trailrunner's blog

I found this formula on Sourdough Companion and used it as a starting point for my bread. http://sourdough.com/recipes/raisin-breadbasic-fruit-loaf..here is the link. I subbed the dates and pecans for the dried fruit. I also changed the spices . I used 400 g KA bread flour and 100 g KA ww flour. Sorghum syrup from TN for the sweetener. I baked it as one large loaf at 375 for 1hr. No steam and no stone this bake and no slash.

This is the most amazingly good sourdough I have made so far. The dough comes together like silk. I could handle it with ease and the folding of the fruit into the dough was simplicity itself. I used rice flour for the 1st time on the linen napkin with which I lined the basket. I will always do that from now on. It makes the dough literally fall off of the cloth w/ just a light dusting remaining. Things I will do differently...I will use a larger basket next time or else make 2 boules, I will slash...I didn't as I was afraid the fruit would burn. Turns out the charred dates are so YUM that it is a good thing when they caramelize. I will also go ahead and steam and stone although it is fine w/o but I want to see the difference. So here goes...formula "my way" and pics.

400g KA bread flour

100g KA ww flour

200g starter ( I used my 100% hydration white)

162g warm milk ( I used 1%)

162 g warm water

20 g sorghum syrup ( you could use honey)

10 g Kosher salt

7 g mixed spice ( 5 g cinnamon,1g cardomom,1g nutmeg)

250 g mixed dried fruits/nuts ( I used 1/2 chopped dates and pecans)

Mix all but fruits/nuts in KA just till moist and autolyse 20 min. Use mixer on setting 2 for 1 min to knead bread x 3 with 10 min rests between. May need to add a few drops of water depending on your ww flour and your moisture in your home. Dough should clean the bowl right away and be soft,pliable and silky almost from the start. Ferment 1 hr . Do 2 stretch and folds at 1 hr intervals on the counter. Return to oiled covered bowl after each.  Remove dough from bowl and flatten to a large rectangle. Dough is so smooth and soft that this was a pleasure. Strew the nut/fruits over the dough and roll up to a long tube and then gently fold in ends and sides to make a smooth ball. Return to oiled covered bowl 1 hr. Remove and shape as desired... 1  large boule, batard or 2 .Place in cloth lined basket. Let rise in a warm place for 3-4 hrs, I use the mantle in my kitchen above the fireplace. Bake in preheated 375 oven one hour for one large loaf or to 200 degrees internal temp...see my notes above...steam/stone etc are optional. Finished loaf :

crumb shots:

When nothing seems to be rational in my life and I have lost all of my center I can always turn to baking...and so it has been for 37 years or so. I made my first Challah in 1976 or so...here it is again...almost every week since then. I had some extra "discard" starter and bananas and applesauce that I made last summer and lo and behold it becomes bread and muffins. My freezer is full and for a little while the demons are held back.

The formula for the "discard" banana bread has been posted before in this blog and also elsewhere on TFL. I would be glad to tell you how it came about if you like. The Challah are from a recipe...no formula for this...cups and measures...if you like that too can be posted. c

This is winging its way to NYC for my best friend to use at her celebration Friday evening. I have been making Challah for well over 35 years now but only learned how to do this braid last year. Thanks to TFL for that info . Hope you enjoy and have a blessed holiday.

I haven't posted in ages . Been baking but no time these days to get on the computer. I had to post this though. I used Lildice's Ciabatta crust recipe from the pizza forum...she posted it in 2007. All I can say is...a picture is worth a 1000 words. Her inst. are perfect and this is the best pizza I have ever eaten, let alone made. I will never use another crust.

I had an abundance of discard yesterday so got creative and made some delicious treats. My discard is made up of "alto" and "sax" a white and a rye wild yeast starter. I add to it on a weekly basis. I regularly make the banana nut bread that I have posted before. I wanted to try a bread solely made from the discard. I used the 1-2-3 formula and 2% salt also added 2 scant tsp inst. yeast for good measure. The final dough was 500g starter discard- 1000g tap water-1500g GM bread flour- 30g Kosher salt. I dissolved the starter in the water and added the inst yeast. Mixed and autolysed for 30 min. Added the salt and did folds every 20 min x 4 times. Retarded overnight. where it quadrupled in the buckets. Removed this AM and shaped and let proof for about 1 1/2 hrs. While it was proofing I made the waffles that I had started yesterday evening from the discard. Recipe is on the KA site . It is a fantastic recipe and a great way to use discard. Oven preheat to 500 and loaves were slashed and very heavily sprayed with water. I don't do any other steaming and have found the crust and oven spring are perfect. Bake 10 min and lower to 460 and bake an additional 25 min to 210 degrees. The loaves "sang" for 10 min on removal from the oven. The crust is very crisp and the crumb very tender and quite flavorful. Pleasantly sour and lots of grain flavor came through. I am well pleased with my experiment.

