[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

Baked two enriched sourdough sandwich loaves using one of the mini starters.  Dough was made last night and left on the counter overnight. 

 

 

 

[Dinner 2025]

Moe wasn't hungry for a big dinner so I made him

 

a Prawn cocktail with a homemade cocktail sauce.

[Breakfast 2025]

It had been a while since I baked biscuits

 

so this morning I made Ham, Cheddar and green onion biscuits.

 

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I gave the pan a positive review.

Beautiful crust and crumb.  And I love your pan. 

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

I had fed two of the "scrapings" of the jar starters on Wednesday and after they had risen, I put them both in the fridge.

 

Took them out last night and made two doughs. One went into the fridge for a longer cold fermentation and one was left on the counter overnight and baked this morning.

Left just enough scrapings in the bottom of the jars to feed again.

Left them out on the counter overnight and they are now ready to go back into the fridge and will probably get used over the next two days.

Baked 12 sandwich size baguettes.

[Dinner 2025]

On 12/4/2025 at 5:05 PM, sartoric said:

There is virtually nothing authentic about this Thai green chicken curry, but it’s how we like it with potatoes and spinach. 

I would be so happy with this green curry.

 

[Breakfast 2025]

Yesterday morning I made my favourite meatballs. Pork, Garlic and basil.

 

Moe had them over linguine for breakfast.

 

And this morning I made him a meatball "sub" on a freshly baked bun.

 

Fed a "scrapings" of the jar to make a starter before leaving for work yesterday morning and used it last night in an enriched sourdough.

Left dough out on the counter overnight and baked early this morning. One sandwich loaf and six sandwich buns.

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

18 minutes ago, paul o' vendange said:

Wonderful, thanks Ann, I'll give it a shot.  I wasn't aware of the site, so thanks for that too!    

This is the same website that I found the method for just using the scrapings from the bottom of the jar for the next batch of dough.

 

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

13 minutes ago, paul o' vendange said:

Beautiful Ann.  Never heard of this bread before - any info on it?

 Paul, it wasn't something I was familiar with until 2 years ago.  I've made it a couple of times since.

 

I adjust the recipe slightly depending on whether I have a starter ready to use.  You can find the link to where I found

it here:

 

https://www.culinaryexploration.eu/blog/British-Bloomer-Recipe

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

Early morning bake.

Crusty English Bloomer Bread.

Started the dough yesterday around 5:00 PM using a small "sourdough mini starter" with the addition of 3g of yeast.

900g of flour added to the 132g mini starter at 60%hydration.

Dough was blowing the top off of the container at 3:00 AM this morning.

[Breakfast 2025]

Moe's appetite as been off at night so I decided to make dinner for breakfast this morning.

 

I had saved and froze leftover wild rice dressing from a couple of weeks ago when I made the boned Cornish game hen .

There was just enough to make two chicken ballotines.

I boned out two chicken breasts leaving on the skin. Stuffed with the wild rice and roasted.

I soaked some dried shiitake mushrooms in chicken broth for the sauce.

 

Made a roux with the addition of butter added to the drippings, along with the mushroom chicken broth and finished with just a touch of Armagnac.

Served with Moe's favourite braised red cabbage, peas and roasted potatoes.

 

Dinner out of the way before 9:00 AM.

 

[Breakfast 2025]

Moe requested soft boiled eggs and toast finger for breakfast.

I call them soft boiled but they are actually steamed for 4 minutes in a steamer insert,

rather than directly in the water.

Best way to make hard boiled eggs as well.

 

Accompanied by a side of bacon. Not shown.

[Breakfast 2025]

Roasted a couple of chicken breasts and made gravy and made Moe a hot chicken sandwich with twice fried fries for breakfast early this week.

Last night I made our favourite chicken fried rice and served it with Egg Foo Young.

Moe had actually requested the Egg Foo Young.

He liked the Egg Foo Young so much he is having leftovers for breakfast today.

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

It is sometimes confusing, with the different terms that are used.  Levain, Poolish, Biga, Pate Fermentee are just different preferments.   

So when Gerard renews his Levain, I'm not sure what he means by that.  When I want a preferment for my next batch of sourdough bread, I

start a new preferment, whether a levain, poolish, biga, etc. 

 

I've experimented with all of them over the years.   The one I used more often was a "Biga".  Both a yeast version and a sourdough version.

 

The sourdough version was made using 60 to 80g of sourdough starter and added to 250g of flour and 250g of water.  Once it had more than doubled

it was added to the next batch of dough.   These little scrapings of the jar preferments, I just refer to as mini bigas.  

 

I have still been maintaining my mother, feeding it every couple of weeks.  I think that it has just become a habit that I've been feeding for 6 years and I don't want it to die. 

 

I usually leave a dough in the fridge for a longer cold fermentation from 24 hours to 4 days.   But I have left them as long as 8 and 9 days and the only difference I find

is that the sourdough flavour is a little stronger.   This works for my son who loves a more sour taste.  I like a milder sourdough flavour. 

