WARNING

Don't try this at home, kids! I would be ECSTATIC if you all tried baking bread, but please don't try to use the recipe I posted! Go out, get a cookbook, and make a leaven! I wasn't detailed enough on here for you to be successful!

Should I keep Going?

Do y'all want me to keep posting? yes/no leave an answer please!

I'm gonna do it.

I will post the recipe to my sourdough.
Here's the thing, friends, bread is only water, leaven, flour and salt. It really is more the PROCESS than the ingredients that it important. But, nonetheless, I'll show you how it's done.

Ingredients:

• 900 grams white flour
• 100 grams whole wheat flour
• 200 grams leaven
• 750 grams water (700 to start, then add 50 later)
• 20 grams salt

To start, you do the float test of the leaven in water. If it floats in warm water, it's ready. Then, you measure out 700 grams of water, and mix into it the 200 grams of leaven with your hands. 

Next goes in the flour. Your mix all of it with your hand, then once it combines to one mass, you let it sit for about half and hour. 

This is a really crucial rest, because, it lets the flour absorb the water, then relax again. 

Then, you add the extra 50 grams of water, and 20 grams of salt. After this, I usually find a warm space for the dough to do it's bulk fermentation. This is a four hour rise, and every half hour, I turn the dough . 

To do this, I dip my hand in, and scoop up a part of the dough from the bottom, and fold it over the top. This creates air bubbles, which in tuen makes for light, fluffy bread. 

During the bulk fermentation, the bacteria in the leaven eats at the carbohydrates in the flour, and produces lactic acid as a biproduct of anaerobic respiration (yogurt and beer are made in a similar way.) CO2 is another by product -- air bubbles! Good thing I payed attention in cell biology. 

After the four hours, I pour the dough onto an UNFLOURED surface. I recently realized how important that is. I flour the top of the dough, and cut it into two pieces about the same size. I shape the dough with a bread spatula, which looks like a small metal rectangle with a wooden handle. I shape the dough into a round, pulling slightly out from under the loaf with the spatula. 

This creates tension as part of the dough sticks to the unfloured table, and I kind of wrap the dough around itself. 

Then comes the bench rest. I left it rest for about half an hour again, and I usually flour the top and cover the two pieces with a cloth to keep the draft off them. 

After the bench rest, I take the cloth off, flour the top, and flip the dough over again. This time, I shape the for the final rise. I fold in both sides of the somewhat pancake-shaped dough, and then fold in the top and the bottom, and roll it over itself to make a neat little round loaf. 

And then we put it in the fridge over night to rise! And when we return, kids, we'll wield the flames and the hearth. And put those babies in the oven. 

Reply to Comment: Do you ever consider making other types of bread? like ones that you use more for sandwiches or are you really into the sourdough at the moment?

I am forever loyal to sourdough! And you can TOTALLY make sandwich's on sourdough! Panini's are so great on sourdough, especially with tomato and basil...
I have tried adding other things to my bread. I once made a cumin and dried currant loaf, but the outside was so burnt, all the flavor was a bit too smoky to distinguish between the flavors. I also really wanted to focus on getting the basic recipe down pat before I tried new things.
I think I will branch out soon, though. I really want to try to make a semolina or rye bread. Which should I do? Leave a comment!

Reply to Comment: Is Bread Your Favorite Thing To Bake?

Yes! It is! My mother went to school to be a pastry chef, and worked in some cafes and restaurants for a while. My little sister wants to follow in her footsteps and open a bakery. My dad jokes that we should open "The Blakery". (A pun on my last name.) Stazi, that's cool that you like to bake pies at home! That's my mother's specialty!
To answer your question further, I have just recently started trying my hand at pastry, and so far I've had a lot of fun! However, because bread has such a long process, I often find it more rewarding.

Keep commenting! :)

MATH CAKES

For my friend who did most of a math problem set. You can see here a pi cake, a square root cake, an x and y cake, and an M cake. I used a whipped cream frosting leftover from a pie my sister made this weekend, and some decorating sugar we had in the cupboard. They were TASTY.

Pictures from the last batch!

I finally got my camera in order! Yes! Winning!

Sorry for the blurriness. I like how dramatically this loaf rose out of the markings I etched in the top (with my own lil' flat razor!), but the burnt crust was a result of me using a too high temperature. Ah well, it's toast for me for the rest of the week!

Cut open, the loaf revealed a perfectly done inside, with a nice array of bubbles!

Looks like a cave, don't it? Stalagtights and stalagmights and all that good stuff. Only this is better. 'Cause you can EAT IT.

I put some earth balance (a vegetable-based spread I use in place of butter) on this slice...

Pretended I was a silver-screen star...

and took a photo of it. I love love love how the spread and the lighting make the bread look like gold! 

