Krompiruša

Hello dear friends,
Its been a while since we posted and its mostly because of our busy summer. I have been in beautiful Brookshire, ME and its been a indescribable time. Its that time of year for me to get on the road and maybe pick up another trade of work. I don't know what awaits me but im excited. I just talked to Ben and he is still at Scratch Baking co. in Portland, ME. If you haven't checked it out then you must. Great bread, cookies, all sorts of cakes and sweet things.. oh and the bagels they are simply the bomb.
Ben's suggestion was to post as a means of knowing what we are up to and just to keep baking. So here is my post with more to come.


This is a traditional meal in my home land, Bosnia and Hercegovina. It is a no yeast dough prepared for phyllo sheets. This would be a similar way you would prepare dough for  home made baklava. The dough is similar to bread dough at about 60% hydration and once its well mixed and kneaded it sits covered with oil for about half hour or longer. Some people also put it in plastic bags overnight which works really well. In my experience the dough is easier to stretch and work with if it sits in the fridge covered with olive oil. 

The stuffing ranges from different cheeses, leeks and potatoes, potatoes-diced onions-pepper, beef with diced onions, spinach and cheese, really anything that is around you. haha
After the dough has rested then it is divided into one pound sections, rounded put on a cloth on the table and covered with flour. The pictures can do the rest of the descriptions for how its rolled and assembled.  Enjoy, Prijatno

Norwich Sunflower Mod.

Hello all,
Its been a while since we have posted but I would love to first and foremost congratulate Wesley John Hatch and Chris Mullen II on their Kickstarter project. If you folks would love to check out some backwoods local Vermont independent film, than here you go http://lowsoundsbytheshore.com/ or on facebook noooo. Not facebook!

Back to Bread stuff!!!

Last week I made a few loafs modified from the modified Norwich recipe on wild yeast. I dont have the measurements with me but I think Ill get pretty close.

All pictures are taken by John Matyas

Autolizzzeee:
1K of Flour (mine was all purpose KA)
600g water @86F
1Tbs Olive oil (as pure as you can get it)
-Mix for about fifteen minutes and pour some olive oil in the mix
-Let sit for about an hour or two

Sourdough starter:
300-350g  100% Hydration Sourdough starter
go with the higher number, what bad can happen??
I fed my sourdough starter twice on this day and it was fabulous and very active

-Mix the sourdough and flour/water/oil mixture for about twenty minutes and add about 18-20g of salt during the mix.
-Bulk ferment for two and a half hours with 35min folds.
-Shape and let proof in cloth for 2Hrs and pop them suckers into a 450F oven, spray the oven or put a dish with water in for about 15min and they will be done in 30min.

 Enjoy friends and please contact us if you have any questions. Ben if you happen to be reading, I miss you and I'm coming down to the coast with my bike tonight. Wanna ride, bake bread and get a few beers??

Sunriser Rye

Baked these two loafs a few weeks back but have been too busy with work to post. I picked up another job as a assistant baker for Bread and Butter farm. Im excited to be learning a much as possible about every bit of rye information I can get. The owner and head baker, Adam has completely shifted to rye and spelt which is amazing. I myself am on the slow shift of having a 100% rye sourdough starter. I would really love to grow my own rye around vermont and brew beer and bake bread with it. Maybe some whiskey as well haha.

These loafs were 60% Rye, 100% Hydration 1/2rye - 1/2wheat starter, 40% spelt, and about 20g of roasted sunflower seeds. Added 85F water to ingredients, giving me a final mixed dough of 83F. Mixed for thirty minutes and bulk rest for 5hrs. Baked at 475F for 25 min with steam in the beginning.  It was a tasty loaf and it didnt last for long. I had to go to work after baking them so I didnt get to take a picture of the beautiful crumb. 

BourbonBeerBread.

Used Smuttynose Zinneke Belgian Stout for 50% of the hydration in this 100% whole wheat sour loaf.  Wanted to use Allagash Courieux, but at $19 a bottle, the $6 Smutty took its place. Toasted walnuts and fresh apple chunks for a little extra.  Dense and sour!  Not such a great idea with the fresh fruit, made great toast though.

Melvin.

Throughout the recent weeks, I've encountered days where I have more sourdough than I know what to do with.  I'm trying not to be so wasteful.  I've been keeping a container of "throw away" in the fridge.  Sourdough waffles, pancakes, pizza dough, and even sour beer have been made!  Just cracked a sour beer actually and one of my roommates explained it as tasting like vomit, which in turn has ruined my potential for enjoying drinking it anymore.  For creation of more bread projects though I decided to spawn a whole wheat version of Penelope.  Alen had brought me some really great organic Vermont whole wheat flour when he visited and so using a spent raw honey jar, Melvin was brought to life.  His eating schedule is about every 12 hours when he's out of the fridge, whereas Penelope is 24 hours.  30% starter is kept for feedings of equal parts water and flour.  Heres my first 100% whole wheat loaf!

