CAphyl's blog

This is a fast and easy way to use some of your sourdough starter. I have made the flatbreads per this recipe most often, but used a cold proof for one batch.  I recommend the immediate approach, but both work.  I think Ziti would argue that flatbreads are better with yeast (and he is probably right), but this is a fun way to use up sourdough starter.

I would encourage you to use a lot of flavors inside and out when making the flatbreads.  I am going to incorporate a lot of garlic next time to get some really bold flavoring. The fun part is that you can use anything you like inside and different seasonings outside. I have made these both in the US and the UK; I make them for my friends in the UK each time my husband and I visit.

When the dough is ready, divide it into balls about this big.

Make a hole in the ball with your thumb to insert the cheese and olives. I actually used a little gorgonzola in addition to the Stilton for this batch of flatbreads.

I used mostly kalamata olives, but had a few marinated Spanish olives as well.

Close the ball over the ingredients and seal it.

Roll the flatbread out as thinly as you can (unless you like a thicker flatbread; I think thinner is tastier.)  Don't let the olives/cheese popping through scare you; it will be OK.  If the juice comes out of the olives when you are rolling the dough, wipe it up with a clean cloth before you roll out the next flatbread.

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle on seasonings.  I used fresh rosemary from the garden on some and used Italian seasoning on the rest. I love how they puff up when put on the heat. I use a medium to medium high heat.

When you put the flatbread with the oil/seasoning side down in the pan or on the griddle, coat the top side with the oil and seasoning before flipping.  Cook 2-3 minutes per side and don't press down on the flatbreads, so they have some bubbles/spring in them.

Serve warm with hummus and tahini.  Enjoy!

Full recipe below.

I adapted my recipe from city hippy farm girl

Yields about 8-10 average size flatbreads

Ingredients:
-1 cup sourdough starter
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup water (keep more on hand if you need it)

Crumbled stilton or gorgonzola cheese (about ½ cup)

Kalamata or green olives, pitted and sliced in half or quarters, if large olives
-Olive oil to coat on flatbreads before grilling & desired seasonings (rosemary, Italian seasoning, garlic, etc.)

Directions:
1. Add the sourdough starter, flour, salt, baking soda, and olive oil to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the dough hook, mix until ingredients are combined. Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, until dough forms. Dough should be only slightly sticky to the touch.
2. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and allow to rest for an hour.
3. Break off small chunks of dough and roll them into a ball that’s a bit bigger than a golf ball.

4. With your thumb, push a hole into the ball and put in crumbled cheese and several olive pieces (I usually use 4-6 pieces).

5. Close up the ball, pulling the dough over the ingredients stuffed inside.

6. Using a pastry roller or rolling pin, roll out as thinly as possible on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Brush with olive oil and desired seasonings. If any juice comes out of the olives, wipe this up with a cloth or paper towel.
4. Grill flatbreads over medium heat, flipping after 2-3 minutes or when browned.  Before flipping, coat the top with olive oil and seasonings. Cook remaining side for 2-3 minutes. As I am making the flatbreads, I put the ones that are done in aluminum foil to keep them warm. Serve warm with hummus or tahini.  Store in an airtight container for 1-2 days. (If you have any olives or cheese left, just throw them in the salad.)

I am testing this to see if this image looks better than my earlier blog.  ElPanadero mentioned that my photos are faded and yellow (I have been resizing them, as I have struggled to post multiple photos), so I just want to see if this photo looks better than the one I posted on my earlier blog, which has the recipe and other photos.  Phyllis

It's my husband's birthday, so I wanted to make something special and different. Inspired by so many bakers on this site, I tried something new in making this bread, improvising a bit on the ingredients. I felt a need to incorporate some fresh herbs from the garden, so I decided to alter the Tartine recipe I typically use to add a few ingredients that may be tasty together.

We just had some for lunch, and it was nutty and tangy....really tasty.  The sage wasn't as visible, but we could smell it and spot it in a few places. My husband liked it, so I am pleased.

It's always fun to get the starter going. (Complete recipe is below).

It really popped up overnight.

The dough smelled wonderful during the autolyze phase.

I picked fresh sage from the garden, washed it and let it dry out on the cutting board as I didn't want to add any more wetness to the Tartine dough, which is very wet.  I used California walnuts, of course.

I gently patted the dough down to put the ingredients inside before shaping.

I thought the bread turned out well.  It flattened a bit during the baking, but that may be because I stuffed so many nuts and bits of sage in there. I was hoping for a more open crumb, but it was OK. My husband (engineering background) likes a more uniform crumb.

Tartine Sourdough with Walnuts, Walnut Oil and Fresh Sage

Starter

1. 55g ripe starter (I used a mix of AP, WW and dark rye starter)
2. 200g water
3. 200g whole wheat flour (I actually used sprouted whole wheat)

Mix the starter and water together in a medium-sized glass bowl until the starter is fully absorbed.  Add the flour and mix well.  Cover and leave on the counter at room temperature overnight.

Dough

1. 250g (25%) leaven
2. 500g (53%) white bread flour (I used AP as I thought it was my bread flour!)
   
