Natural Directions AP Flour Test

First, I want to let those of you who have been waiting for the dry starters to be available, know that there are three varieties available now and the rest will follow soon. My son in Texas is drying them and sending them to me, as it is too humid where I am to dry starters.
.
They are available at: http://www.northwestsourdough.com/store.html  The fresh starters are still available, although I have not found any rye flour yet to bring back the fresh dough rye starters. They will be available as dry starters soon as well.

.
Now on to flour testing:
I found another new flour in the store. It is called Natural Directions and is milled by an exclusively organic flour mill. I used their All Purpose flour for testing because that is what was available, I don’t know if they produce Bread flour. I used this formula, which is the same one I have used for all of the tests:

.

A Winner!

Chocolate Cinnamon Babka

 

We have a winner! The winner for Peter Reinhart’s new book, Artisan Breads Every Day, is Lisa from Dahlhousedesigns. Please email me Lisa with your contact information so you can get started as quickly as possible baking some Chocolate Cinnamon Babka! 

.

When I received Peter’s new book, I knew right away I had to try the Chocolate Cinnamon Babka and I will tell you it is worth the price of the book all by itself!  This bread is so good that my husband, after eating the last piece, went out to buy more chocolate so I could make some more!

A Great Day! And…Pi Li Li’s

If you want to read about my great day, you will have to read to the bottom of this post. If you want to read about what the heck Pi Li Li’s are start here:

Pi Li Li’s or Pee Lee Lee’s, whichever way to want to spell it,( it sounds like the second version) are little fried pillows of dough. These are a sourdough version of a fried doughnut that grandma made. Quickly made, rolled in sugar, or cinnamon/sugar, powdered sugar or dunked in a honey glaze, they are great for a Sunday breakfast.

Peter Reinhart’s new book…Artisan Breads Every Day

Peter Reinhart’s new book is out! I have two signed copies, one for myself…and one…for one of you… 

Sourdough Breads from the Store

La Brea's French Baguette

I couln’t believe it but I found some La Brea Bakery bread in a Hilo store! Not only that , but I found some San Francisco Sourdough bread as well from Raymond’s Bakery. So I bought them and brought them home to see how they compared ( In the last post there was a a contest for a free sourdough. The fourth responder, Patty, is the winner of the Hawaiian Sourdough Starter, please email me with your contact info Patty).

My Dad’s English Muffins

I have made some unusual baked items while living in Hawaii. I had a sourdough recipe for sweet potato muffins and one of the nut pickers gave me some purple sweet potatoes which are very popular here. So I baked up some purple muffins!

 

Purple Muffins

Sourdough Tortillas?!!

Sourdough Tortillas

Need a fun recipe to help use up the extra sourdough starter?  How about sourdough tortillas?   Something fun –If you want a chance at a free sourdough starter, read to the bottom of this post.–

To make 3 lbs of dough add together in a medium mixing bowl:

Bob’s Red Mill vs Gold Medal and King Arthur

Bread made from Bob's Red Mill flour

If you have been following the last few posts, you will know that this post is about testing Bob’s Red Mill bread flour. So far I have tested King Arthur and Gold Medal bread flour, which you can see in the two previous posts. I made up a formula to follow when testing each flour and it can be found in the King Arthur post here:

Comparing Flours – Gold Medal vs. King Arthur

 

Bread made with Gold Medal flour

In my last blog post I decided to compare the bread flours I could find locally here in Hawaii, where different brands are somewhat limited. I decided to do this because at the Costco on the island, I bought 100 lbs of a flour which was giving me grief. There don’t seem to be many places here to buy flour in bulk. So to do a comparison test, I bought 5lb bags of flour at the local markets. I found King Arthur, Gold Medal and Bob’s Red Mill bread flours.

Comparing Flours..and Warm Weather Baking

Comparing three flours

After my last post about poor quality flour, I decided to see what other kinds of flour I could find locally. I found a 5lb bag of King Arthur Unbleached Bread flour at the local KTA market and also a Gold Medal Bread flour, which was five pounda as well. The King Arthur Flour cost me 6.99 for 5 lbs!  The Gold Medal was 3.49. I also found a 5lb bag of Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached Bread flour at the local Cost U Less, and it was 3.99. Don’t forget, prices are high in Hawaii.