My Stollen Adventure: The Making

This post has been sitting on the dashboard since 2014, and for some reason, I never got around to edit and publish it.  It might sound odd but it has become my little tradition to make a Stollen from scratch for the past three years, and I am glad to report that the bread has …

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Pflaumenstange mit Marzipan, finally a success!

For those of  you who know me well, I bake when I am stressed.  That does sound like my baked goods are full of vengeance and aggressiveness, but fortunately, they do not.  The motion of creaming the sugar and butter together and kneading are very relaxing, and I usually do those by hand.  I have …

An Experiment with Müslibrot

Remember the müslibrot I made months ago?  I decided to conduct some experiments with the recipe, since I have nuts and dried fruits that I need to consume.  As I mentioned in other post, I am horrible at following directions.  For those of you who know me well, I have tendency to learn better from …

Grape mother sourdough

Here I present the grape mother sourdough.  I essentially use the same recipe as the potato mother sourdough.  The stark difference between the progeny of two mother doughs is flavor.  While potato mother is more robust, grape mother is more delicate and subtle.  Both bread's texture are very similar (it is because I knead both …

Not-too-sour sourdough

Do you recall all those boring posts on the mother doughs?  Now they are paying off.  Recently I used part of the potato mother to make sourdough rolls.  They did not turn out as sour as I imagined, which I was pretty disappointed.  The baker explained that since the mothers were just developed, so the …

Portuguese Sweet Bread– A sticky affair

Couple weeks ago I saw an Apricot Strudel recipe in my daily Küchengötter newsletter and I was tempted to try it out.  My baker other-half shook his head and said, "in order for you to make a strudel, you will have to make sweet bread first." I figure, what is so special about sweet bread?  …

What happen to the mother doughs?

Do not worry, Auggie did not get to them 🙂 They are now refrigerated, or now hibernating.  Once the mother doughs are confirm alive, after several feeding that provide necessary nutrients, they can be put away.Before use, I just need to remove it from the cold, add another cup of flour, and take a small portion …

Last day of feeding– Day 6

Do not judge a mother by its appearance...The Potato mother does not smell like strong alcohol, but it is still lively.The Grape mother might not look as delicate as it should be, but the smell is faint and sweet.

Progress on Grape and Potato mother doughs– Day 4

Or should I say grape wine and vodka doughs?Grape mother after first feeding.  It has a faint fragrance of wine.  Too bad the sack of grapes is removed.Potato mother bubbles quite happily today.  It seems to me that the mixture rise a bit too.

Progress report on mothers, Day 3

Potato mother looks more incorporated than the first day.  There is no visible chunks.  The scent begins with a potato note then finishes with flour.  The color is slightly gray.  I wonder whether that is part of the oxidation process?Grape mother bubbles more fervently than yesterday.  In fact, the level of water-flour mixture begins to …