Pizza Dough Update

January 31st, 2019

For my most recent batch of pizza dough I decided to add a bit of spelt flour, and I upped the hydration from 71% to 75%.

This one is topped with caramelized red onions (with a splash of balsamic), shredded mozz, shredded brussels sprouts, and a bit of fresh mozz on top. It was delicious.

This dough spent more than a day in the fridge since I had to make it a day early. It didn’t seem to rise as much after I divided and shaped, but it stretched out beautifully, baked up well, and tasted great. I think this will be my go-to hydration going forward.

Total Formula Starter Final Dough
Ingredient % grams % grams grams
bread flour 70.00 350.00 100.00 50.00 300.00
white whole wheat flour 20.00 100.00 100.00
spelt flour 10.00 50.00 50.00
diastatic malt powder 2.00 10.00 10.00
water 75.00 375.00 100.00 50.00 325.00
100% hydration starter 100.00
olive oil 2.00 10.00 10.00
fine sea salt 2.80 14.00 14.00
TOTAL 181.80 909.00

Posted in: Pizza Dough, Sourdough Starter

Naturally Leavened Cinnamon Raisin Bread

January 31st, 2019

I have no idea how this will turn out. I adapted my regular formula, adding a bit of sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.

I decided not to cold-proof this loaf. I shaped and let it proof for about 2 hours before I baked it.

Maybe some day I’ll try a brioche dough.

Total Formula Starter Final Dough
Ingredient % grams % grams grams
all purpose flour 10.00 30.00 100.00 30.00
bread flour 65.00 195.00 195.00
white whole wheat flour 15.00 45.00 45.00
rye flour 10.00 30.00 30.00
water 78.00 234.00 100.00 30.00 204.00
100% hydration starter 60.00
sugar 10.00 30.00 30.00
cinnamon 0.50 1.50 1.50
fine sea salt 2.50 7.50 7.50
raisins 33.33 100.00 100.00
TOTAL 224.33 678.00

Posted in: Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Sourdough Starter

The Great Sourdough Snitz Bread Experiment

January 23rd, 2019

01.23.19 – I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. I’m eager to see if it turns out. Also eager to eat some Snitz Bread.

I started off by taking a small amount of starter (14g) and feeding it with bread flour (14g) and prune juice (14g). I’m using Trader Joe’s prune juice which seems a little different than other prune juice I’ve seen.

I’m going to use 250g of starter for the bread. I think if I feed it again in the morning and tomorrow night it will be ready by Friday. I could probably just make a leaven the night before and not do a whole starter off-shoot, but maybe I’ll do that next time.

I need to remember to borrow Mom’s small loaf pans tomorrow.

01.24.19 7am – Starter looks good after 13 hours! Fed again with 30g bread flour and 30g prune juice.

Wondering if I should do a stiff starter for this. I’m going to need enough liquid to melt the butter and sugar with later. My next feeding should be 25g prune juice and 75g flour. That will make a 60% hydration leaven. Not sure if I should wait until early tomorrow morning to mix up the leaven or do it tonight. It probably won’t need that long to mature.

01.24.19 5pm – Pretty active! I will feed it first thing in the morning.

01.25.19 6:30am – Mixed up the stiff leaven. Added 75g flour and 25g prune juice to the starter.

01.25.19 11:30am – The leaven is ready! But the rest of the dough isn’t yet! I cut up the fruit, etc. Melted the butter, sugar, prune juice and water together. Let mixture cool while I picked up Owen from school.

01.25.19 1:30pm – Transfer the prune juice mixture to the large mixing bowl. Add 200g flour and mix well. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Add fruit/nuts/anise, then remaining flour. Mix/knead well. I dumped it out onto the counter to knead it together. Cover with the bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.

2pm – Break up leaven and knead into the dough, along with the salt. This was very sticky and took about 10 minutes to knead it all together. Place dough back in bowl and into plastic bag/cover tightly.

3pm – Dumped the dough back out onto the counter and kneaded again.

I’m trying to decide whether to divide and shape before or after cold fermentation.

7pm – Decided to refrigerate before shaping. I’ll shape it in the morning and let it proof at room temp for a while before baking.

01.26.19 8am – About 12 hours in the fridge. Now I’ve divided and shaped the dough and put the pans in the ziplock bag in the warm utility room. There doesn’t look like there’s been any activity. I’m hoping they will rise a little in the next few hours.

12pm – So, 4 hours later and not much has changed.

5pm – We were out all afternoon, and when we got back, the loaves looked pretty much the same. Put them in the oven, 350°F. I brushed the tops with butter. Not sure if that’s what mom does. After 30 minutes they were not done at all. I think they were in for 55 min total. Still probably a little undercooked. I should have put them in at a higher temp I think. These are gonna be pretty dense! I guess I will find out in 3 days how they taste.

6:30pm – OK, so I couldn’t wait. I cut into one, still warm. It’s delicious. Could use some work, but it’s not too far off. A bit dense. Not sour.

10pm – I regret eating almost a whole loaf of snitz bread tonight.

Notes For Next Time: Make a stiff leaven with regular mature starter (instead of a few feedings with prune juice/flour). Higher percentage of prefermented flour. Mix in the leaven at the beginning to get it evenly distributed. Let autolyse then add salt. I wonder if it would benefit from a higher hydration as well. Probably doesn’t need cold fermentation. Higher oven temp. Steam? Spray with water?

I wonder what would happen if I just made my regular dough, subbing in some prune juice, and adding some dried fruit/nuts. I think my next try will be a half recipe.

