ilovebreadblog

Slicing bread.

2011-01-24T09:01:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

I <3 this crumb.

2011-01-18T14:36:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Calvel - bread mixed at slow speed.

2010-12-28T09:23:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Bargain of the year!

2010-12-21T22:03:00.000+01:00

Today I purchased a second hand kneader for the tiny amount of 15 Euro!
This is a bargain! Cleaned it and made some dough. This baby can take up to 2.5 Kilograms of flour. I am looking forward to the end result.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Brioche - Hamelman.

2010-12-21T07:19:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Gaufres de Liege.

2010-12-20T18:45:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Olive Levain - Hamelman

2010-12-18T16:38:00.000+01:00

Dough temperature should been 76 F. Yes!
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Corn bread - Hamelman

2010-11-22T22:47:00.000+01:00

Shaped and ready to ferment.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Country Bread - Hamelman

2010-11-07T19:25:00.000+01:00

I was so happy with the IMHO perfect result that I decided to post this after a hiatus of some months.

It has been a while...

2010-04-25T15:46:00.002+02:00

...since I posted something on this blog. I never quit baking though. Raisin bread dough. Fermenting...
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Dan Lepard - Quick white loaf.jpg

2009-12-21T23:15:00.001+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

West-Flanders brown bread

2009-12-12T22:28:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Pain au levain - crumb.

2009-12-11T04:42:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Pain Au Levain - Hamelman.

2009-12-06T21:13:00.000+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Finnish rye - proof.

2009-11-29T16:01:00.001+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Peter Reinhart's Napoletana Pizza Dough.

2009-11-27T18:53:00.001+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Brioche - Hamelman.

2009-11-26T14:23:00.001+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Weekend bake.

2009-11-08T19:26:00.001+01:00

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Another picture.

2009-11-03T23:58:00.001+01:00

The bread has a nice cracked crust.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Well baked.

2009-11-03T22:11:00.000+01:00

This loaf has a mix of flour, rye, malt and some seeds in it.
Straight dough.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Poolish.jpg

2009-11-01T07:16:00.000+01:00

Just came home from work. I worked the night shift. Instead of going to bed I just need to do some stuff. Make a poolish to make bread. Also bake some viennoiserie. I took the dough pieces out of the freezer. That is my work flow : make dough cut it and freeze it. In the weekend I just take the dough pieces I need and defrost them. Right now this is some kind of experiment because I took it out of the freezer last night and let it defrost/rise all night. I hope the result will be okay. I don't know. I will update the blog once they are baked. Meanwhile the poolish for my bread can start to rise.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Straight out of the oven.

2009-10-27T20:31:00.000+01:00

I did not have too much time to bake this weekend so I just finished a couple of loaves tonight. Also made a batch of hard rolls.
Here's a pic os the (still warm) bread.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Upcoming Bread day - Belgium

2009-10-20T11:36:00.001+02:00

http://www.alledagenbrood.be/index.php

Hot!

2009-10-18T23:09:00.001+02:00

The dough I made this morning transformed into bread.
>
>

Baking, baking, baking.

2009-10-18T11:58:00.000+02:00

Live from my kitchen. Some hard rolls and bread dough ready to bulk ferment.
Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Plain White

2009-10-11T20:58:00.003+02:00

Fresh out of the oven. A plain white loaf of bread. Straight dough. I did make it with some left over viennoiserie dough. The slight butter scent fills the kitchen.

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

*Edit* I am sorry for the blurry cell phone pics. Each posting that sez 'Sent via BlackBerry' might have pics that are sometimes blurry.

Baked last night...

2009-10-11T17:13:00.004+02:00

I know it has been ages if not centuries since I have been updating my blog. Thanks Hans Joakim for reminding me.
Did I stop baking? Not at all, but there is going a ton of things on in my life and I just cannot seem to make myself update this blog. I should. So I apologize to you all.
I will try to revive this blog again and posting pics via my mobile phone should make this easy!

This is one of the loaves I baked last night, just a variation on the Special West-Flanders brown bread. I used no broken wheat because I did ran out of it and I seem to not be able to make it to the store to get some.
I did use a mixed flour with grains inside, but only like 10 percent, so it is not like too dark.
Once again a straight dough, no sourdough, my starter is staying in the fridge. Actually after this posting I should make some dough again, otherwise I would ran out of bread by the end of the week. I bake like 4 loaves or so during the weekend and store them in the freezer. I have to admit that years ago the thought of frozen bread was something I could not imagine at all. I thought it was like sacrilege. :-)
Nowadays after being surprised how little the bread is different after being frozen or not, I do this all the time, it became my work flow. Okay, it is not a 100% like fresh bread, but it is either baking during the weekend and freeze them or go to the baker...
And since I love baking I choose to freeze them.
The picture is not perfect, but it will do for now. Talk to you guys later!

