Keep Warm Around The Oven

It got cold again. Night time temperatures dropped by about 5C.

I've had to run the heaters at night; although, I can usually turn them off during the day, as the temperature rises above 16C.

At least the Sun is up earlier now.

And, sets later in the evening.

Morgan enjoys his walk around the volcano. We greet other dogs and look for birds as we amble through the park.

Winter still has a grip on us, for a while yet, it seems.

Spring will arrive on it's own schedule.

For now, I keep warm around the oven.

Someone Had To Do It

The other day the weather forecaster said our weather had transitioned to a Spring weather pattern. Translation: Frequent storms out of the west, preceded by warmer Northerlies and followed by colder Southerlies. It's been a pretty wet year. It's been pretty wet for the last two years, in fact. At least Spring should be a bit warmer, if not less wet.

Signs of Spring are popping up all around. Bulbs have been flowering around One Tree Hill for the past few weeks. The cows calved a couple weeks ago.

Newborn lambs frolic around the paddocks. Morgan was keen to have a play.

That reminds me... Yesterday morning, whilst walking Morgan, I spoke to a neighbour who mentioned he had a spit...

Yesterday was a bit wet; a good day for baking. I set about mixing up a batch of sourdough. By late afternoon, bulk fermentation complete, I shaped two boules, placed them in banneton and put them in the fridge to retard final fermentation overnight.

This morning I was up at 5 AM (I slept in!) and baked off two sourdough boules. I always love the smell of fresh baked sourdough. Delicious.

This time I froze one boule as soon as it cooled. I wrapped it well in aluminium foil and plastic wrap. We'll see how it does when I pull it from the freezer in a few days.

In the meantime, I simply couldn't resist cutting off a thick, almost custardy, slice of bread, still warm from the oven. Someone had to do it.

Tartine Sourdough - Basic Country Bread

I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning (not unusual) to bake off my sourdough boules. The second rise was retarded overnight in the fridge (covered with plastic bags for protection) for 14 hours.

The basket was turned out into Dutch oven, scored, and returned to the oven at 230C for 20 minutes with the lid on. After 20 minutes, I pulled the lid and the boule was baked off for about another 25 minutes.

The house filled with the delicious aroma of sourdough bread. A good sign.

Bread is supposed to rest for about an hour after you pull it out of the oven, to allow the moisture to redistribute throughout the boule. It's really difficult to wait that long. After 45 minutes I could not resist and cut off a warm, almost custardy slice of bread...

I love sourdough bread. I made this dough to the recipe in Tartine and knew it would be mildly sour. It is mildly sour in a good way and the retarded second rise lends a wonderfully complex flavour. I'm very pleased with how these boules turned out. I'll definitely be baking these again.

Once the bread cools down, you can store it.

Never store your home baked bread in the fridge! Save that for industrial white bread.

Bread freezes well, but I haven't yet had to worry about that, as we end up eating it fairly quickly in our house. That might change, as this recipe makes two loaves. I may have to start giving bread away to friends and neighbours... If you wish to freeze a loaf, let it cool to room temperature, wrap it well in aluminium foil, and place it in a large ziplock bag.

Here's how I store my bread: I cover the cut end with a piece of aluminium foil (just the cut end, not the whole loaf) and place the bread in a paper bag. I have yet to have a loaf of mouldy bread.

A Man of Culture

I started baking all our bread at home about 3 months ago. I've been using Jim Lahey's basic no knead bread recipe, from his book My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method.

I have been nothing short of amazed at how fantastic this bread is. I've made it with 100% high grade (bread) white flour and 100% organic, unbleached, stone ground white flour. Lately, I've been using a ratio of about 1:5 unbleached white flour to high grade white flour, which gives an excellent nutty flavour to the bread yet still gives a good oven spring.

And, yet... Something was lacking. Before the introduction of active dry yeast (baker's yeast), widely introduced in the early 1940s, bakers depended on wild yeast cultures to leaven their bread. Most modern bread baking utilizes active dry yeast because of it's availability, viability, and quick rising capabilities. It seems even fresh yeast is not available to home bakers in New Zealand.

Growing up in Southern California, I'm familiar with San Francisco Sourdough. I love the sour taste of San Francisco sourdough.

Sourdough bread is commonly available in New Zealand, in artisan bakeries; although, most sourdough bread in New Zealand isn't very sour.

I decided it would be good practice to cultivate a wild sourdough starter.

Having baked with Jim Lahey, I decided to switch from using an active dry yeast to a wild sourdough starter, as described in Tartine Bread.

