Tag: sourdough

Basic Sourdough Bread

Basic Sourdough Bread

Here’s the process I’m using for my basic sourdough bread. Even if it looks like it has a lot of steps, it’s a simple recipe once you get started. I’ll assume you already have the starter. I will make a separate video on how to […]

The Return of Sour Dough – Night One

The Return of Sour Dough – Night One

For those of you lucky dogs and ducks that inherited a piece of my multi-million dollar sourdough starter, here is the first blog post in the series discussing how to actually bake a sourdough bread that will gain back your spouse’s respect, as your kids and friends would bow in front of you and address you as “Your Royal Majesty”. This series is a remastered version of the original Sourdough Chronicles I wrote a while ago.

Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche

Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche

You know that fall is approaching when you start baking. Lately the temperature in Chicago was more baking-friendly so I thought it was time for another BBA Challenge dust-off here with a delicious Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche.

This is a protein-intense bread, surely because of the cheese overdrive content but worth making it again… annually. No, really I would make it more often but it requires attention and time. I really liked the asiago cheese in it because it gives an assertive taste, but you can simply substitute it for any other cheese from that same family (like Parmesan or Pecorino Romano).

(more…)

Panettone – Not Your Momma’s Fruitcake

Panettone – Not Your Momma’s Fruitcake

Merry Christmas to all Mamaliga fans! Here’s another try at baking Panettone from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice book for the BBA Challenge. I didn’t blog about it initially since there were some things I wanted to tweak and adapt from his original formula. Quite a few changes.

A Birthday Menu

A Birthday Menu

As every caring husband would do, I wanted to get the perfect Birthday gift to my dear wife, cooking the perfect meal, make her day, etc., and as every procrastinator husband does, I realized half day into it that I did NOT have a plan!

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 6) – Grand Finale

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 6) – Grand Finale

Le Baking – (Bread Day 3)

This was the Happy Day! The day when everything came together. The fun. The Grand Finale. The day you can hug everyone on the street, then get arrested for being weird.

sourdough-bread

Started off by taking the two baskets out of the fridge to a warm spot for more room temperature rising for about 4-5 hours. I left them in their plastic bags to prevent any crusting.

(more…)

Happy New 2009 and Sourdough Cam!

Happy New 2009 and Sourdough Cam!

Dear friends, Thought of starting of this first day off 2009 with a live Sourdough Cam showing the growth and live development! How fun this can be? Now, I don’t expect you starring at the sourdough jar for hours, but you can check the progress […]

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 5) – A Doughy Day

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 5) – A Doughy Day

Le Dough – (Bread Day 2) A somewhat more complicated day. I started off by taking the sponge out of the fridge and cutting it into rough pieces to help it warm up faster (about an hour). I covered it so it would not crust […]

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 4) – Now We’re Talking!

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 4) – Now We’re Talking!

sourdough-overflow

I know. My mysterious disappearance left some of you wondering if the sourdough process got out of control or I got into depression following the ‘depression’ of the previous sourdough starter. I could say both. As Christmas approached, things seemed to be getting more busier and seemed like there was barely any online time.

To be honest, in a way I enjoyed it! Ha! Go figure.

A new batch and a rebirth

Truth is that I didn’t completely discard the previous starter after deflation. After reading Joy of Cooking‘s recipe for sourdough starter, that suggests actually using some commercial yeast to get things started in a kitchen that’s wild yeast depraved, I took 1 cup of the old one, fed it, and sprinkled a half of Tsp of dry yeast.

The next morning, the thing was erupting. Literally. It came to life all of a sudden during the night. It was so promising, that I decided to let it multiply, and in the mean time start a new batch of sourdough starter out of whole wheat flour, that took the same procedure as the previous 3 day process, but this time I left it to hang out there longer between each feeds, considering that yeast activity was seriously slowed down by the somewhat colder temperature on our home. This batch flourished! To the point that I had to twice clean the top of the fridge because of over spilling. Considering this aggressive yeast activity in both jars, I decided it was time to think of the actual bread.

(more…)

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 3) – The End

Sourdough Chronicles (Day 3) – The End

Things looked promising! The 3rd day looked like thing were moving in the right direction. The sourdough starter grew about 1 inch over the indicator line (rubber band). Not as aggressive as during the day before, but given the fact that our night temperature is […]