Author Archive
Figuring Out Flour
June 30 (flour)
Originally uploaded by romanlily
Since I got back from SFBI I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my flour. Around the time I switched to organic unbleached flour back in November I’ve been struggling with pale loaves. We talked about this at school and I suspect that the organic flour might [...]
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 more determined [...]
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 back:
- [...]
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: Grains do [...]
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 [...]
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 and was [...]
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 whole [...]
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 great too!
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 [...]
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 [...]