I mixed whole wheat flour and unbleached white wheat flour in a 50:50 ratio, then mixed the flour mixture with water in a 50:50 ratio by weight. After two days, bubbles started to form. A sign of life.

I trained my culture by feeding regularly in the morning until the culture developed a predictable routine. After 7 days of feeding, I made my first leaven.

I shaped two loaves and placed them in 500g cane round banneton and placed them in the fridge for a retarded final rise. I'll bake them early tomorrow morning. There's nothing quite like waking up to the smell of fresh baked sourdough bread.

We'll see how they turn out...

Morgan, Pizza, and Bread

I had pizza dough getting happy in the fridge. You know what that means...

I opened up a bottle of wine and made pizza. I was not so happy with how the dough was responding. It didn't brown as fast or as much as I would have liked. Perhaps the fridge was too cool for the three day ferment, or the oven was not hot enough, or I was too timid to let it cook long enough. All part of learning to work with a living thing.

I formed the balls of dough and let them rest for an hour before I started making pies. The first balls are always the most difficult to stretch, as they have the least amount of time to relax. Unfortunately, my oven has difficulty maintaining heat, so when the oven is at it's prime, I'm stretching the most difficult dough to work with and by the time I get to the last dough ball, the oven has cooled. Oh, well. If only I had a pizza oven...

I wanted to try something different for one of the pizzas. I made a white pizza with smoked mozzarella, lemon, basil, and olive oil. I liked the combination, but the smoked cheese I used was only lightly smoked, so it's flavour was covered by the lemon. Next time I'll either top it with more cheese or look for one with more flavour.

This morning I played with the dog for a bit before baking.

100g unbleached, organic, stone ground white flour, 464g High Grade white flour, 2% salt, 0.25% active dry yeast, 75% hydration, 24 hour bulk ferment, 70 minute proof, 30 minutes in a covered cast iron cloche @ 250C and 24 minutes uncovered @ 225C.

This time I remembered to score the dough before I put it in the oven.

Tonight I'm going to try making a leaven from my new wild yeast culture and try baking a boule tomorrow, if I'm lucky...

Daily Bread

Champion High Grade flour, 24 hour bulk fermentation.

Oops! I forgot to score the dough before it went into the oven. :-/

Buns & Burgers

Morgan and I walked around the volcano the other day and we passed a paddock with cows and their newborn calves.

I got to thinking about beef and was inspired to bake another batch of light brioche hamburger buns.

Last year we had a pretty good crop of jalapeños. We ate our fill and there were still plenty left, so I picked the remainder, fire roasted them, and stuck them in the freezer. They freeze well and it's very easy to pull a few out of the freezer when you want them and pop them in a hot oven for a few minutes to defrost. I sliced a couple and topped the burgers with them.

I like to keep my burgers simple. This burger had mayonnaise, red onions, cheddar cheese, jalapeños.

I like my burgers coarse ground and medium rare - warm enough to melt the fat in the grind and create a juicy burger.

Not too bad. I would prefer the cheese to be a bit more melted, so next time I'll leave them under the broiler for a longer time. I chose an aged cheddar (Vintage), which is a good sharp cheese, but it ended up overpowering the jalapeños. I may try a more mild flavoured cheese with good melting qualities next time. Havarti, perhaps? The light brioche buns are good and can handle the burger juice just fine without being chewy.

Mt. Tongariro Bread

What do you do after a volcanic eruption? Bake bread, as you do.

Morgan Goes For A Walk

Morgan took me for a walk to One Tree Hill the other day.

On the way to the park, we found a Nikau Palm that was flowering.

The remainder of our walk was uneventful, save for the occasional sheep and pheasant.

This afternoon we drove out to St Heliers to walk along the beach.

The forecast called for a chance of rain. Luckily, the weather was fantastic.

Morgan just wanted to run on the beach.

California Burger

The other day I baked a batch of light brioche hamburger buns.

There is only one thing to be done with burger buns: make a cheeseburger.

California Burger: Medium Rare Pan Seared Hamburger with Aged Cheddar, Fire Roasted Jalapeño, and Roasted Pepper Mayonnaise on a Home-Made Light Brioche Hamburger Bun.

Spahgetti with Mushrooms and Broccoli

Sauté thickly sliced mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and butter...

Slice a head of broccoli into flowerets and caramelise...

Boil spaghetti in salted water until al dente. Drain pasta, add mushrooms, broccoli, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Bacon Blue Cheese Sandwich

Bacon + Blue Cheese + Fresh Baked Bread = Delicious!

Fresh Baked Bread

I love the smell of fresh baked bread.

The crust crackles as it cools for a proper rest.