Penelope.

Penelope, a still young sourdough starter born from raisin water, honey, malt, organic maine whole wheat flour, and king arthur organic bread flour leavens this 

San Francisco style boule.  King Arthur traditional all purpose flour, kosher salt, and a pinch of raw sugar used in this 48 hour build, 6 hour bulk ferment with 3 folds. Baked on stone in a 450 oven at 45 minutes.  Great bake Chris and Alen!  Thanks for the inspiring companionship!

Vegetarian Breakfast Pizza

Vegetarian Breakfast Pizza

When you want something more savory for breakfast. Something you can run out the door with in one hand, if you need to. Something to excite the taste buds and the eyes. Breakfast Pizza is where it's at.

A simple pizza dough recipe was made from 350 grams of 100% humidity starter, then added whole wheat flour until it could be kneaded by hand comfortably. Salt, rest. While heating the pizza stone, I fried up some tempeh with salt, pepper, garlic, and a little bit of butter. Sliced vine ripened tomatoes take the place of sauce here. Par-bake dough for 5 minutes at 450. Add tomatoes, some chopped garlic, and crack three eggs onto pizza. Bake for 8 minutes. Add fried tempeh, Vermont cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper to taste. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until desired yolk consistency. Enjoy.

Country Baguette

Country Baguette

These winter mornings in North Eastern Vermont can be harsh and bitter cold, but the smell of a country bread coming off of the pizza stone in the kitchen can warm the toes that normally curl on the frozen hardwood floor.

Leaven: 

50% Unbleached All Purpose King Arthur Flour
50% Butterworks Whole Wheat Bread Flour
60% Water
5% Sourdough Starter at 100% humidity
combined, but not mixed, sat for 15 hours.

Dough:

50% Unbleached All Purpose King Arthur Flour
50% Butterworks Whole Wheat Bread Flour
68% Water
5% Sourdough Starter at 100% humidity

Combined, mixed by hand for 25 minutes.
Rest, salt, repeat.

Shaped, then Baked at 450 for 32 minutes.

A very fun and easy hand mixed dough with fabulous results.

I made 2 baguettes, and it took about 10 minutes for my housemates to finish them off. I like to think that success is when it takes less time for your friends to eat your bread then it does your yeast to eat at the dough.






Thanks go to my dear friend Toussaint for being a wonderful model and muse.

Rye Boule

Rye Boule

At the request of a local bookshop owner, a large, dark, 100% rye loaf. The 100% humidity Rye starter took 4 days to make; feeding 48 hours after starting, then 24, then 12, and mature culture 12 hours after that. The Levain was 675 grams of rye flour, 100% humidity, with a few tablespoons of starter and let sit for 15 hours. In the morning, 235 grams of rye flour, 80 grams water, and a few large pinches of salt was added. Hand mixed for 20 minutes, then rested in a round brotform for about an hour, before being baked for 1.5 hours.

Rich Rye scent filled my kitchen, a good rise lifted the air pockets in the loaf, and the cats in my house all tried to eat this bread before it was delivered.

This was my first experiment with 100% rye flour, and I must say it was rather difficult to work with by hand, but I'm not sure an electric mixer would make it more enjoyable.

Leek in the Woods

Leek Loaf with cracked Black Pepper

 This was one of those experimental loafs, but turned up really good. I just really like the combo of any onion veggie mixed with cracked black pepper, so I thought I should try it with a Sourdough loaf.  

 

Modified - 3-4 small loafs/ 2 medium loafs about 5
650 g King Arthur White Wheat Flour

80g Medium Rye Flour

40g Whole Wheat Butterworks

20g Buck Wheat Local Organic

10g Cracked Black Pepper

30g Leeks Sliced thin
465 g Water

30 g Salt
310 g Levain (mature sourdough culture, 100% hydration)

 Yumsville!! You picking up what im dropping down?

Woke up early and had to fill the house with great smelling bread. Its a great soup bread and just a loaf you can spread some cheese on and enjoy its crust. There will be more loafs like this. I have great plans of maybe getting a gluten free sourdough project started soon. Much love, peace, bread and wine.

The Moarning Loaf

French Toast Loaf

One of my favorite loafs that came out of that oven. Its sweet tasty  full of cinnamon and great things. I dont quite know what was in it but I'm sure my husband will fill it in later. He fixes most of my horrible grammer anyway. I honestly dont know what I would do without spellcheck and I still seem to not know how to fully utilize it.

Anyway, great rise on this loaf with a fantastic burst. Chris always complains when he gets a big burst on his loaf or an "explosion" as he calls it. I love it, why keep to any constraints, why should we limit to where the the loaf can stretch to, I love it.