Sent via BlackBerry offered by Proximus

Special White

2009-08-25T12:54:00.002+02:00

Too dark

2009-08-19T10:31:00.002+02:00

Just like everyone, once and a while my result is not good. This time my loaf was a bit too dark. I like my loaves well baked, but this is a bit too dark ;-)

A simple loaf.

2009-08-16T13:42:00.004+02:00

I've had great results lately using the following recipe :

500 grams flour
6 grams dry yeast
260 grams water
15 grams butter
10 grams salt

Mixing : 2 minutes 1st speed
7 minutes second speed

Bulk Ferment : 45 minutes + one fold
Divide and shape.

Proof : 45 minutes more or less.
Bake 230°C 40 minutes.

I ususally bake using a pre-ferment or sourdough.
When I need bread rather quickly I use this straight dough method.
I use different flours and grains giving it some extra taste.

Hamelman - Pain au levain

2009-08-02T18:18:00.004+02:00

My starter became two years old. It still amazes me that some water, flour and natural yeast can make a dough rise. Here's the rather simple to make Pain Au Levain bread by Mr. Hamelman. I love the simpleness of this recipe. The taste is always superb, this picture isn't but hey, take your 'Bread' books and make this bread!

Soft rolls - Pastry Cream - Apples

2009-07-27T18:38:00.006+02:00

I think it is awesome what you can make out of one single dough.

I made these before (actually this recipe is slightly different though) but now I decided to put apple slices on top of the pastry cream.
I baked them lightly to keep them soft (had some problems in the past when the are baked too dark => they become too hard and even too crispy which is for this kind of dough not tasty at all.)
I am pretty sure that the reason for that is that it depends how long my oven has been turned on.

Baking is like a never ending journey in learning, and the end result might be different each time depending on various factors that you are or are not able to control.

Corn Bread - Hamelman

2009-07-27T18:30:00.002+02:00

Made on request for the smallest member of the family :-)

West-Flanders Brown Bread

2009-07-12T23:10:00.000+02:00

Important!!! Please read!!!!

2009-07-05T14:31:00.006+02:00

There is going to be a huge change to this blog so please read.
Some of you might visit this blog through the next link :

www.ladiesfromneptune.com

Some of you might have contacted me through info@ladiesfromneptune.com,
the link and the email address are going to expire soon.

From now on you will only be able to visit this blog through :

http://www.ilovebreadblog.blogspot.com

Please update your bookmarks. Thanks!

Bart

Country Bread - Hamelman

2009-07-03T16:51:00.003+02:00

Pain au levain (sourdough bread) - Hamelman.

2009-06-07T09:44:00.004+02:00

Lately I have been baking making use of recipes made with poolish. The result I get is always good and I really like it.
Because it has been a while I decided to make the pain au levain from the Bread book by Mr. Hamelman.

OMG!!! I just ate a slice of this bread! Delicious! The taste of the crust and crumb is awesome! It has been too long since I made this, I will put this on my schedule more often!

Here's a pic :

Bread Rack

2009-06-04T16:35:00.005+02:00

I have been looking on line to buy a small (about 1 meter length or so) rack to help me getting the bread out of the oven and vice versa. Of course the main purpose of this rack is to let the bread cool down easily, but I also use this rack to put the plates on
and to slide the dough with baking paper easy onto the plate.

I found this second hand on line for 20 Euros. New it costs 495 Euro, so I did get it real cheap, okay, it is not new, but it is in great condition and will serve it's purpose.

Pine nuts & figs & wine - Dan Lepard.

2009-06-04T16:31:00.003+02:00

Delicious bread from the Dan Lepard book. One of my all time favorites!
Yummie!

Ready to bake...

2009-05-12T21:10:00.001+02:00

PICS? PICS? PICS!!!

2009-05-03T21:50:00.002+02:00

Cake!

2009-03-28T00:56:00.003+01:00

D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Home made!

Pain Rustique (because I <3 it) - Hamelman

2009-03-16T10:55:00.002+01:00

Finnish Rye

2009-03-16T10:48:00.001+01:00

Country Bread - Hamelman

2009-03-01T22:40:00.003+01:00

It has been a while since I made this. Came out nice I think :

Perfect Pistol Rolls

2009-02-08T15:40:00.002+01:00

My best result ever, used plain white flour, otherwise I use a little rye or whole wheat in them. They look/taste delicious!

Random Pics

2009-02-01T22:26:00.001+01:00

Random pics from my baking weekend :

Whole Wheat levain - Hamelman

2009-01-14T20:29:00.002+01:00

First post of the new year! Whole wheat levain by Hamelman.
Very tasty bread, love it...

