Ciabatta with Stiff Biga

When I think of Ciabatta the first word that comes to my mind is: gentleness. The way to transfer Ciabatta-dough to the floured couche and later on to the peel is like holding on to something so fragile you can see and feel it slipping through your fingers. Only with care and gentleness you can manage it. It asks your full attention or awareness. That’s one of the reasons I love to bake Ciabatta. The reward is a delicious smelling and tasting loaf of bread. And it’s also good looking.

It doesn’t need anything on it, but maybe some fresh garlic butter? It’s delicious and I don’t even like to eat butter.

Today I baked Ciabatta. I was pretty pleased with my previously baked Ciabatta with the recipe of Craig Ponsford. But today I use one of the Ciabatta- recipes of Jeffrey Hamelman.

Pain au Levain with Black Sesame Seeds

I had stiff levain in the refrigerator and wanted to use black sesame seeds. I was looking for bread to put it in. As you know my latest book had arrived. I found Pain au Levain.

I like to use white or black sesame seeds in our food. I make my own tahini (ground hulled sesame seeds), put it in muffins and cakes, sprinkle grounded sesame seeds on my rice or add it to roasted vegetables. But, today I want to use black sesame seeds in bread. And whenever I can I will add some sunflower kernels too.

The result is delicious; the crumb is soft, moist and the crust nice crunchy. The loaves disappeared so quickly, we had them for breakfast and our light dinners. Even though the taste of the seeds is noticeably present it goes well with a lot of our favorite spreads like cheese, jam, guacamole, egg, and so on. This one will be back!  

Seeded Brioche Hamburger Buns

As you might know every month BYOB features a blog. This month our featured blog is Stephanie’s Girl versus Dough. Do you love to have a look at blogs on baking bread? Strolling through their recipes, peeking in their kitchen, learning something new, being surprised by new combinations and getting inspired? I do.
When you see Stephanie’s blog, you get all those things. I did and found good looking Hamburger Buns. I never before made Brioche dough and I love new experiences. My choice was made; I was going for Stephanie’s Seeded Brioche Hamburger Buns. Peter made some delicious hamburgers and they were waiting in the refrigerator. And we also had a ripe avocado. I made a spicy sauce (chili, garlic, onion, pickles, mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup) and we had a nice dinner. Can you taste it already?

The original recipe uses commercial yeast and I try to cut back on this because it’s not good for people with gout. Even though I’m bad with diets, I do try to keep an eye on the amounts of purine I eat. Just because the pain of a gout attack is something I want to avoid. 
The other change is that I didn’t made a nice coil, simply because I forgot and I love the feeling the dough gives when you turn them with cupped hands into nice round buns. And I thought 13 gram of sugar was enough. I try to use less sugar.

These buns are really great with hamburgers. The sesame seeds add an extra taste to the bun and they look nice.

Norwich Sourdough as a ‘thank you gift’

When you follow my blog, you see I bake almost all my loaves with recipes I find at other blogs. I like to have a look at what other home bakers bake and how it turns out in their kitchen. I have just a few books on baking bread and now I had the opportunity to get another book.

A while back I wanted to join Mellow Bakers when they choose The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard. It’s not a very expensive book and I was ordering the book with Amazon on line. At the end of the ordering session I discovered they wouldn’t send the book to Thailand. I still have no idea why they don’t send it. So, I didn’t join the Mellow Bakers with Dan Lepards’ book.

I forgot all about it until a friend of us went back to England for a family visit. Then I realized I could order a book and have it send to his mother. This was the opportunity; ordering a book, having it send to England and brought to Thailand. But which book to choose? I took it seriously and asked my fellow home bakers. The verdict was unanimous: Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread, is the book to have. ‘Not for beginners’, they all said. I’m baking for more than a year now and still I can learn a lot. 

With an address in England it’s easy to order a book. After a few weeks the friend returned and my book came. Off course I wanted to thank him and what better gift than a freshly baked bread to thank him for bringing back the book on BREAD.

