My rye and wheat levains have had strange results lately. These include uneven rising and acidic smells. I reasoned it was due to uneven baking schedules. Or could it be climate change? Then again, my rye source changed. And I also used an old pickle mason jar...
Maine Grains offered me a sample of some wonderful milled flour from locally sourced farms. So far I've used it alone and with other organic and heritage flours. What a difference in handling, as well as in taste. Buy flour from the supermarket, there's a...
I have made orecchiette previously, using grano arso, albeit a flour mix prepared for pizza dough. Results were okay. This time I made my own grano arso, toasting fine durum (semola rimacinata) flour. Shaping these little ears of pasta are a labor of love. It...
Crackers can be a welcome substitute from the crust and crumb of bread. Loave-less last weekend, I whipped up two batches of dip-embracing crackers. The first was a chia and sprouted multigrain, the second a haphazard adaption of a formula from baker Stefano Pibi....
Call me Dr. Frankenstein of bakers, disassembling and then reassembling bread formulas, a percent here, a percentage there. Beauty or monsters, you never know. Take this recent loaf. Considering James Lahey's Sullivan Street version of pane di comune, a...
