Broetchen

German rolls are called 'Broetchen' and thus should count as small breads, right?

All white flour, for a change, 60& hydration, half milk, half water.

Garden Guest - Guarden Pest

Picture from October:
Not sure if this guest is as welcome as others. We sure love all the butterflies, and accept the caterpillars. But this one is quite big, ate quite a few leaves before vanishing again.
We had another one same size, but green earlier, and it munched quite heavily on tomatoes.

Length of both over 10 cm, quite large. 

Batard whole wheat

Still working on my batards -this is one of my first ones. Using commercial yeast, and a couche - but not a basket when proofing. Quite edible.

100 % whole wheat sourdough

All whole wheat (HEB Organics) with 75% hydration, baked in a cast iron pot.
Preferred density in the house - bigger holes are frowned upon, at times.

a box in a box in a box in a box: origami

A project - just for fun. And to package small gifts. And to work with Udo (he did some himself).

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Fresh! flour and a tiny loaf

Finally we made it again to the Barton Springs Mill, after having tried some award winning olive oil.

Got some flours: red fife, sanora, turkey red, yecora - all new for me, last time we bought other varieties (and they were outstanding).

The flours are whole grain (except yecora, 85% extraction) and are superfine.
Kneading these is a revelation, much, much stronger gluten building in very short time - and outstanding flavors, all organic, too.

So here's a product, a tiny whole wheat loaf so I can bake more often ;-D
 (a 2 cup flour sourdough loaf = 300g, 80% hydration). Moist, crunchy, and outstanding flavor with this flour.

Crunch Batard

I admit it: 50% whole, 50% white. But NICE.
Not used to doing batard shaped loaves, this came out quite nicely.

Shroooooooom

Its so hot and no rain in Austin - but humidity often is above 90 % anyway, so we actually have mushrooms in the grass, sometimes.

Sourdough - with and without caraway

Started this morning, just had a slice and then packed it away.
Two small loaves backed in a cast iron pot, 1/3 rye, 2/3 whole wheat.
The darker loaf was bake 10 F hotter and has also caraway seeds.

Buttermilk bread

Just a very light, fluffy toast-bread-like bread, made with very little yeast, same amount of sugar, 2 teaspoons honey and buttermilk instead of water, whole wheat, of course. Brushed with milk a few min before pulling it out of the oven for a soft crust.

Prune cake - Pflaumenkuchen

My father's all time favorite cake - Pflaumenkuchen. Slightly tart prune halves on a 2 cm yeast dough with very little sugar, but dusted with cinnamon sugar before and after baking.
Refreshing, slightly sweet, wonderful breakfast and snack!

Chocolate lavender Earl Grey Bundt cake

This one Udo made - sounds fancy, most interesting flavor and looked great.

I believe (!) he got the recipe from 'love and olive oil', one of the blogs he's avidly following, but... only he knows for sure.

Sourdough bread

Every time different - this one had a really good crust and crumb, only slight sourness. More than half gone the first day :-).

Trying to avoid baking right now, it's so super hot. But it's hard

Yellow brown zipper spider

Found a beautiful zipper spider in the backyard. See the dense white zig-zag under it's body, streching up and down - the zipper. Spider body is over 1 inch long, not a small spider. But we'll take them all to eat some mosquitos!

The other day this had a rolled up something in it, that was gone the next day, but was clearly bigger than a mosquito.

Buttherfly / Moth

Udo saw this first from the inside, a huge, butterfly or moth, 4-5 inch wide.

Geography per mouth

Udo is learning about Asian geography and history right now - and to round it up, we started going to restaurants serving typical food.

This time: Filipino (little Mama's in Round Rock)

I only have photos from the deserts, but everything was good / interesting, like lumpia, bicol (spicy) , pancit.

The colorful one is Sapin Sapin and the other is  Biko, which is a sweet rice cake. Both not very sweet, both chewy, especially the Biko. Sapin Sapin is layered, steamed sticky rice cake with purple yam, jackfruit, coconut milk, a bit like mochi.

star anise Ice cream with candied fennel seeds

So rich, quite sweet, lovely strong anise flavor and tiny mild fennel seeds in a shell that stays crunchy.

So good - not made by me, but as a 'thank you' by our Junior Chef.

Rosinen Apfel Schnecken mit Kokusnussoel und Orangen-Zuckerguss

Raisin-apple rolls with coconut oil instead of butter and orange frosting:  light, moist, fruity.

I showed this as a surprise in our team meeting - causing quite a 'hallo'. Nice wake-up late in the call.

ABC muffins

ABC muffins are an opportunity to slip in a few fruit early in the day:
apple, banana, cinnamon :-)

Very soft and juicy, naturally sweet.

Sweet buns

Sweet rolls, half of them with raisins - just like Rosinenbroetchen.
Baking 2-3 times for breakfast during a good week - tasty, healthy (low sugar, whole flour), and fun.

Breakfast Hoernchen

Hoernchen, yeast, lightly sweet, nice and juicy.

Whole grain wheat - rye sourdough

Long time no post - we've been busy cooking and backing (and eating) though!

For example for friends German Waffles with sour cherries and whipped cream :-), or this nice fluffy bread with an extra light and extra crunchy crust.