolling out the dough.
The thickness of the crackers was very inconsistent, resulting in some being baked much quicker than others - next time I will consider using a pasta roller to ensure consistent thickness.
I ended up with too much flour on the crackers - next time, I need to use much less flour on the counter when rolling out the dough.
The thickness of the crackers was very inconsistent, resulting in some being baked much quicker than others - next time I will consider using a pasta roller to ensure consistent thickness.
12/13/2020 Loaf #314
Seeded Sourdough Discard Crackers
I had tried a new sourdough discard cracker procedure yesterday for the first time and had mixed results. Having somer ideas on how to improve the results, I decided to go with the same seeded sourdough discard cracker procedure again today.
I used much less flour when rolling out the dough and ended up with crackers that weren’t ‘saturated’ with flour - much better than yesterday
I rolled the dough more thoroughly with the rolling pin and made sure to spread it out much more than yesterday. The results were almost all of the crackers were nice and thin, whereas yesterday I had several crackers that were way too thick.
Overall, this batch turned out much better.
I used much less flour when rolling out the dough and ended up with crackers that weren’t ‘saturated’ with flour - much better than yesterday
I rolled the dough more thoroughly with the rolling pin and made sure to spread it out much more than yesterday. The results were almost all of the crackers were nice and thin, whereas yesterday I had several crackers that were way too thick.
Overall, this batch turned out much better.
12/22/2020 Loaf #315
Seeded Sourdough Discard Crackers
I had planned to bake some sourdough bread again and decided to use my sourdough discard for crackers again. I went with the seeded crackers again - they are dense and crisp and have a really strong & pleasant flavor.
12/23/2020 Loaf #316
Puffed Gruyere-Thyme Sourdough Discard Crackers
Since I had planned to bake some sourdough bread again, I decided to use my sourdough discard for crackers again. I ended up baking two different types of crackers - the first one being seeded crackers. For this bake, I went with puffed sourdough crackers with gruyere cheese and thyme. They were indeed puffy and had a nice strong cheese flavor. These crackers are a little more work than other sourdough discard crackers that I’ve baked, but the results are fairly nice.
12/23/2020 Loaf #317
Artichoke-Spinach Sourdough Braid
We wanted to have something to go with soup and I wanted to try something new. I found this enticing dish in a book that had been given to me as a gift last year. Having never tried something like this (essentially a stuffed bread that is braided), I didn’t have high expectations. Well, it surpassed my expectations and turned out really good. I’ll be baking this again in the future!!