3. 250g (27%) whole wheat bread flour (I used mostly sprouted whole wheat, as I had a bag open. Regular ww is fine)
4. 150g (16%) dark rye flour
5. 20g (2%) salt
6. 730g water plus 50g water in reserve for after you add the salt (step #6 in Method below)
7. 10g walnut oil
8. 10-15g fresh sage, sliced in very thin strips, for each loaf; 20-30g total (2.5%)

Method:

1. Add the 250g of the starter to a large mixing bowl
2. Pour in 730g water and mix until the water and leaven are completely mixed and dissolved
3. Add all of the flours and mix until all the dry flour is incorporated
4. Mix in the 10g of walnut oil
5. Cover your bowl with a towel and let autolyse for 40-50 minutes
6. After the autolyze phase add 20g salt to the dough and slowly pour your 50g reserved water on top
7. Use your dough scraper to turn the dough several times.

Now, leave this on the counter covered with a towel for the bulk fermentation phase of about four-five hours with frequent turns. For the first step, let it sit for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, turn the dough several times with your dough scraper. Now, turn the dough with your scraper every 30 minutes for two hours.  After that period, leave the dough to rise untouched for another two hours.

Pre-Shape

As many of you know, Tartine bread has high hydration and can be tough to handle. I lightly floured my surface and eased the dough on the top of it.  At this point, let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Shaping

I used the dough scraper to divide the dough in half before shaping into boules. Try not to add much flour.  I coated my hands with the walnut oil and put a little on the surface. I shaped it twice, letting it rest in between shapings.  Then place the shaped dough into a banneton dusted with brown rice flour and retard in the refrigerator overnight.

Baking

Preheat your oven with your covered baker inside at 500 F (260C) degrees.  Remove the tray from the oven, use a bit of cornmeal at the bottom to prevent sticking, place the dough into the tray and score.  I sprayed with just a touch of water to get the nice crust.  Bake with the dome on for 30 minutes at 500 degrees, then remove the dome and bake at 435F (224C) convention for 15 minutes or so; 450F/232C  if you don’t have convection).  I usually bake a bit longer to get the bold crust.  Just check it during this phase and thump the bottom to be sure it is done.

If you don't have a covered baker, place your baking stone in your oven pre-heat to 500F (260C). You can take your loaves out of the fridge to warm up while the oven is preheating.

Place the dough onto the stone, score it, get your steaming apparatus in place and turn the heat down to 450ºF (232C), bake for approximately 45-50 minutes until you have the crust color you desire.

Yesterday, I made one of my husband's favorite breads, the classic sourdough. His birthday celebration goes all week!

I was pleased with the open crumb.

I also made one of my husband's favorite dishes for dinner last night, "no cook" heirloom tomato sauce with homemade pesto and a parmesan crisp. Lots of fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic.  We are lucky in California to still have the tomatoes growing in our garden and heirlooms still at the farmer's market. Yum! (If you want recipes, let me know).

The celebration continues tonight when we go out to dinner and a show. I'll probably bake him another special loaf soon. I enjoyed my Tartine experiment!  Phyllis

I had the most wonderful experience in San Francisco this weekend, as we were visiting the city with my husband's family from England.  It was their first time there, and they loved it. There was a Farmer's Market on the Embarcadero near Ferry Building #23 this past weekend, and I had the pleasure of meeting Edmund Weber (below) of Della Fattoria of Petaluma. He had a wonderful selection of breads, as you can see (sorry it's a bit dark).

Here is a link to bakery and cafe web site.  http://dellafattoria.com/

I told him about the Fresh Loaf site and how all of us like to try new breads when we are traveling, and he gave me a loaf of his Pane Integrale, which is a very dark whole grain bread made with whole grain wheat and whole grain rye, water, honey and sea salt.  It was really delicious.  We drove back from SF to southern CA the next day and had the bread for dinner and toast for breakfast.  Fantastic!  He would not let me pay for it, as he said it was from one baker to another.  He was very kind.

The crumb and crust were perfect and the bread itself was so light and airy. He is clearly a wonderful baker.  It is so fun to be able to talk bread with another baker as well. He makes a variety of bread including Campagne, Ciabatta, Kalamata Olive, Levain, Polenta, Pumpkin Seed, Seeded Wheat, Semolina and Rosemary & Meyer Lemon, which is their signature country bread, in addition to the Pane Integrale he gave to me.

The crumb was just wonderful.  I think this was the lightest bread I've ever had.  If you find yourself in the area, please stop by and try his bread.

Inside the ferry building, there are so many great shops. I love cheese, and the Cowgirl Creamery certainly had some wonderful ones. Here is their web site: http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/

It was a great trip.  Before we left to go to San Francisco, I got a classic sourdough going to bake as soon as we got home. I left it to bulk ferment for more than three days, so I was a bit worried, but it came along nicely.