What was interesting about this loaf was that I added a bit too much water in the beginning, so it was a very wet, heavy, and sticky loaf for the whole process. I rose alright in the oven, but it was a very small, and round loaf. I'll add less water next time, and play around with the hydration level of the dough.

Cinnamon Bread!

It turned out really well! This is half of a loaf I brought into school. The other one at home is a bit burnt on the outside. My oven is a bit hot, and I have to scale it down by 50 degrees to match up with the required temperature. 

Also, because I added cinnamon sugar, the crust caramelized in a different way. I'll work on this recipe more, maybe adding some toasted walnuts or... lord a'mighty... what if I added FIGS. That is definitely on my to-do list. 

Follow! Bookmark the page! Send me your thoughts in a comment. 

(Cup)Cake Review

It was as easy as

one

two

three

four.

This was really a "mix it all together and bake it" recipe. However, the timing for how long and how hard one should mix the batter was really specific -- 30 seconds on medium for the eggs and sugar, and then a minute with all the other ingredients. I didn't turn the beater up high enough for the minute long mix, because there were still clumps when I poured the cake batter into the pan... didn't catch it in time for the cupcakes. Lalalala whoops.

I think I'll frost these tomorrow morning while the bread is in the oven.

New Loaf! New Loaf! Let's Go!

The new loaf is in it's first rest! This is going to be a CINNAMON LOAF. woot. Would the general populous be interested if I posted the recipe I use? Or would that just take up too much space? Lemme know!

Arugala Eating

...is my favorite pastime.

My lunch is leftover hash (beef cubes, potatoes, onions and carrots), with some washed arugala on top.
I'm also baking both bread and cupcakes today! I'll blog about them both. Because I heard so many happy memories folks had about CINNAMON BREAD, that'll be my bread today.

I"m making vanilla cupcakes for my friend who did most of the work on a math assignent (THANKS I LOVE YOU), as well as a friend who celebrated his 16th birthday on saturday. Since the recipe I'm using makes A LOT of batter, I'll make 12 or so cupcakes and turn the rest into a small cake for my advisor group. We may have a small holiday celebration on tuesday.

happy sunday! Leave me a story about bread in my comment box.

I've been eating so many eggs lately.

Eggs as snacks, eggs as breakfast, omelettes for lunch. But I like 'em, okay?
This is an omelette with tomatoes and potatoes, with garam masala and chili powder spices. AND fresh arugula on top. Happy lunching!

Sourdough vs. Yeast Bread.

Per request, I will do a post on what makes sourdough different from yeast bread.

This is my pet blob. Yes, this is what sourdough starter looks like! This is the stuff that makes sourdough special.
To make this, you let flour sit... and rot in warm water. After a couple of days, you discard most of the little bowl, and add equal parts flour and water. This bacteria created is then sort of "trained" into acting like a leaven. I'm not too sure about the microbiology of this process, but I know it works!
I'd say the main difference between sourdough and yeast bread, apart from the leaven they use, is that sourdough undergoes a step in the baking process called "bulk fermentation."

This is a FOUR HOUR rise! About every half hour, I give the dough a "turn," meaning that I fold the dough over itself, creating air pockets. In this long rise, the bread develops a really amazing flavor, and the gluten in the wheat binds in a different way, creating the typical texture we know from sourdough.

Bread that uses yeast rises much more quickly than that of sourdough, so the long bulk fermentation is not needed. This means te flavor is under developed, and the texture is completely different. As a baker, I find that sourdough is much more satisfactory to bake, but that may just be because the entire process takes about 8 hours. Man, is it a labor of love.

I wrote a whole paper for my english class on sourdough vs yeast bread, and how the industrial revolution played a huge part in that; I think I can post that to this blog if people would like. If there are still questions out there, please feel free to ask! I love comments!

I NEED TO KNOWWW

DID you have a bakery you used to go to as a child? Where was it? Tell me!
I didn't really, and I kind of wish I had a memory like that to look back on.
I think the closest thing I have is a little chocolate shop a couple towns over called Burdicks. Their hot chocolate is as thick is melted fudge.
ALSO a more modern bread-y happy place that I've found is the small chain Hi-Rise Bakery. Lots of bread, jam, high ceilings, and old wooden benches.

A shot from Hi-Rise

By ECWC on Flickr

Burdicks!

By alphaprep on Flickr

Let's Give The Egyptians a Little Love

Did you know that all bread used to be sourdough? It's the truth. THEY used the leaven that I use! The same stuff! This was all before the industrial revolution, when people figured out that yeast alone will do the job, but the taste isn't as good. The Egyptians knew what they were doing, man.

