The Wood-Fired Blog
Sourdough Rye
May 23, 2013This came out pretty good. My first attempt at sourdough rye with my new starter was made in two stages (three if you include building the starter). This is a 500-gram loaf with 70% hydration. Stage 1. I added 160 grams of whole wheat flour, 160 grams of dark rye flour, 250 grams of water and 10 grams of salt to 180 grams of my starter — which contained... Read More
Pop-Up Bread Proofing Box
May 21, 2013I am starting to experiment with sourdough rye (something I have been looking forward to), which got me thinking about multi-stage proofing and the ability to control proofing temperature. My oven has an 85F proofing setting, which has been helpful, but today I came across this, a home bread proofer. This bread proofing box is from Brod & Taylor, and it costs about $150, and the temperature can be... Read More
Next, a Sourdough Baguette
May 19, 2013I started my sourdough baguette around noon to give the dough time to develop, and went with 100% AP flour and hydration of 70%+ — I’m not really sure exactly what it was, but it was too high. My dough didn’t have enough structure to proof in baguette shape without sagging sideways. It might have been too much water and it might have been the flour. You can see... Read More
Sourdough Focaccia
May 18, 2013This is a fun weekend bread. 100% white flour; in the case Central Milling Tipo 00. Lets try this time sourdough focaccia I pulled off 180 grams of my starter (and fed it) around noon, and built it up to a 300 gram/72% hydration focaccia formula. By the math, the starter was 80 grams of flour and 100 grams of water, so to finish the dough I added 220 grams... Read More
First Bread from Newest Sourdough Culture
May 16, 2013According to the instructions, it would take five days to building before my new culture would be capable of developing bread. But rather than throw away the cup of starter (about 200 grams) when I divided it and fed it, I decided to add 150 grams of whole wheat flour, 5 grams of salt and a little honey, olive oil and water. What the heck; what’s there to lose. And... Read More
The Sourdough Starter. It’s Alive!
May 15, 2013The Sourdough Starter. It’s Alive! It’s bubbling and starting to develop a nice tart smell. The sourdough starter was sent dried in a small zip lock bag. The instructions are to resuscitate it with 1/2 cup of warm water and 1/2 cup of flour the first and second days to bring it back to life. Now that it is active, I will pull off one cup of the starter and... Read More
Whole Wheat Focaccia
May 13, 2013Here are a couple of photos of my first attempt at making whole wheat focaccia and Community Grain whole wheat flour. It came out nicely though it might have benefitted from a long bulk fermentation and a slightly longer final proofing. And to confirm. The Community Grains whole wheat is great. Excellent. Wonderful. Read More
Focaccia a Health Food?
May 13, 2013I really like Focaccia. But there are times when I find myself thinking of it more as a weekend treat than a day-to-day staple. But today, there was a very fun article in the NY Times that may change all of that. I wish I had though of this myself. From the Health section of the paper — Focaccia: One Basic Bread, Endless Delicious Options: Whole-Wheat Focaccia The article not... Read More
May 2013 | No. 50; The New Fiamma50 & Wood-Oven S’mores
May 13, 2013Welcome to our Wood-Fired Newsletter May 2013. As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, Forno Bravo is celebrating our 10th anniversary this year. This is a big milestone for us, and certainly a good opportunity to take stock of what we’ve accomplished and learned over the past decade. However, we have no plans to rest on our laurels! This month, we are excited to announce a brand-new product: the Fiamma50 outdoor... Read More
