Time and Temperature Experiments with Modified Gluten Bread

Hello everyone! I’ve been experimenting with time and temperatures from the Modified Bread formula from my course “Extreme Fermentation.” What’s really great about this bread is that you can do endless experiments to find out what the bread will do, especially since the batch is large. Continue reading

Buried Bread – A Sourdough Experiment

Many years ago, when I was working with and experimenting with Desem, I would bury the Desem dough ball in the bag of flour and then later dig it out and see that it had cracked open with the fermentation going on inside. I remember thinking about how nice the skin on the dough ball was. When it was buried in the flour,Continue reading

Sourdough Bread Baking Experiments – Course Launch Today!

NEW course Launch!

Join my new sourdough baking course here: Sourdough Bread Baking Experiments

Today is launch day for my new course, “Sourdough Bread Baking Experiments.” I had a lot of fun making this course but it took me a long time to get it finished. Thank you for being so patient!

In this course, I boiled bread, worked with low inoculation, double hydrations, motherdough, overnight ferments, super high hydration (Cristal Bread) and other fun experimental methods. I also played around with some heritage grains, Spelt and Teff. There is even a failed experiment with double hydration!Continue reading

Countdown to NEW Sourdough Baking Course Launch!

I wanted to launch my new online course, “Sourdough Bread Baking Experiments,” this coming weekend, the last weekend of June. However, I am flying to the “Udemy Live,” convention where I have been asked to be a speaker. So instead I will shorten the launchContinue reading

Baking Hacks & Tips Videos

I’ve posted a new video showing how to clean out gunky wet dough from bannetons. I decided to post a few more of the baking tip videos here for your convenience. Some were done a while ago, but a brush up on ideas is always fun. Continue reading

Playing Around With Gluten Free Bread Baking

I have a neighbor who has to eat gluten free so I told him I would play around with the gluten free flour available in the regular grocery stores. I did not use sourdough, I used commercial yeast and had to go buy some at the store. It was a it weird but I wanted to get a good loaf first and then experiment making it with sourdough later. So this is my first test:

75% Hydration, Easy Autumn White Sourdough Bread

I’ve been having fun with some higher hydration loaves. This particular formula is easy because it uses up a lot of your sourdough starter and the high inoculation rate of starter in the dough is like a built in autolyse. After all, what did you think the sourdough starter was doing while you slept? Continue reading

Playing Around with Teff Flour for Teff Bread

I was able to pick up some Teff flour on discount at the store. The flour is still fresh, so I think the store just wanted to discontinue it. Which means I’ll have to find it elsewhere when I need to purchase some more.

According to the internet, Teff is a seed not a grain and if that leaves you scratching your head, read here: Difference between Seeds and Grains. That is not the only article, just Google it for more information, it is quite fascinating actually.
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The Controversy Rages On….

There has been an ongoing controversy over whether a starter culture that you obtain elsewhere, is taken over by, or reverts to, the local microorganisms after you have had it for a while.

I asked Debra Wink that question and she said a stable starter would keep the original organisms intact if it was healthy.  I have heard many different opinions on the subject. However, there is one thing that keeps me from making up my mind about the subject and that is the tests I have done. Many years ago, I did time tests for different starters to see how long they took to proof.  See Starter Experiments.Continue reading

Kneading Conference West 2012 Part II

The Business of Baking

Kneading Conference West is a three day event held in September at the Washington State University Extension and Research facility in Mt. Vernon. It brings  together bakers, plant breeders, millers, brewers and even oven builders, all with some connection to grain.Continue reading