Butter Pistol Roll

2008-12-28T20:08:00.009+01:00

This is a very tasty variation on hard rolls. It has a certain flakiness and a delicious butter taste. Oops! I told a part of the secret.... How do we get this flakiness into a hard roll? Well pretty easy. We fold butter into the dough. The trick (if you want to call it a trick) is to give the dough two folds (in 3) with butter after the first fermentation.
After folding the butter in, with a rolling pin, we divide the dough into pieces (I use 50 Grams each.) After that we make the roll shape and let the dough ferment.

Recipe :

500 Grams flour
300 Grams water
8 Grams dry yeast
9 Grams salt
_________________
75 Grams butter to fold in (divide this into two equal pieces)

Mix water, yeast, flour for about 2 minutes in first speed.
Add the salt when the dough comes together.
Mix for an additional 6 minutes in second speed.
Desired dough temperature : 22°C or 71°F
Let the dough ferment for 20 minutes covered in plastic.

Punch down and roll with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape.
Place the soft (same consistence as the dough) butter 2/3th on the dough.
Fold in 3.
Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.
Roll again in a rectangular shape. Take the second part of the butter and do
the same as mentioned above. Roll the dough and divide into 50 gram pieces.
Make rolls, and slice.

Proof until they are large enough (I guess it took about 45 minutes, I
have a proofer so this might take longer in your kitchen.)

Bake :

230°C (440°F) - 10-15 minutes (Make sure they are well baked! These times are just a guiding line, it might take up to 18-20 minutes to be fully baked depending on your oven.)

Let cool down if you can and enjoy these delicious rolls!!!

A matter of loaf and death!

2008-12-26T20:08:00.004+01:00

"A matter of loaf and death" is the new movie of Walace and Gromit which went on premiere last night on BBC One. I was actually surprised when I read the
title that it would have something to do with baking!
The movie was great! I am a huge W&G fan and as soon as the DVD comes out March 2009 I will get it. Meanwhile check out the amazing W&G site!

Christmas '08

2008-12-25T19:19:00.006+01:00

Christmas this year was awesome! I ate some great food (I made delicious veggie goulash!) Also I had a great result baking. I made Stollen, brownies (this was a succes!) and a "Buche De Noel" which was also awesome!
Here are some pics :

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T19:16:00.002+01:00

Soft Rolls (with-without pastry cream)

2008-12-22T13:03:00.005+01:00

These look pretty much perfect. Proofing in the proofer sure is a benefit.
I slowly gain control over the new oven, but not for everything. I am kinda
disappointed, because I really seem not to be able to control baking Viennoiserie in it.
This is a real bummer, I think I will use my kitchen hot air oven this weekend to bake the Viennoiserie in. Bummer...

Submitted to Yeastspotting

Recipe :
500 grams flour
42 grams yeast (fresh)
20 grams honey
2 eggs
250 grams milk
7 grams salt
75 grams butter

Mix Milk + yeast + honey + eggs
Add flour
Add the soft butter
Add salt

Knead for about 10 minutes.
10 minutes rest covered with plastic.

Divide the dough into buns 50 grams each.
Make boule shapes.
Rest 10 minutes covered. The ones you want to fill with pastry
cream : take a small cloth, fill with some flour and make a round shape like
a ball. Punch down the dough with it to create a hole to fill with pastry cream,
do this just before putting them in the oven.

Proof for about 20 minutes (this might take longer depending how warm it is in your kitchen), egg wash them and bake.

240°C (460F) for about 10 minutes.

Like I mentioned before on this blog, I usually use cooked pastry cream, but for these ones I made it easy and used a mix. For baked goods that is okay.

Bread

2008-12-11T23:24:00.002+01:00

It has been a while since I posted so here's a pic of some straight dough breads.

Proofer

2008-12-04T20:35:00.004+01:00

So I managed to get home with the proofer I purchased on eBay (that was the easy part actually). What was not so easy was getting the proofer where it should be installed. It barely could pass through the door opening of the house and we had a lot of twisting and turning to do, even remove the doors to get this giant at it's place.

After that I let it stand for 24 hours to stabilize, as one would do with a refrigerator. Then the most fearing moment, would the proofer and namely all the electric wires have survived the trip and the (difficult) installation?
Yes! I flipped the switch and the red heating light started burning. I poured some water into the reservoir and waited a while. The temperature reader showed the desired (25°C)temperature. All good. When I opened the door I saw the evaporated water filled the cabinet, so it seemed to work okay.

I tested it and the breads I put in proofed okay. Only negative aspect : the top of the dough seemed a bit wet, making it impossible to make a decent slash. I seem not able to control the humidity, so I will need to find a solution.

Here are some pics of the proofer, all in all, it was dirt cheap, 99€ is not that much for this used machine. Proofing conditions will be a lot better than in my house, no doubt about that.