I wanted to be sure and choose Norwich Sourdough. It’s a delicious good recipe I found at Susan’s Wild Yeast. Susan's Norwich Sourdough is adapted from Jeffrey Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough. I’ve baked this many times and in many variations. I decided to bake two loaves; 1 brown and 1 white. 

When we gave the loaves to our friend, his wife placed them on the table. Our friend’s wife is Thai and she doesn’t normally eat bread. She got a knife and cut some pieces to taste it. The biggest compliment was she couldn’t stop eating. I told her I was surprised, because she doesn’t eat bread. She said: ‘but this is really good bread, with a good structure and delicious taste’. Yes, we know this is how bread supposes to taste.

Off course I immediately started to read the book and it’s full of information; technical and recipes. There are 415 pages, so I have enough to read and a lot of recipes to bake. And enough to convert. Maybe next time mr. Hamelman will also use the metric system? My first impression is: ‘wow, Jeffrey Hamelman really knows what he’s doing. And he knows how to put it in writing too’. So, I’m happy!

It's time to link your baked breads of September to BYOB - Bake Your Own Bread

Many of you know where to find BYOB and every month more are sharing home baked breads at BYOB. 

We are so happy to see the great amount of breads you all send to BYOB to share. There were 63 ! loaves of bread, buns, flat bread, pie, cakes, artisan and many more bread related submissions. 

Featured Blog: last month we picked Stefanie's Hefe and Mehr for inspiration. And what inspiration we got. Even if you didn't baked with us from this featured blog; go and have a look at her blog. Stefanie's blog is in German and English!

These four bakers choose a loaf from Stefanie's blog:

1 Connie of My Discovery of Bread baked these Flaxseed Triangles, she found here
2 Karen of Karens Kitchen Stories baked these Pain de Beaucaire, she found here
3 Joyce of My Kitchen Flavours baked these yoghurt sesame rolls, she found here
4 Heather of Girlichef baked these Cocoa Buns, she found here 

There’s a big breadbasket to be filled with homemade breads baked in September. We have a few full baskets already from the previous months; go and see and be inspired. 

Come and join us all in filling the September basket. All the breads you bake during this month are more than welcome. But, there’s more. Also if you want to share knowledge on baking bread, have a bread book review or have bread based recipes you want to tell us all.

This month we've picked a fellow home baker and bread blogger and now we all meet her. The Featured Bread Blog of September is: Girl versus Dough. Stephanie has baked a lot of breads and other delicious  treats. Have a look at her recipes, it's the scroll bar on the right and filled with great recipes. There are so many, it must be easy to choose one or more to bake this month. I know what to bake this month, do you?

How do you participate?

1.    Bake bread in any form (use your own recipe or use one of Stephanie's)

2.    Post about it on your blog and make a manual back link to BYOB (name BYOB in your post) or by using the BYOB button in your post (you find the button here otherwise the Linky tool doesn’t work!)

3.    Click here to fill the basket of September  When you are linking a post that was inspired by the BYOB - Featured Bread Blog of the month; Girls versus Dough, please put in your blog name - *name of the bread.  The little * (asterisk) will allow us to list your post twice and identifies you as a featured blog poster.

Are you new to BYOB? Have a look at this for more information. Do you have questions? Send an e-mail 

Heather of Girlichef started to fill the breadbasket in 2012 and since July Michelle of Delectable Musings and I, Connie, are helping her. On all these blogs, when you see the BYOB logo, you can add your bread and it will be linked to the big breadbasket.

Let the filling of the September bread basket begin!

