The Wood-Fired Blog
A Sourdough Boule
Jun 04, 2013Here is the bread from my three build, four-fold sourdough rye. I think an honest assessment is that four folds worked — the bread had a solid structure and no problem with loaf height or oven spring (boing!). But the three build technique did not work as well as I had hoped. I would have liked a better final proof and a lighter, slightly less chewy crumb and a... Read More
DC Elite Pizza and Forno Bravo in the Washington Post
Jun 04, 2013We had a really nice article about Dave Konstantin (Forno Bravo DC), and his DC Elite Pizza group in the Washington Post. Dave’s group, primarily wood-fired oven owners in the Washington DC area, has been meeting for years, and has grown to about 60 members. Konstantin is a lighting designer and the leader of DC Elite Pizza. The Arlington resident began selling the posh pizza oven kits part-time in 2007... Read More
Dough Structure and High Hydration Dough
Jun 03, 2013I am making sourdough rye bread today and pulled out Hamelman’s Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes (a really good bread technique book) to looks for some new ideas — and I think I had another ah hah moment. The Hamelman recipe for a mixed flour Miche calls for 60% whole wheat, 20% whole rye and 20% bread flour, and 83% hydration. Yep. 83% hydration. I was already in... Read More
100,000 eBooks
May 29, 2013Pompeii Oven eBook is Free We’re making the world a better place one pizza oven at a time — and we’re now past the 100,000 mark for eBook downloads. Very exciting! Today there are many thousands of Pompeii ovens (and nearly 10,000 Forno Bravo ovens) installed across the globe, in North and South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. The Pompeii Oven eBook is free, so if you have been wondering... Read More
Pain Pauline at Trader Joe’s
May 28, 2013Trader Joe’s is like the Wells Fargo Wagon from the musical the Music Man (sorry for the arcane reference). You never know what is going to be new (or which of your favorites has been phased out). Anyway, I was bemoaning the lack of a whole wheat sourdough option at our local Trader Joe’s in Pacific Grove, CA just a while back, but today there was Pain Pauline. A clear... Read More
Mobile Forno Bravo in Des Moines
May 28, 2013Parlo Pizza (I really like their name, Parlo Pizza — which means, literally, “I speak pizza.”) is now live in Des Moines, IA, and they have received some nice press and a fun video from the Des Moines Register. Turner makes his public debut June 4 at the Beaverdale Farmers Market and hopes to pop up at other events around town. But before you start planning the super-duper supreme,... Read More
Retarded Fermentation
May 26, 2013I’ve been reading more about sourdough cultures and learned something interesting — and valuable. There are two main acids produced by a sourdough culture; lactic and acetic. Acetic acid is the acid that produces vinegar, and it gives your sourdough bread a more distinctive tang while lactic acid is associated with yogurt production and gives a smooth, milky flavor. As an aside, lactic acid is a big component in wine, where... Read More
A Well-Developed Crumb
May 25, 2013Here is the crumb of my latest whole wheat sourdough toasting bread. This is a 90% whole wheat/10% white AP flour (from my starter) and 70% hydration, so given my tendency to make the occasional whole wheat “brick”, I am really happy with this. This with zero yeast. It tells me that my starter is very active, and the flavor is very nice. Plus, as many people will tell... Read More
Sourdough Tang
May 23, 2013Wow. When they say that your sourdough keeps getting more sour as you divide it, feed it and leave it at room temperature — they really mean it. My starter became noticeably more sour and more tangy as time when on, and I want to see how far it would go. Today the answer was “really far”. Seriously tangy. But all good things must come to an end, so today... Read More
