For the bakers amongst us!

Thanks Pierre. I have looked at several how-to's on the net for making your own starter and they seem pretty straight forward. I need to find a warm spot in my house though. I rarely set the thermostat above 65°F so I worry that I might not have a warm enough spot? Most of the instructions I see call for a 75-80°F spot to get the starter going. I'm thinking a cooler spot should be OK but might just take a bit longer?

 

Thats correct. You can also put it in the oven with the oven light on, or set in near/on an piece of electronics, like a stereo, DVD player etc. to give it a bit more heat till its active and bubbling readily. Then after use or feeding, it can go in the fridge. Take it out a day or 2 before you intend to bake again, warm it as above, feed it till active, and carry on.

 

For today. White sandwich bread, and a few English muffins.
Sorry about the crappy fluorescent lighting.

 

Wait... you can make your own english muffins ? I didnt know that, okay now im seriously interested

 

Don't those just look awesome?

 

You brown them in a skillet before tossing them in an oven

You can bake it like aregular loaf and get a lot of the same flavor but it misses the crust that english muffins get. So much better to cut them and then brown them

 

Theyd look a mighty bit better with my grandmas respberry jam on em

 

I wish my grandmas could still make jam

 

Jam with butter, or some nice peanut butter would work too. Yum!

 

I like cream cheese, and nutella or blueberry jam as toppings. Lightly toasted muffins.

 

Those are some fantastic loaves and muffins, Pierre. :thumb

I made a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread today that failed on the second rise....the dough was too wet.

 

Ive actually never had nutella, but all the others sound great, cheddar also amazing

 

Last nights effort. Finished the baguettes I started Saturday.

 

Hey Pierre. Great looking baguetes I your bread bible same as this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bread-Bak...1012075131?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item2c7934f67b

 

Hey Greg, I have these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Bread...0851906376?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item5404731f48
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Bread...1049455686?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item2c7b6f5846
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peter-Rei...1137994872?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item4d195cd078

 

Lots of great books shown in this thread, which one will show me how to male english muffins like in Pierres OP ?

Andy, will your book show how?

 

I can send you pics of the appropriate pages if you like James...

I got the recipe from this one.
http://www.amazon.ca/Bread-Bakers-A...qid=1393897658&sr=1-1&keywords=peter+reinhart

 

Everyone who knows what happens to the cat when I try new things would very much like you to put anything that would involved me, and a lot of flour, in the same room as the cat....

But i would love it if you could as well, be a great next weekend project for me. John just sent me some great stuff as well

 

And sent! I expect pictures of "powdered kitty" complete with blue tinted English muffins!

 

The flour isn't too messy... I hpe you have a scale capable of 2.2kg or more...