Weird Dutch Bread

If you follow this blog you willl know, 1. I bake a small batch weekly for Gert, a Dutch chef whose menus range the world settling in each location for one week only, and that, 2. he translated a series of eight weird Dutch sourdough recipes that I’m slowly working through. Let us say they […]

GFU (Explicit)

You’re right, I’ve been a bit quiet of late. But that’s better than posting stuff for the sake of it. Apart from the Big Gig, which I shall get round to writing about, it’s been a little procession of nice students on bread courses – and they’ve all been local for a change. First there […]

Stretch & Fold

More free education from Bethesdabakers. Does stretching and folding the dough during fermentation have any noticeable effect? Two identical white sourdoughs at 65% hydration: The dough on the right was stretched and folded three times every hour for the first three hours of a four hour fermentation. After four hours: When they were shaped the […]

Hydration

I’m doing product development work for a craft baker who wants to introduce a new line of quality breads. He’s successfully producing his first sourdoughs but wants to see more impressive bubbles in the crumb. Obviously I’m aware that pushing up hydration is a way of achieving this but I’d never actually put it to […]

Broa, Eric Kayser & Louis Armstrong

First off, Happy Birthday Louis Armstrong, the greatest jazz trumpeter ever, born this day 1900. So we are working our way through the Hot Fives & Sevens – the bakery is jumping while I knock out a variety of bread and a bunch of baguettes for a wedding Gert is doing tomorrow. The amazing thing […]

Zwiebelkuchen

Thank you Maggie. Back at Bethesdabakin’ at Mair’s Bakehouse she gave me a recipe for Zwiebelkuchen, onion cake so I could make it for my neighbour Steffi’s mum when she came over from Germany to visit. Steffi’s mum duly arrived and I think I can say the Ziebelkuchen turned out pretty well.

Debunking Seigle d’Auvergne

A lot of people tried out Seigle d’Auvergne from Dan Leader’s Local Breads after it came out in 2007. It was almost like a benchmark of authenticity. Americans seem to have too much reverence for European authenticity – I know that’s a shocking generalisation but that’s the way it can feel. Anyway, he presented this […]

Seriously, though

As you might have noticed, I find it difficult not to be flippant about things. But, if you could have come to Bethesdabakin’ at Mairs this year and didn’t you should consider the matter before next year comes around. Ignoring the venue and set up this year, where else could you spend two days baking […]

Pain Quotidien #929

It’s not my fault – I don’t do sport. Gert wanted Portugal so it had to be Broa. Pleasant enough and the right shape for a rasher of bacon. Also did Pear & Rosemary Focaccia – a real looker:

Swampy

No, it’s not a flatbread. Well, it is but it’s not supposed to be. My attempts to be bold and innovative at Mair’s could politely be described as “a work in progress”. The latest edition of “Breadlines”, the Bread Bakers’ Guild of America’s quarterly journal has a recipe for Linseed bread from Steve Scott […]