Archive for February, 2008
Baking School is Over (sniff)
Whole Grain Bread Display Originally uploaded by madbaker66 *Sigh* Well, the SFBI Whole Grain course is over and I’m back in snowy Regina. It’s great to be home but I’m fighting as hard as I can to keep the bread vibe alive. It’ll be hard to do that from my cubicle at work but I’m [...]
You Want seeds? You Got Seeds!
Day 3 Bounty Originally uploaded by madbaker66 What an amazing day at the SFBI Whole Grains course. We combined more soakers, preferments and levains than I can count to come up with five complex loaves. The flavours and textures were as varied as the seeds that went in them. Here’s what we made, from the [...]
Learning about Whole Grains
Bread fromDay 2 Originally uploaded by madbaker66 My final week at the San Francisco Baking Institute is underway and this week it’s an advanced course on whole grains. There is a lot to learn and we’re clipping along at a quick pace. If I could summarize the course in two points it would be: #1: [...]
Do the Opposite
Remember the Seinfeld episode where George did the opposite of what he normally did and everything worked out well for him? That’s a lot like the Whole Grain course at SFBI. We’re getting the chance to learn from Didier Rosada, who is an exceptional baker and instructor. He’s a very effective teacher and is helping [...]
Artisan II is Over!
Artisan II is Over! Originally uploaded by madbaker66 That’s me looking tired and weak-armed, holding a massive boule I made to wrap up my second week at the San Francisco Baking Institute. I forgot to weigh it but I’m pretty sure it’s 5kg. The loaf is made with a sourdough culture I started on Monday [...]
Regional Shapes
Regional Shapes Originally uploaded by madbaker66 We wrapped up the Artisan II course on Friday by spending some time creating decorative bread shapes. Each shape represents a regional variety that is made in a specific French town. For example, you’d find Pain d’Aix in Aix. The bread is a basic country bread with white and [...]
Semolina!
A Mass of Semolina Bread Originally uploaded by madbaker66 Now that’s what a semolina loaf should look like. The formula is very similar to the bread we bake at the Orange Boot, and I got some pointers about shaping and applying sesame seeds which really helped. The bread was always tasty, but now it looks [...]
Ciabatta!
Ciabatta! Originally uploaded by madbaker66 Wow! I now know what a wet dough really is. The verb we used to describe the dough as we were dividing the dough was ‘swimming.’ And it was. The loaves in the pictures were massive, yet light as a feather. 10 inches square yet only weighed 600 grams. Another [...]
Artisan 2, Day 3. Time for new flours
Multigrain Sourdoughs Originally uploaded by madbaker66 Yesterday was the same flour, with different levains. Today was different flours with the same levain (for the most part.) It was a very challenging day since the doughs were especially tricky to work with. On the left is sourdough rye. Rye is a very delicate, pasty dough that [...]
Big Boule, Big Flavour
Big Boule, Big Flavour Originally uploaded by madbaker66 Here’s another example of what we do with leftover dough. This is a ‘white’ sourdough loaf that has been baked an extra long time. It may look burnt but it’s not at all. The smell is a deep, rich caramel and the taste is exquisite. The end [...]