Not a Pretty Sight

Being in France with no scales has given me the bug for experimenting and improvising. Beginners particularly are forever asking what to do with excess starter. Ditch it, I would say. I probably use more flour for dusting than a lot of people use for baking. Most of this ends up in the bin anyway […]

Scraps (Pizza No 5)

I’ve settled down to a formula of Flour 100%, Water 78.2%, Starter 25%. Salt 1.5%. So 700g dough = Flour 342g, Water 268g, Starter 86g, Salt 5g. Few short kneads, into oiled box for 2-3 hours with the odd hourly stretch. Then into fridge for at least 24 hours. In the domestic fridge was arfachickenbreast, […]

Ist Bread

We’ve been staying in this particular studio in Arcachon since 2005. That includes one three month stint, one two month, and this is the second one month, so it doesn’t exactly take a long time to settle in. The studio is what was once a servant’s quarters in the grounds of a very grand house […]

Another way of Looking

What the bread in the last post “Retirement” means to me is (1) a new waterproof jacket to take to the storm-prone Bay of Biscay tomorrow; (2) a steak dinner from M&S to celebrate the start of the holiday; (3) a little in the bank because the Laputabrot will be paid by invoice. One of […]

Retirement

I was trying to construct a link along the lines of retirement/bed/couche, but never mind. Instead of starting at 5.00 a.m. I saunter out of bed at 6.00 a.m. 6.50 a.m. ten large tomato breads with sundried tomato in the couche. 7.50 a.m. twenty in the couche: 8.50 a.m. twenty four in the couche and […]

For the Doctor (Pizza 5)

drfugawe With the last of the pizza dough, another skinny pizza to eat in the kitchen while the main course is being prepared: Not only was the dough in the fridge, there was left-over tomato sauce. No mozzarella, a scrap of cheddar, and some basil from the windowsill.

87% Wholemeal Continued

Out of the fridge late afternoon Saturday: Out of the box: Fold: Cover and fold four times at hourly intervals: Shaping was a bit tricky – I didn’t feel I was getting any tension into the dough. Into couches and back into the fridge overnight. Sunday morning, remove couches from fridge: Roll onto baking sheet […]

Meanwhile (Pizza 4) …

The beauty of sourdough is that life continues while your dough is fermenting in the fridge. Coming out of the fridge was the remains of pizza dough. While Sue’s shoulder of lamb is in one oven, a very thin pizza is about to go in the other oven to nibble while the lamb cooks: Pizza […]

87% Wholemeal Day 2 Morning

Day 1? Well the camera wouldn’t have survived. Wholemeal dough at 87% hydration would be perfect for mud wrestling but this isn’t that sort of blog. My kneading technique with very wet doughs is to push it away and scoop it back in a circular motion – the mixture never leaves the work surface or […]

From the Primeval Ooze

… that’s how it feels. Emerging from the tyranny of four years of baking to order. During that time the emphasis had to be on ease of production. Virtually every dough had to fit into the same routine and time frame so that the order was ready to time and of a saleable quality. I […]