Focaccia alla Barese: Apulian Onion, Anchovy & Olvie Focaccia - Modern Bakers

Modern Bakers has moved into a new section of Nick Malgieri's book, the Modern Baker. For the next three months, we will be baking and blogging from the yeast-risen specialties section.

This Focaccia is a traditional Christmas Eve antipasto in Apulia. Apulia is an area in Southeastern Italy. I was attracted to this recipe by the use of anchovies. You don't like anchovies you say? I once heard a chef say that anchovies were one of the hidden ingredients, that add a depth of flavor, to a large number of his dishes. If people don't know that they are there, they love them.

These anchovies are not hidden, but boy do they add some flavor.

You start by making the focaccia dough from flour, salt, yeast, water and olive oil. The dough is allowed to rise in the bowl for 1 to 2 hours and then the slack dough is put into a prepared 11x17 pan. Where it rises for another hour.



While the dough is rising, a large thinly sliced onion is sauteed in olive oil until softened and beginning to color. 2 oz of anchovies in olive oil are drained, chopped and added to the onions and sauteed for one minute. Allow the onion, anchovy mixture to cool. Some gaeta and cerignola olives are pitted and quartered and added to the mixture. I couldn't find these olives, so I used a pleasing mixture of black and green olives.



Dimple the fococcia with your fingers, sprinkle on the topping and add a little kosher salt and a drizzle of olive oil. The upper right corner is missing the olives, for the olive hater...




This was so delicious, we devoured it.

Vermont Sourdough

The June breads have been listed in the Mellow Baker's challenge. They include Vermont Sourdough, Pizza Dough and Beer Bread with roasted barley. We are out of bread, so I decided to make the Vermont Sourdough.

I took my starter out of the refrigerator and refreshed it a couple of times for two days. One of my sons has returned for the summer. He has been out of the house for several years rowing at college or working or some bizarre combination of the two. I overheard my husband explaining to Matt that he shouldn't throw out any slimey things that he finds on the counter, "they probably belong to Mom and are going in bread." Matt seemed agreeable to the idea, especially since bread was the endpoint.

I made the liquid-levain build 16 hours before I thought that I would use it. Bread flour, water and starter were combined, covered and happily bubbled away. I had to go to work on Saturday for a work day. Friday was the last day for school for the students but the staff had to come in half day work day on Saturday.

The day was to end with a 45 minute presentation by the superintendent. 90 minutes later, I was worrying about my levain. No worries, I finally got home, it still looked happy. I added the bread flour, rye flour, and water. Mixed it together. Let it stand for an autolyse phase for 30 mins. Then added the salt, mixed and fermented for 2.5 hours with a fold at 90 mins.

I shaped the bread into two boules and stuck it in the refrigerator and started the summer by heading off to Shakespeare in the Park.

This morning, I baked the delicious bread and everyone in the house will be happy when they come down the stairs.

I will try the other variations of this delicious bread.

King Arthur Oatmeal Bread

There has been a bit of a crisis in my house, no fresh bread. Or perhaps my mother being in the hospital has been the real crisis.

My mom is 88 and like most 88 year olds she has multiple health issues. She lives up the street from me in an independent senior citizen community. She ended up in the hospital for a few nights and then went on to a skilled nursing facility for two weeks. I moved her back to her apartment, with home health aids, on Tuesday.

So, this weekend it is time to address some of the deficits in my home. Things are growing the refrigerator; it is not my starters. The white tile floor is not white.

In my forever house, I will have poured concrete flooring, with swirls of color. It will be very accepting of dirt.

The backyard is overgrown, good news, that is outside, not my domain.

Because we are fluent in the rhythm of laundry, it isn't an issue. Except no one has changed the sheets on the beds for some time. And maybe there is a pile of ironing hidden away from sight.

But the crisis remains, there is no bread. And my family no longer likes the bread from the grocers. I have not baked one of the three breads for the Mellow Bakers Challenge, the miche pointe-a-calliere. The recipe takes at least 22 hours. I don't really have the time to commit to a demanding loaf of bread.

I had clipped the Oatmeal Bread recipe from the King Arthur bread flour bag some time ago and put it in my to do pile. I really enjoy oatmeal bread. I checked out the recipe to see if it was a fussy, demanding bread. "In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredient..." Perfect for the overwhelmed weekend baker.

