Saturday, 16 September 2023

Good morning!! (BBB September 2023)

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Sourdough SeptemberBBB: Let's Keep Baking summary: Wild Lebanese Morning Bread based on a recipe in “Savory Baking from the Mediterranean” by Anissa Helou; brief review of the cookbook; definition of corn; who me?? almost late to my own party?? Nah… there’s plenty of time at noon; information about Sourdough September; a Bread Baking Babes (BBB) project;

It WAS morning when I started this…. :lalala:

Bread Baking Babes: Lebanese Morning Bread (Khobz al-Sabah), September 2023

Bread, of course, is the real staff of life, and nowhere more so than on Mediterranean streets.
– Anissa Helou, Introduction, Mediterranean Street Food, p.xxii

BBB September 2023

Throughout the pandemic, I have been raiding our public library shelves and reading bread book after bread book. One of the books was Anissa Helou’s “Savory Baking from the Mediterranean”.

Now, three years later, with the WHO cautiously saying that it is no longer a pandemic and things relaxing, in mid-July, I flew to the UK to take a course. When I was there, I ate like royalty. Most of that eating was in the dining hall at the school. But there were three nights when I was on my own: one night in York just before the course started, and two nights in Edinburgh just after the course was finished. (continue reading →)

Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Approachable, eh? (BBB August 2023)

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BBB: Let's Keep Baking summary: recipe for Wild Approachable Sandwich Bread; 100% whole wheat bread; refusal to use commercial yeast; encountering hazards along the way; at least the toast is edible; information about Bread Baking Babes;

Bread Baking Babes (BBB): The Approachable Loaf

Nailed it!

BBB August 2023

This month, Kelly (A Messy Kitchen) chose a recipe for whole wheat sandwich bread for us to make. An approachable bread.

We wanted a bread that is approachable, accessible and affordable. With no stabilizers or conditioners in it. The Approachable Loaf is tin-baked and sliced, contains no more than seven ingredients and no non-food. It is at least 60-100% whole wheat and priced under $8/loaf depending on regionality.
 
Oh, and it tastes really good too.
 
– Washington State University (WSU) Breadlab, The Approachable Loaf

Hearing about it, I was suddenly transported back to when we first moved into the neighbourhood, way back in the last century. It was before I had any inkling that I would even think about baking virtually all our bread.

In those days, our local supermarket was still baking large amounts of the bread they sold. For our morning toast, we always got their loaves of 100% whole wheat bread. The ingredients were whole wheat flour, water, salt, yeast. Sometimes the bread on the shelves was beautifully lofty. Sometimes, it was clear that someone new had made the bread; it was a little door-stoppy and flat as a pancake. But, toasted, it always tasted wonderful.

Those were the days!!

Thanks to Kelly, we could relive our youth!

(continue reading →)

Thursday, 10 August 2023

Apricot Kolache and Brioche (BBB July 2023)

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BBB: Let's Keep Baking summary: recipe for Kolache and a small Brioche; late again – no, make that REALLY late; no wild yeast again – using commercial yeast only; usual long-winded account that sometimes touches on bread making; information about Bread Baking Babes;

Bread Baking Babes (BBB): Kolache

I’m not completely crazy about white bread […] (Unless I time-travel back to when I was 14 and get a big thick slice of Mum’s bread still just a little warm from the oven – slathered with butter and top layered with thin thin thin slices of cheddar cheese.)
 
– me, blog from OUR kitchen, Cream Cheese Garlic Buns (BBB May 2023)
Kolache postponed until the end of July….
Best laid plans, and all that…. I WAS going to make kolache earlier this week and schedule the write-up to appear today [16 July]
 
– me, blog from OUR kitchen, BBB July 2023 Kolache postponement: Busman’s Holiday

Postponed until the end of July, eh? Promises, promises. :lalala:

Here it is over a week after the end of July. Late I am. But at least I finally made kolache! And because I’m a wayward BBBabe, I used some of the dough to make a small brioche. And only two kolache.

BBB July 2023

Kolache!? What is that, you ask?

Before July’s BBB host Judy (Judy’s Gross Eats) told us about the July project, I had no idea. Even though it turned out that I had seen and read about them before.

Here’s what I learned about kolache this time round (I think I may have retained the information this time too): (continue reading →)

Sunday, 16 July 2023

BBB July 2023 Kolache postponement: Busman’s Holiday

summary: Raincheck on BBB’s July 2023 project; Reason No.427 for Kolache postponement: Brahms; so exciting; information about Bread Baking Babes;

BBB: Let's Keep BakingBread Baking Babes (BBB): Kolache
postponed until the end of July….

Best laid plans, and all that…. I WAS going to make kolache earlier this week and schedule the write-up to appear today. But I looked at this week’s schedule and realized that it would be crazy not to wait until after I get back from UK, where I will be attending a week-long 4tet workshop at a small college in Yorkshire.

I flew to Edinburgh last night, and will be taking a train (thank goodness, there was no strike action for the 15 July) today to York. I will overnight in York and then a violinist from one of the other 4tets is coming to pick me up to take me to the College for a number of us (I think it’s 6 4tets) to stay there to be immersed in 4tet playing and listening until Friday 21 July. I will then get back on a train to head to Edinburgh to stay overnight for 2 nights before flying home.

I’m so excited!

Ampleforth College Summer School

(continue reading →)

Sunday, 9 July 2023

Catching up (at last!): Wild Sullivan Street Potato Pizza (BBB April 2008)

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BBB: Let's Keep Baking summary: recipe for Wild Potato Pizza; based(ish) on the recipe for Sullivan Street Potato Pizza in “Artisan Baking Across America” by Maggie Glezer; with a few extras; altering the dough recipe to use wild yeast instead of commercial yeast; realizing after the fact that the dough wasn’t nearly slack enough; catching up; it LOOKS good; information about Bookmarked Recipes and Bread Baking Babes; new addition;

Bookmarked Recipes - last Sunday of the MonthBookmarked Recipes: Sullivan Street Potato Pizza

I thought that I should probably justify my invitation to become a BBBabe by actually making a few more of the recipes they’ve chosen over the years. Of course, it will take me ages to work my way through them all.
– me, Catching up in 2010: Royal Crown’s Tortano (BBB February 2008)
It’s a little embarrassing; my well-meant promise in 2010 to bake all the previous BBBabe breads still haunts me….
– me, Swirling Around to Catch Up (BBB July 2019)


Bread Baking Babes (BBB): Sullivan Street Potato Pizza

I can’t believe that I haven’t even noticed the “Hi-Rise Corn Bread” OR the “Sullivan Street Potato Pizza” in Glezer’s book. I got stuck at “Acme’s Rustic Baguettes” in boule shape – we LOVE that bread! I really should look through the rest of the book, shouldn’t I?
 
Your potato pizza looks fabulous!
 
– me, commenting on Sher’s (What Did You Eat?) post in April 2008

Procrastination, let’s play Procrastination!!

I’ve been meaning and meaning to make this pizza! Really I have. Ever since getting Maggie Glezer’s wonderful book “Artisan Bread Across America” in… let me just look…. (continue reading →)