Mellow Bakers in Januari ....All Breads baked!!!

This is the last month of the Mellow Bakers Challenge: Baking "Bread" by Jeffrey Hamelman. All done!

It all started April 2010 and 84 recipes later we've reached the conclusion. A wonderful book with great recipes and technics to understand, make and bake bread. It still is -in my humble view-  thé book to purchase when you want to understand how to and bake good bread. My book had it hard, it fell apart during this challenge. The middle part fell out, and however much I glued, it never really stayed put. Lost some of the colour pages that came loose, but it's still sort of together, so I can keep on baking from it. And here are the last breads from this book (all baked a few years back):

Semolina Bread. Here I found out I went wrong. The semolina (durum) bread (page 135) I baked in June last year, was the bread I had to bake this month. So I place the Semolina bread (page 171)here, that I should have used in June.

Semolina (durum) bread with a whole grain soaker. I had to use a little more water to get a good dough. As said before, the use of soakers are really a great way of adding grains and so on to your breads. Love the crunch of the millet.

Five grain levain. A great loaf, though personally I prefer the 5-grain bread with pâte fermentée (p.129).

Roasted garlic levain. A beautiful loaf as well, soft garlic taste and a great accompaniment for soup or stew. Lovely oven rise.

And that's it, done. We can applaud ourselves :) All the breads can be viewed HERE.

Rumour has it that the next Mellow Baker challenge will be baking through the entire book by Dan Lepard "The handmade loaf". I think I'll bake along again. I have the book, I like the book, did bake a few recipes (not many) from it already, I think I'll give it a go. So the Mellow Bakers story will be continued....

Mellow Bakers in December (too late.. oops)

I can't believe I forgot to post this.. then again, I can believe it, these last weeks of the year are just to busy I guess. Anyway beter late than never as they say, so here are the Decemer breads for the Mellow Bakers Challenge.

66 percent sourdough rye. Even though I'm not a sourdough or a rya fan, this is a really good bread. I had to use less water than the recipe stated. As usual I had to mix my own 'medium rye flour' as I can't buy that here. I mix half whole rye flour and half white rye flour in the hope that this is close to the 'medium rye flour' used the the States.

Sourdough seed bread.  This is just such a good looking bread. Light and airy with those little specks of seeds everywhere. I added pinch of yeast in this one as my starter wasn't as fierce as before and I like it that it mildens the sour taste

And the last of the December breads is the un-kneaded, six-fold french bread. It's nice bread, not the best baguette ever, but good. Personally I don't see the point in a no-knead bread, that need so much attention folding it every half hour 6 times.  Folding is a great technic to strengthen a dough, especially very wet doughs that are hard to handle. But kneading a baguette and retarding it in the overnight (in the fridge) seems like an easier option to me.

Next time I'll show off the breads for the last time in the Mellow Bakers baking their way through the Jeffrey Hamelman book "Bread". You won't have to wait long as these will be the January breads!

Mellow Bakers in November..almost done

Still baking for the Mellow Baker Challenge, still baking every recipe in the book "Bread" by Jeffrey Hamelman. But we're not far from the end. I'm not totally sure but there are about 6 breads to bake (or less?). Some ideas about a new project are already being explored, if you'd like to bake along (again) the next project you can fill in this poll, what kind of challenge you prefer. Two more months to go. But first things first: it's Novembers turn and we've been baking three breads as usual, let's have a look.

Five-grain sourdough with rye sourdough. I'm a big fan of multigrain breads and this one - even if I have been baking this way back in 2006- is a wonderful loaf. Look how airy it is.

Golden raisin and walnut bread. A nice bread, but not very special. Not enough raisins or walnuts inside to be a real raisin bread. Nice, but not something that'll be baked again soon.

And finally there is this wonderful Fougasse with olives. Me and my husband both don't like olives at all, still both our kids love them, so this lovely chewy fougasse was gone in no time at all.

More from the Mellow Baker Challenge next month.