 Told you, the loaf was fantastic, now only if you could taste this through the computer your life would be complete.

Chris here,
I picked up some bread from a Scratch Bakery in Portland, Maine one day, and although my housemates and I did our best to eat it in a timely manner, there was some hardening of the crust in a few days time and we needed to do something with it. French toast ensued. The recipe for vegan french toast is simple. Olive oil, Flax egg(flax meal soaked in 3 parts warm water), Nutritional yeast to taste, Molasses, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Salt, and anything else you want in on your french toast. Dip your near stale bread in this mixture and fry in a cast iron at medium-low heat until golden brown. Unfortunately we have no pictures of the french toast that was made, but we do have the result of the leftover batter. The great thing about Vegan french toast mixture is that it stores easily and for a very long time.  But, if you are desperate to use it up, it goes great in bread!

I made a pizza dough style bread, using consistency of the dough as my measuring devices. I put water in a bowl, then a few tablespoons of Jackie, a 1.2 year old sourdough starter, and added flour while stirring with a rubber spatula. After the mixture looked like thick pancake batter, I stopped and let it sit for a few hours. Then, proceeded to add a few pinches of salt and more flour until it took on the consistency of pizza dough. Easily workable with my hands, I laid this mixture out onto a floured surface and stretched it to its limits. Then gently oiled the surface of the dough, placed the remaining vegan french toast mixture onto the bread and rolled it up into a log. This sat for a few more hours before it was baked at 450 for 32 minutes.

Easy, Simple, Fun, and we got to feel good that we didn't waste any batter.

Cheers.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Mornings

Kale and Garlic Sourdough 

Morning all, its been a while since I've posted and its due to a new job I picked up. EW! Its a cooking position at a local coop and its the best kitchen job I've had so far. Kitchens can be a mess but this one is surprisingly clean, organic, local and great fellow cooks. Oh and not to mention the pretty people who come in and make suggestions, mostly health conscious people or as their real name, hippies.
On my days off which are Tuesdays and Wednesdays I packed my things got some Butterworks farm Whole Wheat flour and headed to the bakery.  We prepped our loafs the night before and let them do the special thing they do overnight. 

  These are two loafs with chopped Kale, diced Garlic, 20 grams of salt, 80 grams of starter and no measure for water/flour. Im gonna try making my loafs without measuring with a scale, I want to get better at just estimating from eyes.

 My husband meanwhile mixed a loaf with whole wheat (Butterworks) and organic molasses. Hold on, he is my husband but more so my partner (lifelong partner). His loaf was smaller but much tastier them mine were. The crust was a fantastic dark brown with beautiful exposure, there wasn't much of an oven spring but it had raised enough. The whole wheat and molasses combined together makes a fantastic loaf.

Booya motherlicker!

Pain de Vermont

 Just found some pictures of the three loaves we baked last week but forgot to post. This was a really nice and soft loaf with a perfect bubbly and crusty outside. The crust was sweet and full of that freshly baked aroma. This recipe was adopted from the Norwich loaf, Norwich Vermont that is. I added a few things and took some things out of the recipe but mostly based of the Norwich loaf.

The hydration of these loaves were at 75-78 percent with about two one and a half tbs of salt per loaf. The salt was added in the last stage of fermentation, just before proofing.










I accidentally flipped one of the loaves the wrong way in my sleepy state at 5:30 am. It tastes the same its just that the slashes didn't open up the right way.

This loaf was definitely one of the tastier white King Arthur Flour loaves I've made. The recipe is not hard and really easy to remember once you bake it a few times in a row. If your interested id be willing to share. Enjoy the posts and bake on you gluten lovers!!

More Delicious Bread

We invited one of our hipster friends over to show off his Swiss made bread knife. It was a bad idea the kid wouldn't stop talking about Switzerland and coffee grinders. Cant believe i let him put his hipster hands on this beautiful wheat sourdough.

Here are a few pictures from Sourdough Loaves from previous bake sessions. Enjoy the images as we bake more and eat more. Hope this gives you the motivation to get some sourdough starter aged and ready for baking.

Last years first Baguette experiment which kinda failed. The rise on the proof was good but i dint get a good rise in the bake mostly because i spaced on the oven spray for humidity. Still got a good crust with a soft spongy inside.

Vegan Gluten Free muffins in Colorado Springs during our wwoof job. They were too good to last the night.

First Wheat Sourdough Potato Miche. This loaf was a traditional style loaf that would be passed around at a table of about a dozen french sailors. Probably a few of these would satisfy a crew of twelve. It came out exactly how I intended,slightly charred top and sides with a soft inside and nice chunks of Vermont organic potatoes'.