My First Post....

I'm really excited.. I've been reading other people's blog and now..
Oh well... there's always a first time...

What shall I write about...

I always loved baking, but I evolved from using a bread maker, using bread mix to doing my own, and my own recipes...

First of all, I must recap what I did over the last year, learning how to deal with yeast properly...

I've made croissants, brioches, custard buns, dark rye, white loaves for my son's school lunches, hot cross buns, lots of pizza bases, baguettes, Turkish Pides, and it's only I learned how to use Biga and Sour dough starter... I know how to control it properly, with my hands, no machine, and breads turn out nicely....

I will talk about my breads more, as I bake more, but this is what I did in the last couple of months, my baby steps...

First of all, the breads made by Direct method, commercial yeast...

Every sunday, I bake one loaf of white and one loaf of rye for my son and me.... I work full time and baking is a luxury I can only enjoy during the weekends...

















and:
















We didn't buy hot cross buns from the shops for the first time because I made these... (I also made a batch of chocolate chips, but I didn't take photos of them)
For these, I used Margaret Fulton's recipe and they came out just nice...














This is the first Sourdough baby coming out of the oven that's right, and it's a Baguette...

I've since made burger buns, sandwich loaves with my 100% hydrate sourdough starter... and I'm loving it... I'm sure I will be baking more of breads this weekend, and I will take some photos of the lovely sourdough breads...

My own recipe for the baguette using sourdough method:

4 tbsp 100% hydrant starter
225g strong bread flour
100ml warm water
1 tsp salt

Mix starter and flour, salt with specula.
Slowly add water, take out on a lightly floured marble slab, and knead into dough, knead until dough is wet but not sticky, elastic and smooth, just as you would, any bread dough.
Keep in container with glad wrap on top to prove for 2-3 hours until dough is double or triple in size.
Shape and slash and prove for another 30 minutes to an hour, dusted with plain flour, and bake in 230C for 20 minutes with a little bowl of water..

Until the weekend...

Happy cooking and especially, happy baking!