I really enjoy King Arthur's blog. I would love to visit their store. I am taking my girlscouts to Boston this summer. I've considered proposing a side trip to Vermont to look at flours. We are from Texas, we have different acceptable driving distances for side trips from much of the US. If we divided up everything I bought among everyone's luggage I am sure it wouldn't be too heavy. Unfortunately, we are a democratic troop, I think that I would get voted down.

I assembled the ingredients. Actually, I assembled too many ingredients, pick one sweetener, brown sugar or honey.



I moistened the yeast on the milk, which is not on the recipe that I clipped from the bag, but is on the linked recipe. Then I dumped everything into the bowl, combined and kneaded by machine for 5 mins. It was allowed to ferment for one hour.



After an hour, I shaped it and put it in my large loaf pan. After another hour I baked it. Just what the house needed, an absolutely delicious aroma and fresh bread.

Corn Bread

One of May's three breads chosen randomly for April's Mellow Bakers is Hamelman's corn bread. The recipe is not a quick rise, baking powder cornbread. This recipe is for a yeast bread that is made with some cornmeal (25%).

You start by making a poolish of flour, water and yeast that ferments for 16 hours.



The next day fine cornmeal is softened in some water. I didn't have any fine cornmeal, I did have medium cornmeal. I am running out of space for my flour, so I decided to try the medium cornmeal.



Then bread flour, salt, yeast and olive oil are combined with the poolish.




After six minutes in the mixer, I had a very supple dough. It fermented for 45 minutes, then was folded.



And fermented for 45 more minutes.


I divided the dough in two, let it rest and shaped one half into a boule and the other I formed into a large loaf. I have a large loaf pan that I picked up in a discount store. It has proven to be handy with some of the larger recipes.

We preferred the corn bread in the loaf pan. It made great sandwiches and tasted better as it aged.

This is a delicious bread. One that I will make again.

Grissini

The Mellow Bakers keep baking their way through Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread. I love the idea of randomly generated bread choices for each month. You never know quite what is going to come up. Apparently we will be baking three breads a month for 23 months. I find the idea comforting.

One of May's breads is grissini, or Italian bread sticks. It is an easy bread.

Bread flour, water, olive oil, butter, salt and yeast are combined in a bowl.



It was mixed on first speed for a few minutes and then three more minutes on second speed.

There are a number of possibilities for flavoring the grissini. I divided the dough in half and incorporated some cracked pepper and pecorino cheese in half of the dough.



And some rosemary and roasted garlic into the other half.

I am overwhelmed by rosemary. The rains have made it grow at an alarming rate. There used to be a path between my rosemary bushes. We need to eat more rosemary.



The dough was a delightful, supple dough. It fermented for an hour and then was divided into 24 pieces. They were rolled out and baked to make a delightful snack.

This was a fun, quick recipe.

Rustic Bread

I have officially baked my first bread in the Mellow Bakers challenge. The rustic bread started with a pre-ferment. A pre-ferment adds a depth of flavor to breads. This rustic bread pre-ferment used bread flour, water, salt and yeast. A stiff dough was formed that was allowed to stand on the counter for 12 - 16 hours.

The next day bread flour, whole rye flour, whole wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast were combined with the preferment. I cut back on the amount of salt in the recipe. One Tablespoon of salt is a little too much salt for my taste.



Knowing how rye flour can quickly get gummy, I paid close attention to the dough during mixing. It took less than 5 minutes for it to come together and form a supple dough.

The dough was then fermented for 2.5 hours with folding at the 50 minute and 100 minute mark.

After resting, I tried Hamelman's folding technique. I was trying to make a batard with blunt ends. I didn't quite pull it off. The loaves had their final fermentation in floured baker's linens.



After 1.5 hours, they were scored and baked in a 450 degree oven.

I checked on them after 25 minutes and was surprised at how brown they were. Clearly I should have scored them more deeply.

It makes a very tasty loaf of bread, I think that the three flours come together in a delicious fashion and am looking forward to toast...

Spicy Jalapeno Cornbread

I wanted some cornbread for tonight's dinner and when I checked in the Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri, I found a recipe. A quick peek at the Modern Bakers Challenge web paged indicated that no one had signed up to blog about the recipe. I don't know why people aren't rushing to sign up for the bread that calls for four jalapenos. I'm not kidding. Four.

