My Baking

Baking is probably my biggest hobby. I mostly bake bread, and my favorite breads to bake are naturally leavened (aka Sourdough) Breads. This page is a sort of highlight reel of some of the best things I’ve baked.

The Starter

Starter is the key to sourdough. It’s essentially a live culture of yeast. With daily feedings it develops a strong population of yeast, that digest the flour in bread, and release CO2 gas. It’s this CO2 to “leavens” bread, or makes it rise. The starter is made with 50% flour and 50% water, and you can tell you’ve got a good starter when rises for about 12 hours after feeding. in the pictures you can see the starter right after feeding, and then 12 hours later.

picture of starter after feeding picture of starter after resting for 12 hours

Rye Sourdough

This was a really fun one. I tried a higher hydration (80% vs 75% on all my previous bakes), and also tried adding a little bit of rye flour in addition to the normal whole-wheat/white flour blend. The higher hydration dough was a bit harder to work with, but not too bad, and the rye gave the finished loaf a really great depth of flavor. Overall this is probably the tastiest and most attractive loaf I’ve baked so far.

photo of rye Sourdough loaf photo of rye Sourdough loaf

Sourdough Rolls

These sourdough rolls were great. I covered the outside with everything bagel seasoning which I actually don’t recommend, the onions burn at the oven temp you need for these. I did a couple with just sesame though, and those were awesome. We at a bunch of these on their own, but they’re make great sandwiches.

photo of rye Sourdough loaf photo of rye Sourdough loaf
photo of rye Sourdough loaf

Bread Crown

The bread crown is a true showstopper. Every time I’ve brought it to a family gathering people have been wowed by the sight of it, but even more impressed by the taste. It looks a bit like babka, but in fact the swirls are olive tapenade, not chocolate so it’s a savory loaf.

photo of rye Sourdough loaf photo of rye Sourdough loaf