New tools

2008-12-03T20:47:00.003+01:00

It is amazing how fast stuff breaks nowadays. I have purchased this machine to cut my slices of bread like a good year ago. It does not work anymore! The Kenwood has died on me. I don't like it. I paid like 40€ for it, which is more than enough and it did last for like a year and some months...
I had been looking to buy a more professional cutter, but the thing is that pro tools cost money, a lot of money! So I told my wife and she mentioned her mum still must have the cutter that her mother used.
She still had it and this piece of equipment is more than 50 years old. It is built to last! I even cut my finger when I cleaned the blade. It is amazing how well this is made. I cleaned it and it looks like it will last for another 50 years! We used it and it works perfect, I could not have been happier with it, just wishing that todays equipment would have the same quality build as this tool from the past.

Pistol Rolls - Whole Wheat

2008-11-16T21:06:00.003+01:00

Pic of the pistol rolls fresh out of the oven!

Baguettes with pâte fermentée - Hamelman

2008-11-16T20:59:00.003+01:00

I just sliced a piece of baguette and was blown away by the crumb. This is my best result so far. I have used and old piece of bread dough that has been stored in my fridge. I made the dough and added the old dough. The result was beautiful I think.
The taste was great too, and the crust was as sharp as a knife. I actually hurt my mouth. It remembered me at the baguettes we used to get at the local baker who is long gone.

Sunday Viennoiserie (Calvel)

2008-11-16T09:31:00.006+01:00

4AM this Sunday morning I finished the Viennoiserie. I am satisfied with the result because I succeeded in tweaking the baking with the new oven.
They look pretty much perfect, although the apple slices could have been larger on the ones with apple, but the apple I had was a bit tiny. Like I said, I am satisfied with the Calvel recipe.

I did use a mixture of margarine and butter because I wanted my lamination better. I know this taste would have been better if I used pure butter only, but sometimes one has to make a compromise between the taste and end result, I chose that lamination was more important so I did use half butter/half margarine. Like I mentioned, I think the taste/result was great and next Sunday I will make them again.

Pistol Rolls - Calvel

2008-11-11T22:47:00.004+01:00

I keep on testing the new oven and today I made some pistol rolls. In the past I have made similar ones before (not the Calvel recipe though.) So I wanted to know how this would turn out in the new oven. I am still testing how to steam properly also so I gave it a try.
The dough was very good I thought. One thing I did change in the recipe was changing the milk to water. I don't understand why in this recipe Mr. Calvel uses milk and also adds some milk powder? That does not make any sense to me, besides that I've read that the use of milk should be avoided and replaced by water and milk powder. So I did.

The rolls came out of the oven beautiful, even though I still have a problem with their size. I just seem not to be able to make a decent size roll. I thought I over proofed, but I guess not.

Having good proof conditions in the house is not always easy. I am thinking about getting a proofer, but there are a few downsides. First off all, I don't have the budget to spend on a proofer. They are expensive. I've been looking at the second hand market but some of them are pure overkill, I am a home baker, not a professional baker. Second, I will have to contact the electricity company to get 380Volt in the house. And God knows how much that will cost extra, so for now I want to avoid these extras costs.

But at this moment I think the result was satisfactory and I keep on testing.

Viennoiserie

2008-11-09T16:07:00.003+01:00

Just a quick posting of the Viennoiserie I made this night. The lamination was okay, and I wasn't sure if I would post this, because these are the ones that are left over ;-)
but here they are :

Beer Bread (with roasted Barley) - Hamelman made in the new oven

2008-11-09T13:12:00.002+01:00

So last night I did some test baking in the new oven.
I made the beer bread with roasted barley by Hamelman. I fired up the oven like more than an hour in advance. I did make some viennoiserie as well and baked that first and that also was an adventure. Just like my first loaf the bottom also did become too dark.
The baking stone seems to be really, really hot. Like I mentioned in previous posting, baking in this oven is nothing like baking with a hot air kitchen oven.
I did test a new technique for steaming, and the way the loaves came out was rather surprising. I did make them slightly larger, using 100grams more dough. So that also explains why they are taller as usual, but the steam seemed to work really well.
Today I am baking a couple of loaves again and hope to reproduce the result. The corn bread is bulk fermenting as I write this posting.
I post a pic of the loaves, please feel free to comment.

New oven : pic :

2008-11-08T23:02:00.006+01:00

This is the picture of my new oven. Like I mentioned : baking stone at the lowest level.
Also a picture of my first bread (a rustic Hamelman loaf). It did come out not as good as I had hoped even though it tasted great. It was okay, but no shiny crust. I did steam but because there are two small vent holes in the inside of the oven this is not ideal for baking bread!