This is a savory recipe in his quick breads section. The quick breads come together with little effort. It is a little bit of an unusual cornbread with the addition of jalapenos, scallions and cilantro. You actually have to seed, and slice some jalapenos and scallions and saute them. I chose to use only two jalapenos, and I diced them. Sometimes I like cornbread for breakfast, and didn't want to end up with a slice of jalepeno in my mouth at five in the morning.

I assembled my ingredients and set about measuring and chopping.




Once the jalapenos and scallions cooled, and butter was melted and cooled this recipe came together quickly.




cornmeal, ap flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt were combined. The eggs were beaten lightly and buttermilk was added to the eggs. Several options are provided for the liquid, I feel buttermilk adds a nice tang to cornbread.

The melted butter and the cooled jalapenos, scallions and cilantro were added to the liquid and everything was combined.



I put it into a square pan. Nick uses round, but I like squares of cornbread. They are easier to split open and grill in the morning.



This is a delightful savory cornbread recipe. I liked the flavor from the 2 jalapenos and the baked cilantro. However, it is not a sweet cornbread. I was impressed by how varied the reviews of the cornbread recipe in the Bread Bakers Apprentice challenge were, I wonder if this recipe will invoke the same varied response.

Minimalist Hot Cross Buns - Mellow Bakers 1st Bread

I found myself in a state of confusion after I finished the last of the BBA challenge breads. What was I going to do on the weekends? What to bake? Paul over at the Yumarama Bread Blog suggested forming a new group of bakers, the Mellow Bakers. We are baking breads out of Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes.

Paul suggested Hot Cross Buns for March. Some people enjoy a hot cross bun in the springtime. I've lived with the people in my house for some time. I know their idiosyncrasies. They will eat no fruit in their breads. They have no aversion to uncooked fruit. Two of my family members have been known to eat raw lemons. Candy that lemon and they won't go near it.

The paste that is used to cross the buns has been peeled off and discarded from many a pastry brought into my house.

So I made nontraditional hot cross buns. No dried currants, no candied peel, no allspice. A touch of cinnamon and a little glaze after they had cooled. They made a delicious breakfast treat. I am not certain that I could convince any one that they tasted like the traditional hot cross buns. If you would like to see what the traditional buns look like and find a recipe, head over to Susan's Wild Yeast blog.

Sullivan Street Potato Pizza

I am enjoying Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. It is hard for me to decide which recipe to try next. I chose this recipe because the guy in the book looks so pleased to be carrying a potato pizza. And why shouldn't he? Potatoes, pizza, what is not to like?

It is a very wet dough that is made by mixing bread flour, all purpose flour, instant yeast and 109% water with a pinch of salt and sugar.



You are supposed to mix it for 20 minutes to see the miracle of bread making. It took a little less for a nice dough to form.


After fermenting for four hours, it is put in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan that has been coated with olive oil. After it is given a chance to rise, it is covered with a mixture of thinly sliced yukon gold potatoes, onions, salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil. The rosemary plants in my backyard are covered with new growth.

It smells incredible while baking.

We all enjoyed the pizza although we aren't really sure that it is a pizza. We are willing to give it another try to discern it's true nature. Some people in the house think that a pizza has to have some sauce/cheese. It has been suggested that this is more like a tart by my bread eating family. I do not know, but I know why the guy in the book is smiling.

I'm sending this to YeastSpotting!

Acme's Herb Slabs

This herb slab is a delicious focaccia, flecked with rosemary. I thought about roasting some garlic and adding it but decided to try the recipe as printed in Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking.

The evening before baking, you make a poolish of water and all-purpose flour. It only uses 1/16th of a teaspoon and I questioned whether it would have much effect.



Indeed it did.

The next morning, flour, salt, fresh chopped rosemary and yeast were combined. Some water and olive oil were added to the poolish and then they were all combined. I mixed it in the mixer until it came together and then let it rest for 10 mins. Apparently to let the yeast hydrate. Then I mixed it with the dough hook for 5 mins.

It was a very wet dough. Over the next hour, I turned it three times and then let it ferment for five more hours. It was divided into two, formed into round blob shapes and rested.



then shaped into rectangles. The rectangles were dimpled, then proofed then baked in a 450 degree oven. After 5 minutes, you flip the loaves. Really, doesn't that sound like a bad idea? A way to get burnt. Or maybe a way to develop a lovely crust?

It is a delightful focaccio. Full of flavor. Nice crumb. I served it with some polenta and sauteed brocollini with garlic.

