Fresh Sourdough makes the best Eggs Benedict.

Something of a weekend tradition in our house.

I've just started the book "Ratio" and I highly recommend it.

-Matt the weekend baker

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New starter!

I bought some new sourdough starter from a nice lady in the Ft. Worth, TX area. You can tell how good it is by how springy it is, here I've demonstrated this by balancing a 1/4 cup on it.

-Matt

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NOTHING smells as good as baking bread

That's right, nothing. Not even money :)

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Fresh out of the oven!

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Hello 2010!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, it's been a crazy 4 months. Thankfully I am now a proud father of a little girl, but that hasn't stopped my weekend baking adventures.

Thanks to a friend I've discovered a wonderful site called Posterous so I can now post via my phone :) This means you will see more posts more often!

-Matt the weekend baker

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Mineral Water

I am constantly looking for improvements to my recipe. I've reduced my salt from 15g to just 10g, but its frustrating that the margin of error for my scale is +/- 4g so when it says 10 it could be as high as 14 or as low as 6.

I have noticed that 150g of mineral water really does help make the taste 'pop'. So 150g of mineral water, 150g of spring water (avoid tap water because of its additives), and then add the last 10-20g of spring water with a spritzer/mister water bottle.

This last part is key because you don't want TOO much water, so adding with a mister really helps bring together all the loose flower in the bowl as you are mixing.

Cheers - Matt the weekend baker

Kneading the dough

Recently I've been experimenting with additional kneading of my sourdough on Saturday mornings. I am happy to report that a good 4-5 minute kneed of the dough, with a 2-3 minute rest before forming of the loaves has improved the overall quality and rise of the baguettes considerably!

Have a great weekend.

-Matt the weekend baker