I don't understand because the oven was clearly labeled as a bread oven. So my future project will be close the vents but not permanently. I will close them, but make sure that during the baking process (when the loaves are getting color) I will be able to open the vents. This will ensure steam will be going out through the chimney and the rest of the baking will be done in a dry oven.

The bread was the second thing I baked, the first time I made some hard rolls and the result was rather disappointing! I know I will have to learn to bake with it, because it is nothing like my regular kitchen oven to bake in. My goal is to get loaves as good as using the die cast pot I always bake in.
This should be doable. I will cross my fingers...

New oven.

2008-11-05T21:33:00.004+01:00

I finally purchased a new oven. The oven I am currently using is good, but not actually made to bake bread. I had pretty good results baking in the die cast pot.
I have been saving money for a long time and I once spoke about getting a Rofco oven. But since the economy is pretty bad at this moment, I decided to look for something more affordable.

So I got a Fage oven today.
Their site looks pretty bad, but it is an Italian brand that make mainly pizza ovens. They made some bakery ovens too I guess, but the model I purchased I cannot seem to find on line. It has a baking stone at the lowest level and also a baking plate in the middle.
I am hoping I will get good results using it.

Delivery should be tomorrow and I hope to use it this weekend. Seems the weekend is going to be exiting!

Finnish Rye

2008-11-02T20:56:00.003+01:00

It has been a rather long time that I made the Finish Rye, so I decided this weekend it was time to make a batch. I did use levain instead of the starter which the recipe asks for. Nowadays I always keep like 500 grams of old dough and keep it in a plastic container with lid. I store this in the fridge and keep it there sometimes for a week.
It seems to work even though I am not sure if this is a good method to make bread. Please feel free to comment on this matter.

Pain au Levain - Hamelman

2008-10-19T09:25:00.005+02:00

I've been making the second batch of 'pain au levain' bread because I like working with Levain if I have the time for it. When you are able to make a decent work schedule this is doable. Sometimes I suffer from bad planning.
I adjusted the formula a bit, I did use less water than I should have, this to avoid the dough ball becoming too flat, I had my spouse complaining about this.

In this particular case, I started working on these breads at 7PM. I had a piece of sourdough from my previous batch, and I figured that at 1AM they would go in the oven. Wrong!
At 1AM the loaves were still under proofed.
So I went to bed for less than 5 hours, fired up the oven at 6AM and baked them at 7AM.
So they had this long and slow fermentation, which will have had a good influence on the taste. Haven't tried them yet, looking forward to taste them.

Vermont Sourdough rye - Hamelman

2008-10-14T20:40:00.004+02:00

I totally love this bread! I love the taste, I love the firm crumb. This bread is pretty awesome! I have made it a few times past weeks.

Dan Lepard - Quick white loaf

2008-10-01T20:51:00.002+02:00

I made a variation on the quick white loaf of the Dan Lepard book.
I love it, used some rye in it, and the optional millet he mentions
in the book. Awesome!

Lenôtre

2008-09-22T20:24:00.008+02:00

A while ago I was in France to visit the annual flea market in Lille. We have been there several years before and love to stroll around, and visit some great bakeries and enjoy some awesome French baguette.

While I was walking around I've noticed a copy of this Lenôtre book. The title is :
"Faites votre pâttiserie comme Lenôtre."
It came out in 1975! It has similar recipes inside like the other Lenôtre book I own, slightly more modern though.

What is also cool about this book is that all the recipes are made by chef Lenôtre's daughter and is aimed at the beginner (even though the book warns that some recipes are for the advanced baker.)
Second cool thing about it is that is is used, has stains, has scribbled notes in it, and almost falls apart. That is also something I like about it, the previous owner has used it!

I am a purist, and that is why I like this book so much. It contains all the great classic recipes like : croissants, brioche, pains aux raisins, éclairs, gaufres, Saint-Honoré and a ton more. I took a (crappy) picture using my built in iSight webcam, the quality isn't that great but I admit I was too lazy to take the digital camera and get a decent shot of the book. I hope you still enjoy though.

This weekend I made the brioche dough from the book and it was delicious. I also made a loaf containing dried fruits soaked in Rum and that gave a delicious flavor after baking. The alcohol evaporates and the taste stays inside the loaf. Great!
I also made some small rolls and a large brioche.

I know it might be impossible to find this book (which is totally written in the French language) but I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to see how some classic pastry/bread was made like 30 years ago. Highly recommended!

Dead or alive?

2008-09-06T13:05:00.004+02:00

Is this blog dead? It has been a very long time since I posted on this blog. Reason for it all is that my work schedule is changed and I don't bake as often as I would like to.
I only make bread during the weekend, making like four loaves and put them in the freezer. Most of my breads I made before. I made beer bread last week which was quite delicious and also the West-Flanders bread I have made many times last month.
I post some pics of our daughter's birthday party. One of them is a close up of the 'Princess' cake I made.

