Over the last couple of months, I’ve been getting great bread from Matt at his bakery in Miamisburg, Ohio, Boosalis Baking & Cafe. A couple of weeks ago, I asked if I could buy some flour from him, as he gets flour that’s harder for me to find in the area, and, a bit to ... Read More »
BBA Challenge 6 – Cornbread
20 Aug ’09
I’m still behind in my Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, but I’m working my way up. With Weight Watchers, I’m actually skipping the dessert type breads just to make sure they’re not around the house. I was a bit surprised to see a quick bread in the book. There’s no yeast in cornbread, just a bit ... Read More »
BBA Challenge 5 – Ciabatta
22 Jul ’09
I’ve been behind in my Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge baking. There are a couple of reasons, but mostly because some of the recent ones have been very dessert oriented, and I’m trying to avoid that somewhat. I’ve also been lazy, of course. Last week, I got everything going to go with ciabatta, however. I’ve actually ... Read More »
bba challenge 4 – brioche
19 Jun ’09
With the addition of Dreyfus Dog to our family, I skipped the third week of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge. Bagels would have been a handful with a new puppy in the house, especially one that already ways 68 pounds! He’s doing well, though he still hasn’t gotten the cats to like him yet. I ... Read More »
Brioche – Beautiful, Buttery Brioche
7 Nov ’07
Now that Food Photo 101 is started, I still don’t want to stop cooking and talking about cooking. With that, I realized I still haven’t posted about the bread I made for the wine party we had a couple of weeks ago. The foie gras I made gave me the opportunity to try a new ... Read More »
Biscuits and gravy
23 Sep ’07
It's here!!! Autumn officially started today! After this summer, I'm ready for lower temps and cooler evenings. Bread baking filling up the kitchen with yeasty smells and apple pies cooling before being ready to eat are anticipated. Read More »
Breaducation – first sourdough and more
22 Jan ’07
I was hoping to do some cooking last weekend, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that, but the one type of weather I don’t like to cook during is rain, especially freezing rain! We got about 5" of snow yesterday, with rain following. As it turned out, I probably could have ... Read More »
Breaducation – sourdough starter day 7
19 Jan ’07
Day 7 of my sourdough started brought a lot of bubbles! I think it's on its way now. I can detect a slight acidic/sour smell, but not a bad smell at all. When I mixed in more water and flour, the starter was kind of pillowy, definitely not just a bowl of flour and water. In my opinion, it's a real starter now!!! Now the question is... When will it be ready to use? Read More »
Breaducation – starter days 5 & 6
18 Jan ’07
Hopefully, I'm not boring you all with my sourdough starter attempt. It's a simple way to try to make a starter, and, after having read more about starters in books like The Baker's Apprentice, I probably would do it differently if I hadn't already begun. However, you should be able to see the bubbles starting to form in the starter. There were a couple on day 4, more on day 5 and even more on day 6! I think it's working, though it may be a while before it's a stable starter. I'm going to keep going until I think it's either failed or is ready to try out. Read More »
Breaducation – starter day 4
17 Jan ’07
I'm keeping up with my starter, but not doing as well keeping up with my posting, so I'll try to catch up tonight with days 5 and 6. Here is a photo of day 4's starter. It's getting there, keeping a better texture and starting to seem to have a bit of a sour smell, in a good way. Read More »
Breaducation – Euro hearth bread
15 Jan ’07
T his past weekend, as I mentioned in my beef stew post, I made some European hearth bread. The recipe was a bit different from what I’ve used for baguettes; it used less yeast and allowed more time to rise. The poolish used only 1/8 teaspoon of yeast, in fact. I was busy last weekend, ... Read More »
Breaducation – sourdough starter days 2 & 3
14 Jan ’07
I got lazy yesterday and didn't make time to post my photos from day 2 of making my sourdough starter. This one will be a quick and easy entry. Read More »