Mellow Bakers in Oktober

There we are with another month of Mellow Bakers Baking. Baking our way through the Jeffrey Hamelton's book "Bread". We're nearing the end slowly but surely. About nine more to go but I'm not sure. This months breads are all delicious and fun to make.

Sunflower seed bread with Pâte Fermentée.

Made a few years back, but still a great bread to bake and eat. We just love bread with lots of seeds.

Sesame Bread Sticks.

Delicious snack, to eat all by itself, or with soup, a glass of wine... anytime really. Fun to make, fun to bake. 

Berne Brot

So delicious this bread, reminds me a lot of challah. Fluffy and light... yummy!
I made two loaves, both with four strands, but with two different braiding techniques (also in the book). The first picture is made with method 2 (page 301) and gives a flatter broader loaf. The two other pictures used method 1 (page 300) and that makes a higher loaf.

Braiding methods

They're not for this month especially but I'm just trying to use all the braiding methods from the book, and here are a few more I make. I did a three braid of course (method 1 and two, makes no difference in looks), the six strands; two ways (p. 304), a tiered braids: double-decker (p.309) and triple-decker braid (page 310) even though that one slided sideways in the oven. Then there were the winston knot (p.306) and three methods for 1 strand rolls (p.294). Here are two more to add to the list, both made with the challah recipe on page 240/292. The first one with two strands (method 2). A perfect quick way to braid and still have a great result.

The next one with 5 strands, worked good too. A shame that during baking the straight line got a bit lost. So just a few braids to make and they're done too. Yes I know, I'm taking this real serious :)

Mellow Bakers in September

Last day of September, better get this post out at once. The weather is fantastic this week, but there's not much to enjoy as I'm not feeling too well. Bad headaches and sleepless nights. That's why this post just didn't happen sooner. So here are this months breads baked for the Mellow Baker Challenge (baking our way through J.Hamelman's "Bread").

Mixed Flour Miche.
I baked this one way back in 2006. As a miche is a very large loaf, it´s sometimes tricky to get it cooked through. These days I use a thermometer to measure the temp inside the bread, in 2006 were still my early learning days of many bread baking years to follow and I didn´t have that equipment just yet. Still it turned out good.

Whole rye and whole wheat bread. Whole grain breads are most baked and eaten in our house, because it has more flavour, is healthier ánd takes you further after eating it. And I can bake something all or partly white without feeling guilty when I feel like it.

This is a bread made with sourdough and a bit of yeast, which is always aa good combination, if gives the depth of flavour, less sour taste and no worries that it won't rise because of a inefficient starter. You can see my bread baking skills have progressed from baking in 2006 too.

Whole wheat bread with Pecans and golden raisins. A wonderful straight dough to handel and nuts and raisins always tickle my tastebuds in a good way. Very nice bread.

So far these months breads. Happy baking!

Mellow Bakers in August

And another episode of the Mellow Bakers Challenge. Here are the breads made for this August edition. We're really getting this thing done... I wonder how many more month there are for us to bake. Let's have a look at the August's breads first:

Oatmeal Bread. As you can see in the picture, I've baked this one in 2006, quite a while ago. I just had one note that I wrote down in the book (as I do in all my baking/cooking books) and it says: "Looks real pretty". And so it does!

Oatmeal bread with cinnamon and raisins. Looks quite different, because of the cinnamon that has given the crumb a brown colour.

Focaccia. Delicious! Look at that crumb, really nice, just rosemary and some salt.... what else do you need?! I'll bake this one again for sure.

Focaccia con formaggio, not my favorite I must say. I love ricotta, but in this bread I thought it wasn't as good. I think I'd like it better with another kind of cheese in between, a stronger one perhaps and maybe not so much of it. Some mozzarella with basil, Parmigiano Reggiano with rosemary... you name it.

       Black bread. This one we didn't like, I guess it was the coffee. Even though it was soaked, it still was grainy in the bread and too much of it as well.

So those were the breads for this months Mellow Bakers.  I'll be back with more next month....