Remy's Party

2008-07-20T21:18:00.005+02:00

Yesterday morning our daughter woke up and said : "Today is Remy day!" She told us that she wanted to do something special. She asked me if I could bake a cake for Remy's birthday. Well, baking a cake was going to be difficult, because I wasn't exactly prepared to do it, also it would take too much time.

Then I had an idea! What if I used this cake mix that we got a while back for free and was sitting there in my storage closet anyway taking up space.
Our daughter liked the idea. We would do our best to make the cakes real beautiful with cream and some chocolate and sugar pearls.

One thing I have to get of my chest is the fact that I hate these mixes. I am an artisan baker and believe that using honest ingredients gives superior results. I don't like artificial flavor, sugar, and all the other chemical additives you often find in these products. The taste is most of the time flat and all the same. I don't like it at all! If I did not have this cake mix, I would have baked cakes just using butter, flour, eggs and sugar. The way my mum used to do it, the way I learned it in culinary school.

We had a great time making the cakes, actually I just had to add some milk and shake to finish the batter. Then fill the bake pan and bake it.

Decorating the cakes with whipped cream and sugar pearls was actually the funnest thing to do, especially for the smallest member of this household, who managed to drop a bunch of them on our kitchen flour. :-)
I personally went on an adventure by removing a cylinder in the center of the chocolate cake and filling it with egg-nog liquor.
Eating them was even more fun, lot's of stuffed animals were invited!
One of the best b-day parties ever!

Pane Siciliano - Peter Reinhart

2008-07-17T21:51:00.003+02:00

Mmmmm, Pane Siciliano made with a pre ferment and semolina flour. This is a golden, sweet, very tasty loaf!!! It took 3 days to finish but the result was awesome. You will like this, that is a promise.

Was there anything I did not like about this loaf? Well, staying overnight in the fridge benefits the taste, but I have to be very careful : the plastic that I use to wrap the dough in always sticks to the top of the loaves. That is why you will see flour on top of the Pane Siciliano, it has sesame seeds also (which are awesome on top of this loaf.) But like I mentioned, I need to use flour to avoid the plastic sticking too much to possibly deflate the loaves when I remove it.

I did enjoy making these, I guess I haven't made that many loaves that take 3 days from start to finish before, but it was worth it.

Paris

2008-07-13T16:40:00.007+02:00

So I was in Paris yesterday once again. I love it! We checked out the first arrondissement and visited some cool stores. If you find yourself being in Paris and love to bake - and chances are you might, because you are reading this blog- :-) make sure to visit :

G. Detou, 58 rue Tiquetonne, 75001 Paris
It's a store where you will find a ton of professional baking supplies available.
Very cool!

Also Dehillerin. If you are looking for anything to use in your kitchen, or baking equipment make sure to visit this store, it has a huge selection and left a deep impression on me.

I love Paris, because we always seem to stumble upon something we did not know was there, or even existed. I can't wait for my next travel to Paris again.

Hope you all enjoy the pics.

Bake Marathon

2008-07-10T10:49:00.003+02:00

I have been extremely busy! I baked a ton of stuff yesterday. I made :

Two Finnish Rye breads.
A batch of Bialys.
A batch of rolls.
A batch of rolls filled with pastry cream.
A cluster of rolls.
A flan tart.
and choux pastry.

The Finnish Rye breads were perfect! Also the choux pastry was delicious!!
Enjoy the picture!

Pain a L'ancienne - Peter Reinhart

2008-07-03T20:59:00.006+02:00

Pain a l'ancienne : the dough was kinda too wet to shape in a decent baguette style, so I made it more like a ciabatta style bread. I did not use 100% white flour though, I added some whole wheat. I do like just plain white bread, but I love some bite/crunch in it, so that is the reason why I altered the recipe. Also, it is way better for your health.

No large holes in the crumb here. I still need to manage to get a decent crumb with these flat breads, but the whole wheat might also be the reason why there are no large holes in the crumb. I do like the taste though, overnight retarding is always beneficial to the flavor.
I ate waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too much of it today. I ate one loaf myself... I know, too much, but so delicious!

Hope you'll enjoy the pic, I am off working out now, that is the downside of eating too much, need to burn all those calories right now!

"Ana, damn 'er!" Anadama bread - Peter Reinhart

2008-07-01T21:39:00.002+02:00

This bread has a very strong flavor, my household did not dig it at all. I kinda did, but I must say the bread has an outspoken taste because of the black molasses I used.
Peter Reinhart suggests using the lightest you can find.
Interesting bread, because I never used cornmeal. If I ever find Golden Molasses I will make this one again.