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1. Something Sweet: Winnies Blog - Pull-apart Garlic Challah	2. Something Sweet: Winnies Blog - Pita-Bread with Zaatar	3. Vivian Pang Kitchen - Wholemeal bread w/ 17hrs pre-fermented dough	4. Karens Kitchen Stories - Pain de Campagne & Pane Siciliano	5. cynthesizing food & fun - Povitica
6. What Smells So Good? - Olive Semi-Sourdough Boule	7. The Spice Garden - *Stephanies Cider Doughnut Muffins	8. Zesty South Indian Kitchen - Plantain Cashew Bread	9. Delectable Musings - Quinoa Blueberry Lemon Muffins {Gluten Free}	10. Mallis Mint and Mimosas - Veggie Pizza Swirl Bread & Dinner Rolls
11. French Nyonya - Pain Cocotte	12. My Discovery of Bread - Norwich Sourdough	13. Aunt Nubbys Kitchen - Spelt Bread with Chia Seeds	14. Cookingpleasure - Soya Bean Milk Loaf Bread	15. blog from OUR kitchen - Banana Cinnamon Russian Braid
16. chica chocolatina - Qaxaca Quesadilla Pie	17. Something Sweet: Winnies Blog - Sweet Pumpkin Cinnamon Challah	18. girlichef - Soft Pretzels	19. Challah - frozen wings	20. kitchen flavours - Betsys Seeded Oat Bread
21. Blue Kitchen Bakes - Honey & Pumpkin Twists	22. blog from OUR kitchen - Grape/Onion/BlueCheese Fougasse	23. Something Sweet: Winnies Blog - Apple Honey Challah	24. Something Sweet: Winnies Blog - Assorted Challahs for Rosh Hashanah & Holidays	25. Cooking Pleasure - How To Make Coffee Sweet Bun Dough [Straight Dough Method]
26. Vivian Pang Kitchen - Oreo Buns/Straight Dough Method with Sweet Potatoes	27. My Discovery of Bread - *Sourdough Brioche Hamburger Buns	28. In Cindys Kitchen - Wheat Germ Crackers	29. In Cindys Kitchen - Apple Toffee-Banana Rum Bread	30. kitchen flavours - *Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
31. blog from OUR kitchen - cornmeal muffins laced with grapes and green chillies	32. girlichef - *Ham, Cheese, & Broccoli Pretzel Pockets	33. Karens Kitchen Stories - Panettone	34. Cookingpleasure - Coffee Sweet Buns - Cinnamon Rolls	35. Brot & Bread - Leinsamenbrot - German Flaxseed Bread
36. blog from OUR kitchen - Elizabeths Molasses Fennel Rye (BBB)	37. My Discovery of Bread - Pain au Levain with Black Sesame Seeds	38. Fuss Free Flavours - Organic Pimhill Loaf	39. Sweet and Thats it - Whole Wheat Loaves - Baking with Julia	40. Zesty South Indian Kitchen - Pani Popo: Samoan Coconut Buns
41. Piece of Cake - Antipasto Scrolls (The 5 minute knead bread)	42. cynthesizing food and fun - Apple Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread	43. My Baking Journal - Cocoa Custard Horns	44. Sweet and Thats it - Carrot Bread with Walnuts	45. Searching for Spice - Garlic and Rosemary Foccacia Bread
46. Karens Kitchen Stories - Pizza Napolitana, Poolish Baguettes, & Portuguese Sweet Bread - BBA	47. In Cindys Kitchen - Cheddar Cheese Loaves	48. Loaf Street - Sourdough Crackers with Chia Seeds and Coconut Oil	49. Loaf Street - Sourdough Spelt Cheese Waffles	50. kitchen flavours - Apple Pizza Pie
51. Sweet and Thats it - Molasses Fennel Rye Bread	52. frozen wings - Brazilian Quick Rolls	53. Loaf Street - Dark Cherries and Cocoa Sourdough Rye Bread	54. The Hobby Room Diaries - Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread with Blackberry Butter	55. Karens Kitchen Stories - *Chocolate Croissants
56. Zesty South Indian Kitchen - Cheddar Scallion Bread	57. My Little Space - Lebanese Sweet Nuts Bread	58. Brittany Cooks - Whole Wheat Apple Muffins	59. My Discovery of Bread - Ciabatta with Stiff Biga

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