Archive for October, 2009

Oct 19 2009

Why Discard Starter: A Mathematical View.

You see this question pop up all the time in sourdough discussions:
“Why do I have to discard? I hate the idea of throwing anything away. Can’t I just keep feeding the starter?”
Although reducing the waste we produce as a species is a good thing, there are times when it’s actually more logical to NOT do [...]

4 responses so far

Oct 10 2009

Pane Siciliano

Published by Paul under BBA Challenge, Yeast Breads

Our second Italian bread in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Pane Siciliano is recipe #23 in the BBA Challenge. New in the process is the use of semolina flour, a flour made of durum wheat which is often used in making pasta. It is a slightly gritty flour and has that distinct yellow cast to it [...]

19 responses so far

Oct 10 2009

Sticky vs Tacky dough

Published by Paul under Techniques and Tips

For those who wonder how you can tell the difference between those two states of your dough, here’s a simple explanation with visuals that should clarify the differences.

One response so far

Oct 09 2009

Pâte Fermentée

Published by Paul under Techniques and Tips, Yeast Breads

Pâte Fermentée is a French term that refers to a dough that is made before the bulk of the main bread dough is put together and allowed to mature or ‘ferment‘.
By preparing a portion ahead of time, it can be allowed to ferment overnight (or however long) in a cool space (slowing yeast activity)  where [...]

No responses yet

Oct 07 2009

Pain de Campagne

Published by Paul under BBA Challenge, Yeast Breads

Pain Campagne (Country Bread) is recipe number  22 in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and we’re now past the halfway mark in the full 43-recipe BBA Challenge.
Despite the disappointment of the previous bread, Pain a l’Ancienne, I was looking forward to making this one because it involved some fancy cuttin’ and shapin’ and the techiques we’d [...]

7 responses so far

Next »