Maxi Bialys

2008-06-28T21:47:00.002+02:00

Like I mentioned in the previous post I would make the Bialys many times more.
Yesterday when I came into the kitchen I discovered the "Maxi Bialys" during bulk fermentation :-D

Beer Bread (with roasted Barley) - Hamelman

2008-06-27T11:04:00.003+02:00

Sometimes, bread recipes have ingredients that are hard to find or take some time to prepare. I am not a big fan of those recipes because it just takes too much of my time to search them on line or check out different stores.
I did find some malted barley though and used it in this recipe. Also in this bread was some organic beer. The result was okay. I do like the light sweet taste of the bread, and because of the whole wheat it has also some bite in it.

Bialys - Hamelman

2008-06-23T23:28:00.007+02:00

These were fun to make and no doubt about it I will bake them many times more. Bialys - Hamelman : made from stiff dough, bulk ferment about 2 hours, divide and shape into rolls. After that about 2 hours proofing, shaping and filling with onion filling and bread crumbs. Bake them for a short time about 8 minutes in a very hot oven.

I ate two of them even though I was not hungry at all and it was after 11PM already. I just could not resist. My spouse came into the kitchen and was like "OMG!" Looks like she will have a delicious breakfast tomorrow moring! ;-) Guess what? Me too!

Pain Rustique (again) - Hamelman

2008-06-21T16:51:00.006+02:00

Slight variation on the pain rustique. Added some whole wheat flour. I did also use some olive oil and rosemary herbs on top of one of the loaves (let's say I got adventurous here.)

Pics are the unshaped (rustic) dough pieces, while baking in the oven and the final product.

Interesting is that the breads baked in the pot or glass cloche are slightly taller that the one baked on the plate. I looking forward to see if there is a difference in crumb structure.

Whole Wheat & Whole Grain - Hamelman

2008-06-20T11:21:00.003+02:00

This is the whole wheat & whole rye bread. I think I made this before. I did bake it in a pan when I made this before but now I decided to make a boule. I do need to work on my slashing because even though it looks okay I think that the cuts could have been a bit smaller.

Tarte aux riz

2008-06-18T22:43:00.004+02:00

Oh boy! I cannot believe so many weeks have passed with no posting at all on this blog. I made some tartelettes aux riz. I love eating these and to be honest I never have made them at home. When I was still working at the bakery this was one of my regular jobs each Friday. I made the riz au lait yesterday, and today I made quick puff pastry and pastry cream to make the tartelettes. Baked them at 200°C for about 40 minutes.
Enjoy the pics :

Country Bread - Hamelman

2008-05-20T23:14:00.003+02:00

Uh! It has been like ages since I updated the blog. I still have been baking though, most of the time breads I already made before, so I was thinking it was kinda useless to post them again. And there is a lot of stuff going on in the house these days so updating the blog was not always possible.
Here is the country bread from the Hamelman book. My spouse liked this a lot. She said the smell reminded her of bread she used to get at a local bakery back in the days.

Bloch-Bruine Provence

2008-05-08T22:35:00.003+02:00

I made this bread with organic whole wheat. My personal opinion is that there should be some bread flour in the dough to support the dough strength. The taste was great but I found that the slices crumbled because the whole wheat (100%) did not seem to have enough gluten. I guess using different whole wheat might solve this problem.

Barm Bread - Dan Lepard - Variation

2008-05-01T12:31:00.002+02:00

The barm bread is delicious and easy to make, not too much work required, only thing you need to keep in mind that it takes like the whole day from start to finish.
I took 50% white flour and 50% different flours, and added some seeds too.
The result was nice and I have no doubt that the taste will be great too.

English Muffins

2008-04-29T21:39:00.004+02:00

Yes! I installed the new hard drive in my MacBook and Time Machine did it's job. The backup was like 14 days old and I lost some pics and music. But, we are baking again and I made the English Muffins on request. It has been a while since I made these but like I said, the youngest member of the family requested these and told me she wanted to help. So it was real fun to make these together.

Hard disk crash...

2008-04-28T13:13:00.003+02:00

Today my hard disk crashed... I've lost all my pics, and a ton of data. I had taken no backup in like two weeks... I am about to losing my mind... Will be back asap.

Pain Rustique (variation) - Hamelman

2008-04-26T12:26:00.003+02:00

Last night I baked the pain rustique for the second time. I did make a variation though, I used some spelt flour and some white rye as well.
I love to work with this dough as it does not need any shaping, also the way the crust looks with the flour on top is very nice.
Holes in the crumb were large and irregular and I really enjoyed eating it.

Barcelona

2008-04-22T22:13:00.006+02:00

I just came home from spending this weekend in Barcelona. I was lucky to hang out with some of the coolest and nicest people on this planet. And I have been talking bread to guys from France, Brasil, and locals.
Before I left I made a couple of Olive levain loaves, Brioche, and Raisin bread.
As soon as my schedule is back to normal, I will start baking again.