I am enjoyed Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. She has a different way of presenting the breads. I wonder if I could make all the recipes in her book?

Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedoes BBA bread #42

When I first looked through The Bread Bakers Apprentice, this was one of the breads that I wanted to make. At the end of the book, Peter Reinhart writes about some wonderful bread bakers, Tim and Crystal Decker. The Deckers opened a bakery called Bennett Valley Bread and Pastry. This is one of Bennett Valley Bread and Pastry's most popular breads.

8oz of potatoes were coarsely chopped and boiled in 3 cups of water until soft. The potato water and the potatoes were cooled. 10.5 oz of barm, some flour, yeast, the potatoes and 1/2 of potato water were blended together, then allowed to sit for 30 mins. More flour and salt were added. The dough was kneaded for 6 minutes, 1/4 of chives were added. Kneading continued for a few more minutes. The dough fermented for 90 minutes. It was formed into two rectangles, which were covered with cheddar cheese slices, rolled up and formed into logs with tapered ends. these were allowed to proof for 60 mins.

Some where around this point, I left and turned over the kitchen to my main stake holder. I left the book open on the counter, put the oven stone in the oven and took off. I thought I was in trouble when he called and asked if we were making the Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche, but after a moment of confusion, there was quick recovery. He did a superb job slicing to the cheese. The loaves were beautifully browned, he called me to tell me that they were more browned that other loaves that I have baked, but closely resembled the loaves in the book.

By the time I returned, they had cooled. They are a deeper brown than a lot of the loaves that I have baked. Maybe I should let the main stake holder handle all the baking? Good news for us, at Bennett Valley, they appear to have a shorter cooling time. As I had heard through the rumor mill, these breads are delicious. A great one day bread.

This is such a beautiful, delicious loaf of bread, I am sending it to Yeastspotting.

Whole Wheat Bread BBA Challenge #41

I was not looking forward to this bread. I could find no reason too, it has been met with lukewarm reviews. Oggi thinks that this is her least favorite bread of the challenge. SallyBR found the dough unpleasant to work with, and made it into croutons. Phyl gave it a meh, not a positive endorsement.

First thing, I cut the recipe in half. Then for the soaker, I used coarsely ground oats and whole oats in water. I think that buttermilk would have been a better choice for liquids. For the whole wheat poolish, I left it out on the counter overnight, thinking it might add a depth of flavor, or kill us, who knows. Just kidding, one of my new favorite breads, the Mediteranean Country Bread spends three days fermenting on the counter.

Then I followed the recipe. It is an average loaf of bread. It lacks a strong flavor, perhaps one could call it bland. I won't be making it again, but we will eat it for sandwiches.

Ensaimadas

The Bread Baking Babes are entering their third year. Karen at Bake My Day chose Ensaimadas. They are a sweet, rolled dough maybe filled with a little surprise. Head over to her link for the recipe.

She posted a link to a you tube video on how to roll the ensaimdasas. I watched the video, once again wondering why I didn't study Spanish instead of French. At one point the baker is explaining what he is filling them with and listing some other options. I heard chocolate, really nice how you can understand that word in so many languages.

I filled half of them with Nutella and half with butter, cinnamon and sugar. They are light, delicious treat.

Kossar's Bialys

I ordered a new cookbook. I didn't need one, I wanted one. I am saddened that the end of the BBA challenge is around the corner and am wondering what to do next. I have found that I really enjoy baking bread on the weekends. I find it to be a calming, rhythmic, productive way to make the bread for my family.

I asked Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups about some of the books on her bookshelf, not of course one of the many that I already own. She recommended Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. The New York Times calls it a landmark book. I'm trying to figure that one out..

I planned on skipping the wheat bread for now, only for this weekend. It would be the first one that I skipped. All the way to W and now I am skipping. I think that I have a good reason. My main stakeholder has been away on retreat with 100 teenagers. We all know he is bread lover. I thought that I would make sure that I had some waiting for him.

I could envision the reunion, hi honey, while you were away, I baked some whole wheat bread. Unfortunately, not a single person who has baked it thus far has enjoyed it. Hope you break the trend.

So, I was going to skip it and head for the cheddar chive bread which has received rave reviews. Unfortunately, my starter is a little slow, I needed a back up plan.