 

 

 

 

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

41 minutes ago, paul o' vendange said:

Very cool, thanks Ann.  The only thing I'd be curious about is whether the scrapings at the bottom have a different population mix of yeasts v. bacterias, and if over time that would tend to move the population ecology to favor one or the other over time.  Don't know why it would, but it would be interesting to learn more about this.  Very nice to avoid waste, like you say, and your starters look robust and healthy!

A sourdough starter should never have yeast added.      When I  started my "mother' back in 2019 it was started  with organic rye and bottled water and when it was ready to maintain, I fed  with organic rye and bottled water. Nothing else.  Pure sourdough.   

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

I mentioned a few months ago that I was using a new method I found for maintaining a sourdough starter, using just the scrapings in the bottom of the jar.

I've been using this method now consistently since February.

 

The method is from Culinary Explorations.

 

You start with about 22g of your sourdough starter and feed it with 55g of water and 55g of flour.

Once it has more than doubled it is ready to go into your next batch of dough.

You just need to leave a little of the starter in the bottom of the jar and feed the scrapings with the 55g of water and 55g of starter.

After the first time, I never bothered measuring the scrapings. You just need to leave less than a tablespoon in the jar to feed.

 

If you don't plan on baking anytime soon, just put the jar of scrapings in the fridge and pull out and feed with the 55/55 ratio 8 to 10 hours

before you want to make your next batch of dough.

So if you want to make your bread dough in the morning feed it at night and it is ready to go.

Or feed it in the morning and make your dough later in the day.

 

I found that since I am baking every two or three days, I just feed the scapings immediately and after they have more than doubled,

I put the jar in the fridge until I want to bake. This works for me.

 

Last night I made three doughs using three of the mini bigas.

All three doughs went into the fridge for a cold fermentation.

That left me three jars with scrapings to feed. I fed each jar and left them on the counter overnight.

 

I just took pictures of them and they are now going into the fridge for a couple of days.

If you look closely at the lids, you can see how they are expanding so you know that these little starters are active and strong.

 

Made a nice popping sound when I realized the lid.

 

Besides being really easy, what I really like about this method is that there is no waste at all.

 

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

On 11/4/2025 at 12:49 PM, Smithy said:

 

Yes, the pattern on that boule is striking!

I agree.  That loaf is a beauty.

 

[Dinner 2025]

Last night's dinner.  Apricot Glazed "boned" Cornish Game Hens

 

I started early in the morning to bone out a Cornish game hen.

 

And cooked the wild rice.

 

The wild rice stuffing was seasoned with garlic, onions and celery, along with chopped dried apricots and cranberries,

 pepper and  fresh thyme and rosemary.

 

Stuffed and sewed the bird up with unwaxed dental floss.  Been using this method for more than 40 years.  When ready to serve you just

have to give a little tug on the floss and it just slides out.

During the last 20 minutes the bird was basted a few times with an apricot spread thinned

with Grand Marnier with the added addition of fresh thyme and rosemary.

Added a little chicken broth to the pan drippings and drizzled over the bird

 

and served with roasted butternut squash and steamed green beans. 

[Breakfast 2025]

Moe's breakfast.

Steak and Eggs.

 

 

[Breakfast 2025]

I had some baby back ribs that I was thinking of grilling and making Greek ribs for breakfast,

but decided to use them instead for Chinese steamed pork ribs with black beans.

One of our favourite dim sum dishes.

 

 

I know that baby back ribs aren't the ribs traditionally used for this dish, but I actually like them better.

[Breakfast 2025]

 

I made Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Congee for breakfast.

Rice was washed and soaked for 30 minutes and then added to the boiling broth

(I used a combination of homemade turkey and chicken broth (8 to 1 ratio broth to rice)

and then cooked in the Breville PC for 30 minutes.

Steam released and then added the chicken, mushrooms and ginger and cooked for another few minutes

and then served with cilantro.

[Breakfast 2025]

 

Sliced one of yesterday's sourdough boules for breakfast this morning.

 

Scrambled egg with tomatoes, fried ham steak and toasted sourdough.

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

42 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

I'm a sucker for cute very utile doohickies - nice find!

Me too.  I couldn't resist. 

[The Bread Topic (2016–)]

I found this beautiful little vintage clay Chicken roaster on our local FB Marketplace.

I was working yesterday and the seller was kind enough to drop it off to me.

I had a sourdough in the fridge for three days.

 

Took it out of the fridge at 8:00 last night and shaped it at 4:00AM this morning

and baked two boules,

both in clay bakers.

[Breakfast 2025]

Started a batch of dough Thursday and put it in the fridge until last night.

Taken out around 8 and left on the counter overnight and baked 12 mini baguettes this morning.

This was an 800g flour batch with just 1.5g of yeast at 70% hydration.

Used the smallest baguette to make garlic bread to go with

Pollo Alla Marengo with a side of pasta for Moe's breakfast. I'm working today so it will be my lunch.