I took my bread into school today, and my class really enjoyed it, which is always a nice feeling. Maybe if you leave me a comment, I'll bake you a loaf!
Happy Snacking,
I

Eating-Bread-In-Class Selfies

First Loaf Out!

The recipe I use makes two loaves, and the first one came out of the oven about 20 minutes ago! It had a nice oven spring, meaning that when I shaped it, enough tension in the dough was created for it to rise well. For the bread noobies out there, think of it like winding up a rubber band so it can explode. Same general feeling. I can't wait to slice into it!

BAKING AT ODD HOURS!

WOOOOHOOOO LET'S GO. The oven is preheating! Though I'm not sure the dough has risen very much. I guess we'll find out, right?

Annnnd we go to bed.

But here is the dough about to go into the fridge for a long, overnight rise! I'm excited about this dough, actually, it felt like it had developed a good tension while I was shaping it.... it just FELT right. I need to get up a 5:30 to bake these bad boys, but remember:

Bread for life!

Time to shape the dough!

Mother freaking iphoto. Come at me, bro.
Ah well, none the less, we need to move on with the process and take the dough out of it's large bowl, and shape it. I never actually knead the dough during the whole process. About every half hour during the bulk fermentation, I give the dough a turn; I turn it over itself to create bubbles! After that stage, I put the dough on the table, and shape it into a sort of pancake shape, and let it sit for 20 minutes, called the "bench rest." Les' get to it!

Bulk Fermentation

Heyo. Iphoto hates me. I can't post pictures for you. But my dough is in it's bulk fermentation. I'm going into this loaf with the knowledge that it will be a failure. My unresponsive leaven wasn't at it's peak when I mixed the dough, so I suspect the bread will not rise like I want it to. All I know is that I will not get a lot of sleep in the next 24 hours. Hope you'll stick it out with me!

BLOGGING IN REAL TIME, FOLKS

I decided to bake today. I set out a tablespoon of my sourdough starter in a bowl with warm water and a 50/50 mis of whole wheat and white flour. The Tartine cookbook calls for 200 grams of each, but I eyeballed them; I think that's where I went wrong. The leaven is supposed to become bubbly, but when I got home from school, it was completely unresponsive. Even after I moved the bowl to a warm place (leaven and dough rises best around 78-80 degrees F), it still didn't respond. I just added a bit more flour, and I think the blob is doing better. I'm trying to upload a picture, but iphoto isn't digging me right now. I'll try again later!
Leave a comment! What do you think I did wrong?

Snack Time!

This was my snack this afternoon. I fried two eggs in a pan with olive oil and tomatoes, and put them on a toasted crumpet halves with a bit of leftover tamarind sauce from Indian takeout we had last night.
Note to readers: I tend to snack eclectically, but I swear, it all tastes good.

FOODIE READS: 5 Books for People Who Like Food

1. Heat , Bill Buford
2. Omnivore's Dilemma, Micheal Pollan (heard him on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on NPR once, he's super funny.)
3. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
4. My Year In France, Julia Child 
5. Good Bread Is Back: A Contemporary History of French Bread, the Way It Is Made, and The People Who Make It , Steven L. Kaplan

Happy reading, dears. Please leave me comments! I love hearing from you!

HELLO BREAD LOVERS

HELLO BREAD LOVERS

Well howdy. This is a blog for bread baking, bread lovin', and general foodie talk. Occasionally, I will blog to you in REAL TIME as I bake bread -- sorry dears, you may be on the receiving end of my complaining.

I started baking bread last year, when I got a cookbook for people with IBS (HOLLA!), ans saw they had a recipe for baguette. It was total crap, but I loved the idea. Then I stumbled upon this video of Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco (I may or may not have a shrine for him.) He talked about all these philosophies of bread, the science behind the long rise that makes sourdough sourdough, and how he got his start in baking. My dear, dear mother ended up getting me the book and some freeze dried sourdough leaven (who will make a cameo on here), and I began feeding it and helping it grow.

    Let's take a minute here to explore the wonderful world of leavening. I assume most of you readers out there are bread bakers yourselves; so you will know what I'm talking about. However, I'll oblige the oddballs who are out of the loop. most bread that you know of -- the stuff you make sandwiches on -- is yeast bread. It uses active dry yeast to make the dough rise, and can be made quickly and efficiently. Sourdough uses natural leaven, which is a blod that results from letting flour rot ("ferment" is the more polite term) in warm water. When using this leaven, one must let the dough rise several times, including a long, 4 hour "bulk fermentation." This creates a TOTALLY different texture than with yeast, and a superior flavor. And, I can say as a baker, sourdough is more satisfying to make.

I leave you now with this video I afore mentioned. 

"As always, it is in the bakers hands" -- C. Robertson