There was a recipe in the new cookbook that had caught my husband's eye, Kossar's Bialys. My husband grew up in New Jersey in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. There is a real bagel shop around the corner from his house and my inlaws will pick some up before they fly out to Texas. My husband's formative years were spent eating whitefish salad, lox and whatever else he could find.

A bialy is the short name for bialystoker kuchen. Bialystock is the second largest city in Poland. These delicious Jewish breads originated there and came to New York around the turn of the century.

Glezer's recipe recommends using a food processor to make the dough. You mix high-gluten flour, yeast, salt and water in the food processor. It becomes startlingly hot, you take it out, knead by hand to cool it down, and repeat a couple of time. I think it was a little stressful for my food processor. While the dough was fermenting, I went onto the web to see if anyone had tried the recipe and had any tips. Bread cetera proposes a double flour addition technique which I think I will try next time. This method allows you to use your stand mixer.

I made the onions, cooking them in the oven, they turned an odd pink tinged. Next time I will carmelize them on the stove top.

After about 2 hours, the dough was divided and formed into 12 pieces which were formed into balls. After 2.5 more hours, they were formed into pizza shapes with a narrow membrane of dough in the center. a smear of onions went into the center. They were then baked in a 475 degree oven for 6 mins. They are delicious.

Vienna Bread for the Superbowl, BBA #39

Yesterday I made the pate fermentee, the pre ferment needed for this bread. The mixture of flour, bread four, salt, yeast and water spent some time on the counter developing its flavor and then was moved to the refrigerator to further mature. This morning, I took it out of the refrigerator, chopped it into pieces, assembled my mis en place, took a picture, covered the pieces and went to check out the reviews of this bread.



I was relieved to see that every one has enjoyed it. Oggi has the most impressive slash down her loaf. Sallybr apparently has a husband who is unable to follow the manditory cooling period. Paul's final picture with the jam has had me hungry all morning. Both he and Phyl made the dutch crumb. They had such success, I will have to try that variety.

But I have plans for this bread. Superbowl plans. I am making pistolets or torpedo rolls for steak sandwiches.

We are having too much food. I'm trying Dragon's Chicken Wings, , Pioneer Woman's Mexican Layer Dip, and a variation of her jalepenos, Ina Garten's roasted shrimp cocktail and steak sandwiches. Of course I need rolls.




We always have steak sandwiches for the Superbowl. It is a kid driven thing. My main stakeholder would be happier with some kind of a poboy but as long as their is fresh bread for the rolls, he'll be happy.

I enjoyed this bread. It had a lovely feel to it, and it had salt.

Tuscan Bread, BBA challenge # 38

As we near the end of the challenge, perhaps we have reached one of the more challenging breads for our palates. The Tuscan bread has no salt. It is typically served with some more flavored foods. The New York Times just had an article on Tasty Tuscan Bread. Unfortunately, many of the BBA challenge members who have gone before me have not enjoyed the bread. None of them called it tasty. Oggi really tried a variety of toppings but she isn't heading out to buy any Tuscan bread any time soon. Sally made a beautiful loaf that I don't think that she will be making again. Phyl had a pretty similar conclusion.

So the New York Times likes it. Personally, I'll eat anything that you want to feed me in Tuscany. The recipe that they provide is not similar to Reinhart's. Peter's recipe starts with the formation of a flour paste, boiling water is dumped on flour which is allowed to sit out overnight. The next day, flour yeast, olive oil, the paste and enough water to form a soft supple ball are combined. The NYTimes recipe uses a sponge, no olive oil. But we are talking flour, water and yeast here. After the bread has doubled, I formed it into a boule. I had cut the recipe in half after I had read the reviews and was trying to figure how to enjoy the finished product.

The article suggests making the dried bread into a salad with tomatoes, onions and basil, panzenella. Sounded like a possible future if we didn't like the bread. But first I thought the I would make some Bagna Caoda/Cauda. It is a warm dip, from the Piedmont area of Italy. It is made by combinining olive oil, butter, garlic and anchioves. We normally dip raw vegetables in it. It is one of the saltier flavors that I know of. Slathered on the bread, it was quite tasty. The bread by itself is unusual. Not my favorite flavor, but my main stake holder finds it quite tasty. Apparently as long as there is no fruit in the bread, he will eat it.

Limpa, Swedish Rye BBA # 37

Dear BBA friends, I have a confession, I have killed the bread. I don't know how. Things were going so well. I had some organic oranges and made dried orange peels some time ago. Last night, I crushed them in my mortar and pestle and made the intriguing sponge with the water, molasses and dried orange peel, aniseed, fennel seed and cardamon. I let it cool and added it to some very happy barm and white rye flour. I had a bubbly perky sponge.

