Well, the focaccia is out of the oven and looks good. The sourdough has been rising so slowly though, I don't think I'll have a chance to bake it. Eit.

I also made a large batch tomato sauce, for dipping with the focaccia, and for freezing for later.

posted: Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:47 | permanent link to this entry

I haven't had a lot of time for baking and cooking, as I've been setting up my server (including this blog).

I went to the Alameda County Serv-Safe class. I sat through the class, and met some interesting people in the process (including, sorta, a chef at Oliveto). I took the test. I'll find out in three weeks if I passed.

I've been feeding the sourdough started on a 24 hour cycle for the last week, and it is starting to smell a bit... uh... different. Not 'off' per se, but not the same. I can't tell if it is just much stronger (as I usually have it in the fridge, and feed weekly) or what. If this next loaf tastes horribly off, I'll know to discard it all. That would make me sad, as I've had this starter almost a year now.

I'm leaving for Boston on Sunday, and I have a party to go to tomorrow evening. I've started a sourdough and a poolish. The poolish will probably go to a party bread of some sort, and some sourdough loaves may accompany me to Boston.

• Sourdough firm starter: 5oz flour, 4oz barm, 2-3/8 water
• Poolish: 12-5/8 flour, 1/4tsp yeast, 13-5/8 water

posted: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:00 | permanent link to this entry

Neither turned out very well. The sourdough didn't have quite enough time to rise, and was rather dense, but had decent flavor. The crust was not very good at all.

The foccacia was reasonable, but just not amazing. I think not using the herb oil hurt a lot.

I'm not sure what I'll be making next. Perhaps another sourdough.

posted: Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:00 | permanent link to this entry

Mixed the dough for tomorrow's sourdough at around 9:30. The colony still seems pretty weak, so I didn't add whole wheat flour; I didn't want to weight it down too much. Hopefully it will rise enough today that I can shape it and get a little proofing in before I throw it in the fridge over night. And hopefully there will be enough time tomorrow morning to finish proofing before baking.

I've started a fairly normal round of focaccia. I'm using the garlic oil that Geoff left here after Burning Man in the dough, and I may use some of it for topping too, although I'll probably have to cut it if I do, it is quite strong. I might throw some sesame oil in the topping blend too, just for shits and giggles.

posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:00 | permanent link to this entry

Started a batch of sourdough for Jen's soccer coach. The starter was a bit weak due to prolonged fridge exposure. I'm thinking this is will be partial whole-wheat batch. I may also do a foccacia for the team itself, or maybe I'll just double the sourdough.

Tuesday is my Alameda County "Serv-Safe food certification training and exam". Whee!

posted: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00 | permanent link to this entry