Total Formula Starter Final Dough
Ingredient % grams % grams grams
bread flour 100.00 625.00 100.00 125.00 500.00
water 8.96 56.00 56.00
prune juice 41.60 260.00 60.00 75.00 185.00
60% hydration starter 200.00
sugar 16.00 100.00 100.00
butter 8.96 56.00 56.00
eggs 16.80 105.00 105.00
fine sea salt 1.45 9.06 9.06
dried fruit 108.00 675.00 675.00
walnuts 8.96 56.00 56.00
anise seed 1.60 10.00 10.00
TOTAL 312.33 1952.06

Posted in: Sourdough Starter

Butterfly Pea Flower Sourdough #2

January 8th, 2019

This loaf turned out much bluer! It has a bit of an earthy smell, but tastes fine.

I did 15g of flowers to 250g of boiling water. After I strained it I had slightly less than I needed so I had to make a little more.

This loaf had 10% rye and 15% white whole wheat.


Posted in: Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Crackers

January 1st, 2019

Followed this recipe.

I did a batch with whole grain rye flour instead of wheat. Olive oil. Everything but the bagel seasoning. Most of the seasoning fell off even though I tried to press it into the crackers. These taste good but I didn’t bake them long enough. They’re not crispy. Baked for about 20 minutes. I may have rolled them a bit thicker than the recipe said, but they wouldn’t roll any thinner than that.

I rolled them out right on the silpat and it worked well. Then I just put the silpat on the baking sheet.

Mixed up another batch with white whole wheat flour.

133g starter discard from the fridge (called for 2/3 c)
30g olive oil (3 T)
3/4 c flour (rye flour weighed 113g, wheat weighed 92g)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda

Mix all ingredients together, knead to evenly combine if necessary. Cover and let rest for 6 hours. Can refrigerate until ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out half the dough on each silpat. Aim for 2mm thickness. Sprinkle with desired topping. Bake until crisp and browned, rotating pans halfway through.

These are great. Very adaptable. Mixing seeds and/or herbs into the dough. Changing out the flours. Try rolling thinner.


Posted in: Crackers, Sourdough Starter

Butterfly Pea Flower Sourdough #1

December 30th, 2018

I used my usual formula except the water was steeped with butterfly pea flowers. I didn’t use nearly enough though. I did 2g dried flowers to 250g boiling water. Will use 15g for that amount of water next time.


Posted in: Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Stromboli

December 10th, 2018

I’ve made Stromboli a couple times and they are so good I can’t wait to bring them for appetizers to gatherings. I do need to figure out how to cut down on the salt. The meats and cheeses are so salty. I’ll use ham and salami with the lowest sodium content I can find. Maybe a bit less cheese too.

I use my regular sourdough pizza recipe (500g flour) and divide it into 2 portions instead of 3. That seems to be perfect for Stromboli. I follow the recipe from simply recipes for layering and rolling up. I add sauce though. I’ve also made a veggie one (garlicky kale and caramelized red onion). I may try making a vegan one to bring to our next family gathering. I would need to skip the egg wash.

The first one I made I cut the slits wrong. Too diagonal. Then I did a slit for each slice, which was probably too many. Maybe one slit for every other slice is good.


Posted in: Pizza Dough, Sourdough Starter

Mini Pizzas For Freezer

December 6th, 2018


I’ve been meaning to try making my own frozen pizzas for Owen (or any of us, really). I think this would be a good use for that third dough ball that usually sits in the fridge until it’s so sour I toss it. I just need to figure out how small to make them. This time I decided to divide each ball into 3 pieces. My goal is to make them small enough to fit into a quart ziploc.

Par-bake crusts at 450°F for a few minutes (these were about 3 min but I may go a little longer next time), just until puffed and dry on top, but still pale. After the crusts cool completely, top with sauce and cheese, then put on a sheet in the freezer until solid. Move to ziploc bags for storage.

To reheat/bake the frozen pizzas, heat oven to 550°F. Bake on pizza stone until cheese is melted and crust is browned, 8-10 minutes. I’ll also test it out in the toaster oven, similar to how we do the Trader Joe’s pizzas. 425 convection for about 10 minutes did the trick.

These turned out pretty well. Owen’s had a couple so far and he’s finished them. I suppose I could also make full size pizzas for the freezer and reheat them on the pizza stone.


Posted in: Pizza Dough, Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Pie Crust and Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

December 2nd, 2018

Crust recipe from here. I used half butter and half crisco. I want to work towards a vegan crust, but I think the soft crisco was why the dough was so hard to work with. It was very soft. I put it in the fridge overnight to harden up and tried to use plenty of flour to roll it out. The first time I tried rolling it the dough stuck to the pastry cloth. Good thing the recipe makes 2 crusts! Maybe next time I use crisco I should chill it first (after measuring).

The pie filling is here.

The pie tastes great. It’s very soft set, as the recipe said it would be. I’m not sure why mine cracked so much. Maybe it needed more time? The crust does not taste too sour, which is good. I thought it might because I used old discard starter from the fridge.


Posted in: Pie, Sourdough Starter

Butternut Squash Sourdough

November 19th, 2018

Nice orange color, doesn’t taste like squash, which is just fine. Good way to use that CSA squash!

Total Formula Starter Final Dough
Ingredient % grams % grams grams
all purpose flour 15.00 45.00 100.00 45.00
bread flour 60.00 180.00 180.00
white whole wheat flour 25.00 75.00 75.00
water 50.35 151.00 100.00 45.00 106.00
roasted squash puree 44.00 132.00 132.00
100% hydration starter 90.00
fine sea salt 2.50 7.50 7.50
TOTAL 174.00 567.00

Posted in: Sourdough Starter
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