Sourdough Black Bean & Chipotle Bread

Although it's still early, I believe I'm going to be happy with this bread. With as much hydration as this bread has ( 2 cups of sourdough starter, the beans, the cooking liquid, and the chipotle peppers ), it really needs to cool for awhile before eating. ( of course I haven't followed my own rules ). And really, the flavor isn't going to reach it's full potential until tomorrow anyway. Because I could only find canned peppers in adobo sauce. I rinsed the peppers well before putting them in the food processer, then I rinsed them again.
The pictures show the cooking liquid from the beans; all the ingredients (beans, liquid, peppers, oregano, cumin, salt, barbecue sauce - Sweet Baby Ray's, whole wheat flour, and sourdough starter ) mixed together - minus the bread flour; the mixed dough before rising; the dough after the first rise; the shaped loaves; the risen loaves; and finally the baked bread.
I have a good feeling this bread would make excellent soup bowls.

Sourdough Starter - Day 3

This starter is ready to go! I can't wait to see how it does in the breads!

Sourdough Starter

Over a month ago I made a whole wheat sourdough starter using Peter Reinhart's "Pineapple Solution". This involves using unsweetened pineapple juice to get it going. I think I made a couple of loaves, then put it in the refrigerator and kind of got lazy about it. Two days ago I took it out of the fridge, and began rebuilding it according to Reinhart's directions of doing so over a 3 day period. This morning is the beginning of the 3rd day, and there is lots of activity on the surface of the starter. The taste is incredibly tangy, and I'm looking forward to some wonderful sourdough breads!
This morning I discarded all but 200 grams, and once again fed it to maximize the flavor of the starter. Either this evening or tomorrow morning I'll begin the first of the breads using this mother starter - a new recipe I've found for Black Bean and Chipolte Bread! I can't wait!

Better Ingredients, Better Pizza, Papa Jims

In less than an hour, very good deep-dish pizza.

Durum (Semolina) Bread

Made with semolina flour, this is a very rustic style loaf. Semolina is made from durum wheat, which is used in making pastas. Yellow in color, it gives the bread a great texture, and a mellow corn-like flavor. A very crunchy crust, and very soft crumb.
I didn't feel like baking 2 loaves out of the dough, so I only made one 3lb. loaf. I'm very happy with the results, and can see this would also make a great bread for soup bowls.
I started with a sponge that fermented for 2 hours. Both the sponge and the final dough used equal parts semolina and bread flour. I'd like to work on using a longer fermented starter to try and give the bread a little more sourdough taste. But this formula definitely works very well. I'm very happy with the end result.

Today's Guest

Okay, so I need practice shaping pizzas. Who cares though, they tasted great! Homemade dough and sauce. Used mozzarella, cheddar, and pecorino romano cheeses. Really good, thin, crispy crust!
So while cooking them, I found what I think is a black snake eating what I think is a gardner snake. After talking to my Dad and brother Mike,
I'm not so sure. Dad says king snakes really go after other snakes, and we're not sure about the markings of the other one being a gardner snake.
This morning I go out on the porch, and there's my new buddy wrapped in the lattice outside the screen. He began heading up towards the top of the porch where I know there's a birds nest. Dad tells the story of a king snake continuously trying to get up on a porch where the family was sitting around. Dad was raised in deep country Mississippi. Finally they let the snake go where it wanted. It went into the house, under a bed, and killed a rattlesnake! I think I'll let this new friend stick around for awhile.

Mother's Day Struan

Baked 6 loaves of Struan for my mother Betty, and some of the other wonderful mothers in my life - my wife Debbie, her mother Shirley, my grandmother Elizabeth, and my sister-in-law Crissy. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!