Yeast Recipes

Doughnuts Yeast or Baking Powder? (dairy & egg free)

January 3, 2013
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These two types of doughs were my first attempt at making egg and dairy free doughnuts for allergy kid yesterday.  The base for these were taken from a recipe using baking powder kindly sent by Andrew using mash potato.  Doughnut recipes whether they’re a yeast version or use baking powder contain eggs normally, eggs in […]

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Why protein amount in bread flour is irrelevant

October 5, 2012
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I’ve been using the same rollermill white flour for a year and a half, and pretty much every batch I’ve received has been consistent as I would expect from a large mill with all the whistles and bells of test bakers and  Farinograph machines.  However all of this consistency changed with my last arrival of the […]

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Easy Way to Shape Tin Loaf – Twin High Tin

June 8, 2012
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This is an old method of shaping loaves for tins to ensure a more even crumb according to Paul Merry.  Since in this country we’re all about sandwiches, big holes or a holey crumb is not traditional (well since sandwiches have been around).  You might have seen this method of shaping two dough balls into […]

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Chocolate & Cranberry Loaf

June 3, 2012
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I was reading the chocolate bread recipe in MC’s blog Farine, which reminded me I could make it for allergy kid.  In Gregoire’s bread book, La Boulangerie Baking at Home he has a recipe for a Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry Bread and I used that recipe to create my own here.  This is made […]

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Killing a Loaf by 30 minutes

June 3, 2012
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Last week in the dizzy temperature heights of 27˚C (80F) the dough was out of control.  Normally there are a few days, weeks even of adjustment in handling the doughs from cool to hot temperatures but this crazy weather went from the cool 19˚C to the high twenties overnight. Suddenly you realise what a fine […]

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The 36 hour Pouliche (Poolish, Sponge) and the Correct Spelling

May 23, 2012
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After the last post here, on this old method of making pouliche (poolish), I experimented further creating more of an acidic crumb, mimicking somewhat a sourdough loaf.  The reason for the experiment was to see if the pouliche would maintain enough yeast cells over this period of time (in the fridge) to make a good […]

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A Forgotten Type of Poolish, Pouliche (Sponge) Loaf

May 16, 2012
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In the last post here, I said since the experiment with the poolish showed signs of activity it had inspired for more experiments, only this time not exhausting the yeast to see whether I could produce a good loaf. A poolish is equal amounts of water to flour, how much yeast you add and the […]

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A Levain and a Poolish hung out together

May 13, 2012
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I carried out this experiment with the full intention of predicting a failure with the poolish.  What I wasn’t prepared for was that the result wasn’t the complete failure I had anticipated, this led to further experiments with the poolish, very successful ones in fact. It’s established a sourdough dough will give you plenty of […]

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Scoring, Slashing Sourdough

May 8, 2012
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I’ve already posted lots of photos on scoring/slashing loaves in this post here, but Nicola asked me last night to show her how, and since I had 2 loaves already in the fridge for baking this morning it would be easy to video scoring them…well easy because I had a second pair of hands to […]

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What a Difference Too Much Moisture Makes

April 26, 2012
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I made these yeast rolls today from the same batch of dough, and wanted to share the extraordinary difference in baking them one batch after the other.  I made the dough last night, bulk proved and shaped, then refrigerated overnight, baked this morning. I pre-heated the oven as usual, added water to the bottom of […]

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Dan’s Buns – Dairy Free Version

April 18, 2012
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For once I have very little to say on a post, I’m glad since my head is full, have been studying hard and don’t think I could fit another thought. These are too good to only make them as hot-cross buns, in my household we have fruit buns all year round toasted as above.  I […]

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Heritage Wholemeal Buns & Gloria’s Rhubarb Ketchup

March 19, 2012
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I made these wholemeal buns yesterday, made 12 with the intent of using them this week for oldest kid’s pack lunch for school but today I have three left.  Father-in-law and Bikerboy had a couple still warm out of the oven, one with just butter melting and the other with bacon, father-in-law took some home. […]

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The Broken Relationship Between Farmer, Miller & Baker

March 11, 2012
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It appears the relationship between farmer, miller and baker is somewhat broken and I feel this relationship should be intrinsically bound. Reading last night the book Dan Lepard  recommended to me a month ago, Breads White And Brown – Their Place In History, by R A McCance and E M Widdowson,  the author mentions in early […]

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Shipton Mill No. 4 Flour Organic

March 4, 2012
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The white roller mill flour I like and use regularly from Shipton Mill is their organic number 4, 12% protein.  I use it for all sorts, to mix with stoneground flour like the loaf below or making the kids loaves, whenever I want a roller white texture. What I like about no. 4 is that […]

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Problems With Yeast Doughs

February 18, 2012
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Back in October I discussed some problems with sourdough in a post here, and I wanted to highlight some common problems with yeast doughs.  Every week I bake both and my personal preference to work with is sourdough because it’s an incredibly forgiving dough.  I don’t understand when people find sourdough difficult because I can neglect it […]

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