This morning, I measured out some bread flour, the yeast (I do remember doing this) the salt, brown sugar and vegetable oil. And then, because I was out of my high gluten flour, I added some vital wheat gluten. Some where I have done something wrong. It didn't windowpane. Do you knead longer? Or avoid the death by gumminess. I avoid gumminess.

It may be the weather. It is wet and cold here. But have moved the loafs into the slightly warmed oven to rise. They are not rising.

It may that they sense my attitude. I am in a bad mood. I have an ill child and I cannot figure out what is wrong with her. I have been a school nurse for a long time. Generally, I have a clue. I am off today, to bake the bread that will not rise but smelled so good and go to the doctor. The stupid bread.

People have had great success. Oggi gave it all fives, and hers look so beautiful. Gaaarp thought it was amazing. Sally's looks delightful. She said that hers didn't rise much, but mine is in two loaf pans, a little effort on its part would be appreciated at this point.

I don't like rye flour. It is pasty. Not pleasant. Perhaps it senses it. It feels kind of alive...

Have I mentioned that my bread is not rising. How long do you think is too long a rise?



Scout doesn't understand it all. At the end of a long day, she is just looking for a place to rest her head.

Two hours later, there was some signs of life and in the oven, spring, just like Oggi had predicted. But no where near what I expected. Still they are delicious.

Mediteranean Country Style Bread

I need a few back up loaves for the freezer, so I thought I'd try a new recipe. Nancy Harmon Jenkins The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook has a recipe for Mediterranean Country Style Bread. It is a very slow rising bread, three days, but is supposed to be delicious. You start by putting 1 t of yeast in 2 cups of very warm water, you add 2 cups of white flour and let it rise overnight.



On the next day, you add one cup of tepid water, 2 T of sea salt and 2 cups of your choice of flour. I added wheat. Leave it on the counter for 24 more hours. Another simply stunning photo.



It is not a labor intensive bread. On the third day, you add 7 cups of flour, I used a mixture of whole wheat and white, some more water. The challenging part is you end up with a massive amount of dough that must be kneaded for ten minutes. It is a bit of a workout, but the dough had a lovely feel. It takes 2 - 3 hours for it to increase in size by 2.5 times. Then I shaped it into two boules and one large loaf. They took about an hour to double. Then I prepared my oven for hearth baking because I am a creature of habit and gave them 20 mins at 500 and then lowered the temp to 350. I baked until they were 200 degrees.

The recipe made three large loaves. I gave one of them away to a friend of mine who was raised in Holland. She is unimpressed with the majority of supermarket breads and has been following my BBA challenge adventures. She thinks that this may be my finest loaf. I will definitely be making this again.

Mediterranean Country-Style Bread
2 cups very warm, almost hot water
1 t active dry yeast
9 to 11 cups unbleached all purpose white flour (I used a mixture of bread flour and whole wheat flour)
2 T sea salt
2 1/2 cup tepid water
2 cups barley, rye or whole wheat flour
2 - 3 T corn meal as needed.

Put the warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Add 2 cps of the white flour, stir to mix and cover with plastic wrap and set in cool place ( 50 - 70 degrees) for 24 hours

The next day add a cup of tepid water, the barley, rye or whole wheat flour, stir Cover at return to cool place for 24 hours.

On the third day, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups tepid water and about seven cups of flour. Continue adding flour, kneading until you have a smooth elastic dough. It was almost too much for my stand mixer and took about 7 mins.

Rinse out he bowl, I sprayed it with cooking spray, put the dough in it and cover and let rise to 2.5 times the size, until it has more than doubled. About 2 - 3 hours.

Turn it out onto floured counter and shape. I made two boules and one large sandwich loaf. Let rise in a warm place (70 degrees) until doubled, about one hour.

Put your baking stone in the cold over and preheat to 500 degrees. Slash the top of the loaves, slide onto hot stone, bake for 15 mins and turn heat down to 350 and bake for 25 - 30 mins. I baked until they were 200 degrees in the center.

This is one of my all time favorites.

Basic Sourdough BBA#30

Just what the doctor ordered, a piece of toast. One I had to wait days to try...