New Scale

2008-04-17T16:48:00.006+02:00

Yesterday I got the scale in the mail that I purchased on line. I got it from a site similar to eBay. I thought it was a great deal because I paid a hundred Euro including postage. The scale arrived in good condition. I did clean and disinfect to kill all the germs because you never know for what this second hand scale has been used for. It looks like it's brand new even though there is a sticker on that has the year 2004 on it. It works perfect.
This got me thinking about the fact that when I buy something for our kitchen it is most of the time not professional equipment. This scale is used in industries and looks like it is going to last forever. I could not say this about my previous scale which started to annoy me so much that I have purchased this one.
My experience is to get good equipment if you have the budget for it, or do as I did, search on line for a good deal to get pro tools.
I'd better start making bread right now, and use the thing where it is made for :-)

Whole Wheat Levain - Hamelman

2008-04-15T22:37:00.003+02:00

Whole wheat levain bread. I love formulas that can retard overnight in the fridge. It makes planning to have a fresh loaf easy. Besides that long fermentation is key. I usually bake two loaves and let one retard overnight.

Slice Pain Rustique

2008-04-15T22:28:00.001+02:00

Pain Rustique - Hamelman

2008-04-10T22:40:00.002+02:00

I picked up the Hamelman book again as you might already have noticed and there are a bunch of loaves that I did not make yet. This pain rustique was one of them. No shaping required, I just cut the dough in half and let it proof. I did bake in my die cast pot, so that might explain why the shape is round. Anyway, the result is beautiful I think.

Baguette with poolish - Hamelman

2008-04-10T22:35:00.002+02:00

So this is my attempt to try and make a baguette. It is made with a poolish described in the 'Bread' book by Mr. Hamelman. I admit, I was scared to make it, scared to fail. I think this simple bread is one of the most difficult to make. It is far from perfect, but the result is less bad than I had expected. I don't have a pic of the crumb, but it had large and small holes in it. Not that many large ones, but more than I expected, so I will have to try and make it again. Practice, practice, practice...

Pain Provençale - Bloch 50% Whole Wheat

2008-04-10T22:27:00.002+02:00

I have made the Pain Provençale loaf again (see previous posting) but instead of using all white flour I replaced half of it with whole wheat.

Pâte à choux

2008-04-09T09:17:00.002+02:00

Random pics :

6 BBS b

2008-04-07T22:37:00.004+02:00

I have been reading my school manuals and found this pic. On the left side you'll see me, you will also see a very young chef Stef (see previous posting.)
Culinary school was great, I cannot believe this is more than 20 years ago.

Let's see, what are some of them doing nowadays? 4 Of them (including me work in chocolate), one is a steward on a plane, one owns a bakery, one works in a super market... That is about all I know about some of my old school friends. I hope to meet them again someday.

Pain Provençale - Bloch

2008-04-05T21:41:00.007+02:00

Bloch closed down. A sad day for the city of Ghent. This bakery has been there since April 30,1899 and has closed down for good on March 28, 2008.

When I was a child, I got to know this bakery trough an aunt of mine who used to bring delicious bread with her every time she visited. When I grew up I became a costumer there and every time my wife and I were in the city we would have a tea or coffee there and enjoy some good pastry. It is sad to know that we won't be able to do this any more. Make sure you check the pics. Sorry for the English readers of this blog, but the site is in my native language Dutch.

To ease the pain a bit I find comfort in the fact that all recipes should be on line shortly and available for every one. I made the Pain Provençale which I found in the local news paper.

Here's the recipe :

370 grams water
660 grams bread flour
15 grams fresh yeast
10 grams salt

Mix the cold water and yeast. Add the flour and mix, add the salt.
The dough should be still sticky, not too dry. Knead for about 15 minutes by hand.
Bulk ferment for an hour.
Fold and make a boule. Proof for 2 hours.
Shape the loaf without degassing too much and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Bake : 220°C - 45 minutes

Tarte Tropezienne

2008-04-05T21:28:00.005+02:00

Ah! This tart brings back lots of joyful memories of the many travels we made to South France. I love it there so much I would buy a house there if I had the money. Hope I win the lottery some day or any wealthy reader would be kind enough to sponsor me. :-)
Google for the recipe on line and try this one, you can't go wrong with brioche dough and pastry cream!

Sunflower Rye - Peter Reinhart

2008-04-05T21:24:00.003+02:00

This bread was not so good, mainly because I added not enough water into the dough.
The taste was good though, but I wonder if the crumb would have been less dense if I added the correct amount of water. Did enjoy it even though it was not perfect.
No coronne shape, maybe next time.