I haven't been taking pics lately but have been baking as usual. Wanted to thank David and also document how wonderful this formula is. I have a starter , thanks to Gaarp, that doubles in one hour. I take it out of the fridge 1x a week and feed it q 12h for a total of 2 times and it is fantastic. I also have a rye starter and a bowl of "discard". The San Joaquin is great. Here are pics. Perfect sour for us as we are not wild about lots of sour. I have found that my starter is very happy in the fridge. At least it works for me.

I will pass along one tip that we discovered along the way. We make a lot of breads from Il Fornaio, a great Italian Bread Book. I have stopped making preferment, biga, poolish....I only use my discard...it works wonders. Believe it or not. The bread rises and has the most wonderful complex sweetness. My discard is a blend of both of my starters...rye and white ( alto and sax) and they are both 100% hydration. Try it. Take out the required amount of your discard and sub it for your biga/preferment/poolish...what a treat.

discard as "biga"

xaipete made me do it. The crust was OK., "nothing extry" as we say in Alabama.  It was a wild yeast dough that had been in the freezer for a couple months. It was very nice to work with but didn't rise too much . It did get nice and chewy and since I baked in a 550 oven with a really preheated stone the bottom was nicely browned in places. The topping was what made it so perfect. My sister in law brought me olive salad from NOLA. It is the best and since that was my home long ago I miss it and was so glad to get the gift. Added Itl sausage, sundried tomatoes from Whole Foods in NYC , fresh mozz and parma. YUM !!!

I have had this recipe for granola since the 80's. My Mom found it in the Orlando Sentinel. It is the best I have ever tasted. Here is the pic and the recipe.

12c rolled oates

 2 c sunflower seeds

2 c ribbon coconut

 2 c chopped nuts - I use almonds and/or pecans

2 c sesame seeds

combine in a pan: 2 c smooth peanut butter 2 c honey 1 c water 3 tsp salt 2 Tbsp cinnamon heat till well mixed toss above mix w/ this dressing. Bake at 300 till brown as you like it. We like it quite crunchy. Watch closely after first 30 min. Takes about 1 1/2 hrs.

 This is the Cherry Pecan au levain from TFL. It was a very easy formula to follow. I made a couple small changes. I put the completed dough into a large bowl and did 15 minutes of folding in the bowl w/ a large rubber spatula. I did the pecans first for 5 min to incorporate them and then put the soaked cherries in the bowl. This worked very well and there was no mess at all. Also my cherries are very moist so I only soaked them about 1 hr and drained well. They held up perfectly due to not being so fragile. The dough was retarded for 24 hrs due to time constraints. This did not affect it at all. It had gotten a nice rise in the fridge and I then placed it on a sunny table while the oven preheated. Great rise and nice crust. I no longer use a steam pan for any breads. I just mist heavily right before I put loaves in the oven and then mist one time a minute later in the oven. Seems to work very well and a lot less trouble and safer too ! These were baked on parchment and placed on a cookie sheet, no stone used today.

I have liked the Blog entries so much that I decided to try it myself. I made the Ciabatta from Jason's formula posted here on TFL. I followed the semolina formula. It turned out wonderfully. I have never made Ciabatta before so I am really pleased. It sure is light and disappears with great ease.

I also made Proth5's baguettes. WOW...they are fabulous ! I tripled the formula and got 7 loaves at 8.75 oz each. I baked the 1st three a few minutes longer 22 min and the rest at the 18 min mark. They taste so good. My starter is very active and I had the full bulk rise in 3 hrs. Last I took my Heidelberg Rye recipe that I have been making for decades and converted it to wild yeast starter instead of ADY. I first got the recipe from the back of a Fleishman Yeast packet. It is a rich chocolate and molasses bread. We always love it and are having it tonight with potato cheese soup. This was a complete success. I had no problem making a pre ferment yesterday from some of the flour and water and my starter. I subtracted the weight of the total starter from the final weight of water and flour and it was perfect. I am cont. to convert more and more of my old recipes. It is certainly worth it . I love the hint of sour and the rich texture of the bread.