This is an epic bread fail. Not only is the boule burnt, the baguettes deflated when slashed. So many things went wrong! (But surprisingly, the ugly baguettes still tasted good.) I think a short respite from bread-baking is in order.

Sourdough waffles.  These were quite good, but not very sour.  This recipe only used 1 cup of starter.  I have found another recipe (for sourdough pancakes) from Crust and Crumb that calls for 2 cups of starter, so I think I’ll try that next time.  You can easily convert a pancake recipe to a waffle recipe by increasing the fat (i.e. 1/2 cup melted butter instead of 1 tbsp.)

Memorial garden

ephemeraetcetera:

I’m gearing up for the annual Christmas cookie-making.  This year, I’m planning on making the following:

• Russian tea cookies
• Lemon-polenta cookies
• Piparkooks (as per Alex’s request)

Don’t use that recipe - it’s missing half the spices!  Here’s how my grandmother used to make them:

Piparkuks

• 3 sticks butter
• ½ cup oil
• 1 ¼ cup molasses
• ¾ cup honey
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 9 ½ cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• 4 t. cinnamon
• 4 t. ginger
• 1 ½ t. pepper
• 2 t. cloves
• 2 t. nutmeg
• 3 t. cardamom
• 5 t. coriander
• 3 t. lemon peel
• 3 t. orange peel

Mix butter, oil and sugars. Heat to boil, add spices and cool. When cool add eggs one at a time. Mix baking powder, soda, and flour. Add to wet ingredients, mix well. The dough can be kept for weeks in the refrigerator. Roll very thin and cut with small cookie cutters. If the dough gets sticky, chill again. Brush with beaten egg yolk and decorate with bits of almonds, if desired. Bake 350-375 degrees for 10 minutes or less.  Makes 100-150 cookies.

Anyone remember this game?

2-month old ColoRouge cheese, from Fort Collins.  The Terror Creek Winery sits at 6400 feet, overlooking Paonia, CO.  The whole-wheat sourdough bread is made by Udi’s in Louisville and is only available on Saturdays at the Boulder Farmer’s market, as far as I can tell. 

A preview of something for tomorrow.  Guess what it is!  Hint: 2 days ago, I tried to make graham crackers, but they came out so tough that they wouldn’t even soften in milk.  (When I was making the dough, the recipe said I should knead and adjust liquid and flour until the dough was “neither sticky nor crumbly”.  No matter what I did, it came out both sticky AND crumbly.)

This isn’t about making anything, except maybe cathedrals.  View of Basel, Switzerland.

Bordeaux.

Pain Poilâne.  This is from the other formidable boulangerie we visited.  You may remember my attempt at a giant sourdough 100% (sifted) whole wheat loaf.  Mine was not nearly as lofty as this one. 

The shop, tucked away on rue du Cherche-Midi, deep in the Left Bank, is really only meant to sell one kind of bread - the 2kg miche.  They have other bread products but they’re really just purely decorative.  We bought a quarter of a loaf, and ate it over 2 days.