shewhomust (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shewhomust) wrote2012-06-01 09:10 pm
shewhomust) wrote2012-06-01 09:10 pm
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It lives! And it rises!
The shoggoth must be worshipped once a week.
My second loaf was an approximation of the Swedish summer rye recipe from the Tassajara bread book, which was the bread I baked most often in my previous baking days. The Taasajara loaf was dense and flavourful (rye flour, orange zest, carraway and fennel seeds, of course it was flavourful); I reduced the proportion of rye flour (though I used all I had), and it was lighter, but not as well-risen as my first attempt, and not as tasty as I remembered it. I'll try that again, and next time I'll give it more rye flour and more time.
Now I was getting cocky, so I decided to make some croissants. I've done it before, though not in this millennium, and it isn't hard, it's just time-consuming; and I'd already got the message that sourdough bread takes all the time you can give it, and more. It'll take a few more tries before my croissants are evenly sized or regularly crescent shaped, but I'll try those again too, and next time I'll soften the butter more and not forget to add salt. And let it rise longer, or perhaps put in an extra folding and rolling stage.
Then we went off to Cornwall for ten days, leaving the shoggoth in the fridge. When we returned, I fed it - and I think this is where I went wrong last time, misled by the terminlogy. I had added more flour and water to the starter, and it failed to thrive; this time I added a spoonful of starter to the flour and water mix, and it started bubbling away cheerfully almost at once. So I decided, while the flavours of Cornwall were still in my mind, to base my next experoment on the saffron loaves we had eaten there.
Before we went to the clinic on Wednesday I set a generous pinch of saffron soaking in warm water, and when we returned I used this to mix up a batch of mostly white flour. The resultant dough was an alarmingly vivid yellow, but the baked rolls were a pale lemony yellow, and the saffron flavour was quite discreet, so I hadn't overdone it. Later I kneaded in some raisins, candied peel and pistachio nuts (which was less fiddly than I had anticipated), and last thing that evening I shaped the dough into rolls and put them on a tray in the fridge to rise overnight. I took it out of the fridge before we went swimming, so the rolls had another hour or so to rise. When we came home I turned the oven on, brushed the rolls with milk and sugar and baked them ready for breakfast. I had wondered about adding an egg, and decided not to bother; hot from the oven the crumb was certainly tender enough not to need it, this morning I'm not so sure, though they toasted beautifully. The rest of the batch are in the freezer, so we'll see how they reheat.
I'm thinking of walnut bread next...
My second loaf was an approximation of the Swedish summer rye recipe from the Tassajara bread book, which was the bread I baked most often in my previous baking days. The Taasajara loaf was dense and flavourful (rye flour, orange zest, carraway and fennel seeds, of course it was flavourful); I reduced the proportion of rye flour (though I used all I had), and it was lighter, but not as well-risen as my first attempt, and not as tasty as I remembered it. I'll try that again, and next time I'll give it more rye flour and more time.
Now I was getting cocky, so I decided to make some croissants. I've done it before, though not in this millennium, and it isn't hard, it's just time-consuming; and I'd already got the message that sourdough bread takes all the time you can give it, and more. It'll take a few more tries before my croissants are evenly sized or regularly crescent shaped, but I'll try those again too, and next time I'll soften the butter more and not forget to add salt. And let it rise longer, or perhaps put in an extra folding and rolling stage.
Then we went off to Cornwall for ten days, leaving the shoggoth in the fridge. When we returned, I fed it - and I think this is where I went wrong last time, misled by the terminlogy. I had added more flour and water to the starter, and it failed to thrive; this time I added a spoonful of starter to the flour and water mix, and it started bubbling away cheerfully almost at once. So I decided, while the flavours of Cornwall were still in my mind, to base my next experoment on the saffron loaves we had eaten there.
Before we went to the clinic on Wednesday I set a generous pinch of saffron soaking in warm water, and when we returned I used this to mix up a batch of mostly white flour. The resultant dough was an alarmingly vivid yellow, but the baked rolls were a pale lemony yellow, and the saffron flavour was quite discreet, so I hadn't overdone it. Later I kneaded in some raisins, candied peel and pistachio nuts (which was less fiddly than I had anticipated), and last thing that evening I shaped the dough into rolls and put them on a tray in the fridge to rise overnight. I took it out of the fridge before we went swimming, so the rolls had another hour or so to rise. When we came home I turned the oven on, brushed the rolls with milk and sugar and baked them ready for breakfast. I had wondered about adding an egg, and decided not to bother; hot from the oven the crumb was certainly tender enough not to need it, this morning I'm not so sure, though they toasted beautifully. The rest of the batch are in the freezer, so we'll see how they reheat.
I'm thinking of walnut bread next...