Artisan Baker

Sourdough Fun

baker — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:14:01 +0000

Those who follow me on Twitter will know I’ve been making more bread lately: slow ferment and sourdough recipes. I’ve tried a few Leaven recipes, including Dan Lepard’s Rye starter.

I’m currently using Richard Bertinet’s Spelt, White Flour and Honey ferment starter ‘recipe’ from his wonderful book Crust: Bread to Get Your Teeth Into">Crust. If you’re interested in making your own bread, I can’t recommend Richard’s books highly enough. He has written two so far (each includes a DVD):

Richard also has a cookery school in Bath where he teaches bread making. I’d love to do his 5-day bread making course.

In the video below, Richard demonstrates his Sweet Dough technique:

Use the following link to view Richard’s Sweet Dough recipe: http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/03/sweetdough

Peter Reinhart

baker — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:54:29 +0000

I happened across this very interesting talk on the TED website by US artisan baking guru, Peter Reinhart.

New York-style bagels

baker — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:38:56 +0000

Inspired by James Cousins over on Twitter, who baked bagels for the first time yesterday (I believe), I tried a new recipe for New York-style bagels that I found on VideoJug.

It’s an easy recipe to follow and the results are very good. One thing I changed is the amount of sugar and water for the caramel water: I used 75g of caster sugar with 1.5litres of water, which is enough for the 6 bagels.

Northern American: How To Make Homemade Bagels

Wild Yeast blog

baker — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:55:56 +0000

I happened across a fantastic breadmaking blog called ‘Wild Yeast‘ today (thanks to @Bacheldre_Mill and @markgj who started to follow me today). The site is full of recipes and useful information about artisan breadmaking.

One article that caught my eye is about steam. The blog’s author, Susan Tenney discusses two techniques for introducing steam into the oven prior to baking the bread:

using large terracotta pots upturned to cover the loaves rather like cloches
(pre)heating a tray of lava rocks and then covering them with a wet tea-towel, which is removed just prior to putting the dough into the oven

Of the two methods, I reckon the terracotta would be the easier! I currently follow Richard Bertinet’s advice of using a simple spray bottle (the kind you can buy from garden centres) to spray water into the oven just prior to loading the dough onto the baking stones, then spraying again quickly before closing the oven door.

Given the inexpensive cost of terracotta pots, I’m tempted to give it a try. Naturally, I will post about the experience if I do take the plunge.

One recipe has caught my eye: Spelt-Carrot Bread. It looks and sounds absolutely delicious and is one on my list to try.

All-in-all a fantastic resource and one that should be in your favourites. You can also follow Susan on Twitter: @wildyeast.

Kamut Loaf

baker — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:25:38 +0000

Although I’d seen Kamut Bread Flour on Doves Farm’s website, I’d never seen it in the shops until yesterday. I found it in Waitrose in Nottingham, so I bought some to try. It cost £2.29 for 1Kg.

According to the packaging, Kamut was originally grown by the pharaohs in Egypt. It goes on to say ‘This ancient type of wheat, triticum turgidum, is naturally high in proteins and minerals such as selenium. It is excellent for pasta and breadmaking’.

I followed the recipe on the bag and baked two loaves. The flour is rather yellow gold in appearance and has a distinctive taste, pleasant enough, but not as tasty as my favourite sourdough or rye and spelt.

It’s worth a try, but I don’t expect it to become one of my staple flours.

Baking Tweeple

baker — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:49:12 +0000

I’m an avid user of Twitter (@TimCooperUK if you would like to follow me) and have happened across quite a few fellow bakers and foodies:

@Paul_Cole
@allyhook
@sarahlay
@nicksmith1975
@civis
@HilaryCable
@theloafltd
@BertinetKitchen
@MMaryMcKenna
@DeliciousMag
@UKFoodBlogs
@CulinaryChef
@eatwelloften
@fabulousplaces
@GourmetNews
@RecipeBridge
@simonrim
@bbcgoodfood
@UKTVFood
@souschef

Some are more active than others, but all are worth following. If you do follow me, tweet me and say hello!

Bertinet Sourdough

baker — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:43:32 +0000

I’ve been trying Richard Bertinet’s sourdough ferment recipe. The ferment is lively and strong and gave a good rise to the dough. I have to admit that I struggled somewhat with getting the dough usable as the water content of Richard’s recipe is higher than other recipe’s I’ve tried. I reckon it’s all in the technique and I still need to work at it (I reckon a place on Richard’s breadmaking course is on the cards).

After 20 hours in the proving baskets, I found the dough very delicate and a little ‘runny’. In fact, I had to throw one of the doughs away as it just collapsed in on itself in a runny mess when I took it out of the basket. The other dough was a little more stable, but didn’t like being slashed with the lame – almost like popping a balloon!

The loaf I managed to get in the oven turned out to be light and somewhat sweet tasting rather than sour. For my taste, I will need to leave the leaven a little longer than Richard suggests to develop a sourer taste.

All in all, not an unqualified success with sourdough so far, but getting better. I will carry on trying because I love the taste. It can only get better (I hope).

The Would-Be Baker

baker — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:07:34 +0000

Having recently taken up baking I decided to create a blog of my successes and failures in developing my skills. I’ve just started making sourdough breads from natural leavens, albeit with mixed success so far. You will be able to follow my progress – and maybe even give me some needed advice and tips. Feel free to contribute!

Please bear with me while I continue to set up and establish the blog and thank you for dropping by.