Mellow Bakers in July

Here are the breads for the July edition of the Mellow Bakers Challenge (Baking our way through Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread"). We've baked quite a lot in the meantime, just a 1/4 to go! I've baked all so far, didn't miss one yet. Here a display of this month's breads. Enjoy.

The Olive Levain, a wonderful rustic bread. Nice holes too. As only the kids here are fond of olives, they happily ate the lot. I worked the olives in by hand, didn't want to get them broken up in the dough. It's a good idea to make this at the end of the day, so it can rest overnight in the fridge.

The Potato bread with roasted onions is totally delicious. I roasted the onions long and slow on low heat until very brown and sweet. They turned the whole loaf brown. I really love this 'fendu'-style, although mine wasn't as fendu-ish as I would have liked, better practise some more with it. Great bread to eat with cheeses.



Sourdough rye with raisins and walnuts. Wonderful bread, I just love nuts and raisins in a a bread. I had to make the 'medium rye flour' by mixing 50% whole rye flour and 50% white rye flour together, as they don't sell it here. With a bit of yeast in the dough to help it along and lessen the tangy flavour a great bread!

And with these baked we've baked 3/4 of the book! That's a lot of bread. See you next month with some new breads...... to be continued.



Mellow Bakers in June

A new month, a new set of breads for the Mellow Bakers Challenge (baking our way throught Jeffrey Hamelman's book "Bread"). Breads with very different characters this time. Let's take a look

1. Pain Rustique.

Take a look and what does it remind you off? Yes of course:Ciabatta. I think it's just the French version of ciabatta. Comparing this recipe and the one for ciabatta with poolish, almost twins, the ciabatta has a few percent more liquid, but that's hardly a difference. It's a good bread, holes and everything, so this one got a good mark.

2. Semolina Bread.

Now we really move to Italy with this one, such lovely fragrant and slightly yellow bread. I added more water, but that can happen as flours vary in the way they slurp up the water. A very short sponge, so that's handy too for the people that are not always reading the recipe the day before they want to start baking. Lovely bread.

3. Volkornbrot & Volkornbrot with flaxseeds.

As this kind of bread is only eaten by my husband and I still wanted to bake both of them, I halved the recipe and placed both of them next to eachother in the pullman pan. All in all I guess it turned out like it is supposed to look. Sort of square and dense. Sour smell and taste and probably very good for you. So I was happy with the result, as I admit I'm a bit scared baking these kinds of breads. I let it rest, wrapped in a tea towel, for a little over 24 hours before slicing and that went well. Sliced thinly and packed 4 in a bag, they were all frozen and by now (as I baked this a few months back) they are all eaten by our "roggenbrood" (= dutch for "volkornbrot")-lover. Yay for him too!

This was a very divers baking month and with all good results. Looking forward in seeing the other breads on the participants blogs and finding out what we'll be baking next month for the Mellow Bakers!

Mellow Bakers in May

Again I'm early this month with the display of the breads of the month May for the Mellow Bakers Challenge. It's easier now for me to be early, because to be honest... I've baked them all already at this point. I guess I'm not very good at taking it slow when a task lays ahead of me. But I'll shower the breads onto you all month by month so you don't get to many carbs ;).

The Five grain bread with pâte fermentée is one of my favorites, I've baked this one already in 2006 and drew 5 stars next to the recipe. As said before the use of a soaker like this is a thing I use more often since this book, great way of incorporating texture, fibers and vitamins. Wonderful rustic bread, also very good as rolls!

The Pissaladière was OK. We're just no real anchovies fans, way too salty for our tastes, even though I cut the filets in as small stripes as I could. The dough is good, nothing very special, but good.  We ate it, the kids divided the olives between them and we took about half of the anchovies slithers off.



Also a very good loaf was the Roasted hazelnut and prune bread. I love these breads with added flavour. Don't omit the toasting of the nuts, that really gives a wonderful flavor. I left the prunes in fairly big pieces.

That was it for this Mellow Bakers month, see you next month.