In my refrigerator I have two starters, my trustworthy King Arthur Sourdough Starter. And my starter that I had made by following Paul's instructions on his blog, The Yumarama Artisan Bread Blog. I made Paul's starter after I failed at Peter Reinhart's BBA seed culture. I knew we were approaching sourdoughs so I decided to wake everybody up, see how they were performing and try the BBA starter one more time. About Day three my BBA seed culture was unimpressive. My King Arthur starter had spent a little too much time neglected and it needed a couple more feedings to get back that lovely aroma. But my pineapple starter, Eve, was ready to go.

I wanted to time this bread so I had some for my main stake holder who had to spend the week on travel. I don't know many people who actually enjoy traveling anymore. And a week away is a long time. He is a sourdough lover. It would be great to have fresh bread and cheese ready for when he got home.

Life had different plans. Wednesday I was a little under the weather, unusual for me because I think my years as a school nurse has exposed me to just about everything out there. Thursday I thought I was in The Alien, when the thing pops out of her abdomen. Friday I wasn't going to be doing any baking. It wasn't until Monday when I finally went to the doctors when I discovered that I had food poisoning. Probably something I ate during my let's see how many cheap places we can eat at while your dad is gone stage. It is amazing what antibiotics can do.


This is not a quick bread. But Saturday I thought I would get started. Once you have your barm ready, you need to make a firm starter. You add the barm to some flour and water and let it ferment for four hours, or maybe 8 it is all going to depend on how your starter and kitchen environment are on the day you make it. We were having record breaking cold temperatures. However in about four hours I had doubled the firm starter. Into the fridge for the night, which Peter says is very important for the flavor. Sometimes I wonder if we spend too much time in the fridge.

The next day, the starter is allowed to warm up and then added to flour, salt and water. It made a firm, tacky dough. I decided it was best to do it all in the mixer, but this really gave my mixer a work out.

It was allowed to ferment for four hours, actually five until it had double in size and then shaped and allowed to proof for three more hours. This is an all day bread. I wished that I had a banneton. I made boules. Which were baked in the hearth baking style we have come to expect.

This bread had the best color and crust of any of my breads thus far.

Two days later, I start to think that I could eat some toast. Is there any bread in the house? One loaf is completely gone, half a loaf remains. It was delicious.

The BBA seed culture actually seems to be taking off. Maybe it will be ready for the rye bread.

Potato Rosemary Bread BBA #28

I had been looking forward to making this bread for some time. I like rosemary and roasted garlic and have a favorite roll recipe that uses mashed potatoes. I had high hopes for it.

Yesterday, I made the biga and left it in the refrigerator over night. I woke up early and started roasting garlic. The house was soon filled with a delicious aroma. I cooked some potatoes and assembled the mis en place. The biga was cut into smaller pieces and allowed to come to room temperature. Then it was combined with flour, salt, black pepper, yeast, mashed potatoes, rosemary and water. I used my mixer to form a soft and supple dough. The dough fermented until doubled in size and then I divided it into one large loaf and eight small rolls. These were again allowed to double in size and then they were baked.

I wish you could have smelled them baking. What an aroma. When the bread came out of the oven, Scout came around the corner. Scout has an affinity for bread products. We don't give them to her, but as an intelligent labrador she is always looking for opportunity. She has been known to steal any bread products left unattended. I believe that she thinks that some day I will come to my senses and recognize her as an equal with full rights to anything that comes out of the oven. Today would not be that day.

I had reached the most challenging part of Mr. Reinhart's recipes, the mandatory cooling period. We are getting better at waiting. However, at this moment Emily woke up, drawn by the aroma, she was staring at the rolls. I can't stand the thought of a hungry child, so I gave her one. She made the mistake of deliberately walking by her father who was unable to understand why she could have a roll and he couldn't. Somehow, we started down that slippery slope and there almost weren't any rolls left to photograph. They were delicious. I am looking forward to making the loaf into sandwiches. My main stakeholder says that this may indeed be his favorite, but I have heard that before.

My backyard has turned into a jungle. The rains after the drought have all the plants confused. They are having an unusual growing spirt considering it is fall. My rosemary has added inches, my bay tree will soon take over the house, the basil is going wild, even the mandevilla is blooming. I had thought that I would photograph the rolls in the rosemary so you could see the lush growth.

Scout felt for sure this was her time. Who puts food down in the backyard and doesn't give it to her? She is sulking in the corner right now.