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!!

Soil Test Results

It was about all I could do to get any kind of a fire going - and again, for multiple reasons. First and probably most important, this test oven is not built to the correct specifications. The dimensions of an oven require a specific door size in order to obtain the correct draft needed for fire. Also, there's no vent hole or stack. And even though I'm surrounded with woods and dead limbs, branches, etc. , everything here is still so damp after all the rain we've had. A wood storage box is definitely in my future.



With the help of charcoal I was able to get one started, although the flames died out quickly. I continued on with just the charcoal, and was able to reach an internal temperature of 350 degrees. Steam was visible coming from the outside top of the oven, and an instant-read thermometer placed on the top read about 115 degrees as it's hottest. It's about 3:30 now, and the oven's exterior is drying noticeably. There are very small cracks in the clay. I don't know how important that is yet, if at all. I hope to speak with my step-daughter Heather's pottery

instructor from Cecil Community College and ask her professional opinion on the results. If I had to take an uneducated guess, I would say this clay is going to work. And then, I'm going to have to work to get this clay.

Earth Oven Soil Test

I have to say I'm pretty excited about this experiement. Deb & I just bought 2 books on building earth ovens - "Building Your Own Earth Oven" by Kiko Denzer, and "Adobe Oven for Old World Breads" by Charel Scheele.
It's recommended to first test your soil before jumping-in to a bigger project, so that's what this is about. As you can see from the first picture, about 6 inches down from the surface I've got a large layer of clay (actually because of the water that filled in you can't really see it). The book by Kiko talks about how the majority of soil needs "amending" - adding sand, even rough concrete to get the proper consistency. Well, I have no sand, or any money to buy sand - so I'm going to see what I get from the clay that's in abundance in my back yard.
Picture 2 shows the formed oven. I first layed down 2 solid concrete blocks, then stole enough sand from my grandaughters sand box to form a hump on top of the blocks. I wasn't too particular or precise on any of this, but I did try to leave about 2 inches from the edges of the block. If the structure holds - I'll get an idea of heat retention.
Over the mound of sand I draped wet newspaper (you can see some where the door has been carved out). This provides a type of slip-joint between the clay and sand, and gives me an indicator that I've gone far enough as I'm scooping out the sand.
Had this been a larger oven I planned to use for awhile, I would have extended the door out a little bit, which helps in creating draft for the fire built inside. Both in brick-oven building and these earth ovens, door size is very important. In all the books I have, mathematical formulas are given to determine the size of the door based on the measurements of the oven.

Hopefully with the sun out today, it will be dry enough either this evening or by tomorrow to start building small fires in it. This will cure it. Obviously it's too small for baking loaves of bread, although I could get some rolls in there. The problem though is I don't think I want to bake on concrete, and I didn't have any bricks lying around - - - and fire bricks at that. All I'm really concerned with is how the clay cures and holds up after being fired. If all goes well, it won't be long untill we're enjoying some earth oven pizza's and breads!
In Kiko's book, he talks about building one of these ovens for his wife, a chef and caterer, that she used at an outdoor festival. For 3 days they baked about 275 pizzas per day - each pizza taking about 2 - 3 minutes to bake! Look Out, Maryland - Here I Come!!

If I really get things under control, I might be able to get some cheap labor out of Buster - - he certainly has dug enough holes in my yard already. ha.

No-Knead Salted Buttermilk Pot Bread

After using a new (to me) no-knead method, and a long fermentation process, this loaf was baked in a 4 qt. cast iron dutch oven with a lid on it. The crust has an excellent crunch, and the crumb is very light. The split on the top is typical, although it could've looked better had I used a sharper knife to cut the "x" in the top. I was also a little sloppy in applying the salt to the top of the dough. I used kosher salt, but next time I'll use coarse sea salt. So, if I aquire more dutch ovens, this bread would be one to consider for a bakery. I'm very happy with it.

French Bread Rolls

Everything went perfect making these rolls. I think one of the biggest factors was a constant temperature of 70 degrees in the house all day - - - ideal for the starter and the rising dough.
This form of yeasted pre-ferment is called Poolish.
The French expanded on the method used by the Polish, yet kept credit where it was due with the naming of it.
Poolish is a mixture of equal weights flour and water, with a very small portion of yeast added. Being of equal parts, it has 100% hydration. Salt is not included. The characteristics of Poolish not only making shaping the final dough easier, but using it also results in increased volume of the loaf.
From "Bread - A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" by Jefferey Hamelman, baker, Director of the Bakery and Baking Education Center at King Arthur Flour : "The aroma of a bowl of ripe poolish is intoxicating - sweet and nutty with a delicate hint of acidity - and the texture of the dough is beautifully silken, a true delight for the hands."

I started my Poolish at 8:45 am Friday. The pictures show different stages over the 12 hours I let it rise - taken at 3, 6, 9, & 12 hours. The final picture of the Poolish shows it exactly as it is described in the book - characterized by many small bubbles on the surface. The is when it is at it's peak of ripeness. Any longer and a collapse would be noticeable in the bowl.........still usable, but already past it's peak.
The dough was shaped into 4oz. rolls (good size for hamburger rolls), and baked at 460 degrees for about 16 min., using steam during the first 10 minutes. I also brushed the rolls with melted butter just before I put them in the oven. The rise, color, crust, and taste were excellent!