Here's a link to the recipe for this bread that I posted previously. On to the next bake, as I fed my sourdough this morning.  Best,  Phyllis

I just got home last night from the UK (still really jet-lagged!) where I keep a supply of sourdough starter that I carried over last year in checked baggage from our home in California.  I revived it fairly easily after it had been left in the fridge for several months. I enjoy baking for family and friends when I am in town, but I had a number of baking mishaps early in our stay for a variety of reasons, so I was glad to have a couple bakes go well after a number of disappointments.  Not sure if my starter wasn't fully recovered when I started or (as I suspect), I was trying to fit the baking into my schedule and had some over-proofing. I was also very happy to find a Mason Cash clay baker at a local store in the UK, which I thought would help me get back on track.

The first recipe I made included whole wheat and spelt with bread flour above.  The new baker worked very well, helping produce a nice loaf. You'll see the recipe at bottom.

The second loaf I made is more of a classic sourdough, without any added whole wheat or spelt.

I didn't get to try the bread, as we gave it to friends.  They enjoyed it and sent me this crumb shot of the loaf with the added whole wheat and spelt.

My other friends sent me this crumb shot from the bread flour loaf (no WW or spelt).

I also made some cranberry orange walnut bread, banana chocolate walnut bread, five grain levain bread, sourdough rolls and flatbreads, see below. I made the flatbreads with feta, stilton, olives and spices for our friends. I am playing around with the recipe and may post something later.

I had to make pizza as well, of course. We were getting ready to leave, so I wanted to use up sourdough, olives and pepperoni I had in the fridge.

Here are the sourdough rolls I shared in an earlier post.

Below you'll find the recipe for the Classic Sourdough with added whole wheat and spelt. (For the other loaf, I just used all bread flour, with no spelt or ww).

Classic Sourdough with spelt and whole wheat flour

Makes: One 2 pound loaf.

Method adapted from: Classic Sourdoughs by Ed and Jean Wood.

I varied the recipe by using my active starter that was a 70/20/10 mix of AP flour, WW flour and dark rye at 100% hydration and added whole wheat and spelt flour. I really liked this mix, as it added a bit of texture to the loaf as the original recipe starter has no whole wheat or rye and there only white AP flour in the bread dough. I also changed the cold fermentation, extending it considerably by adding a bulk fermentation phase.

Ingredients:

Final Dough:

• 230 grams (about 1 cup or 240 ml) active starter, 70/20/10 mix of AP, WW and Rye flours at 100% hydration
• 300 grams water (Approximately 1 1/2 cups or 360 ml water)
• 10 grams salt (about 2 teaspoons)
• 250 grams strong white bread flour (about 2 cups)
• 125 grams spelt flour (about 1 cup)
• 125 grams strong whole wheat bread flour (about 1 cup)

Method:

1. Mixing the dough. Pour the starter into a mixing bowl. Add the water and mix well.  Add the flour a little bit at a time until it starts to stiffen.  Hold some flour out to knead in a bit later.  Let the mix autolyze for 30 minutes and then add then fold in the salt.
2. Kneading the dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in some of the remaining flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes until it the dough is smooth and easy to handle.
3. Bulk fermentation. Lightly coat a glass bowl with olive oil and place the dough ball into the bowl, making sure that the top of the dough ball has a thin coat oil. Cover and bulk ferment in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours. The original recipe calls for it to proof at room temperature for 8-12 hours, so I made a major change here. Over this period in the refrigerator, the dough should about double in size.
4. Shaping and final proof. Use a spatula to ease the dough out onto a floured surface. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, shape it into a rough ball, cover it with a cloth, and let it rest again for 30 minutes. Now, shape the dough into a boule or oblong loaf and place it seam-side up into a banneton coated in brown rice flour. Put in a clean plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
5. Baking the loaf. The next morning (or longer if you are letting it retard for an extended period), remove the loaf from the refrigerator and let it warm up before baking. You should be the judge of how long you need it to warm up.  My loaf needed to pop up a bit, so I let it warm up while I preheated the oven to 500 degrees (260 degrees C) along with my new clay baker.  After popping into the baker and scoring the bread, I sprayed a light mist of water on the dough, trying to avoid the hot surface, as I was hoping for a really beautiful crust. I baked it for 30 minutes in the clay baker at 500, and then lowered it to 450 for another 10-15 minutes. If you don't have a covered baker, a baking stone works well with steam. Make sure your steaming apparatus is ready and bake with steam for the first 20 minutes or so. Turn the temperature down to 450 degrees (235 C) and bake for 30 minutes, and then take the temperature down to 435 degrees (225 C) for the final browning, which is another 10 minutes or so, depending on the type of crust you like.  We tend to like a bolder crust, so I bake it a bit longer. Watch it closely during this phase.
6. Cooling and slicing the loaf:  Remove the loaf from the covered baker tray or stone and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow TFL baker during my trip to the UK from California.  I had noticed last year on TFL that Peter (blueboy2419) baked some impressive breads with beer and mentioned a beer festival that he volunteers at every year in Liverpool, my husband’s home town.  More than a year ago, I found out that we would be in town for the beer festival, as we were going to be in the UK for my niece’s wedding.  Peter gave me information on the festival, and I bought tickets. While I am not a lover of beer, my husband and my brother-in-law are real fans of lagers and ales, and they quite enjoyed the beer.  Peter offered his expert advice, which was helpful, as there were literally hundreds of beers. Peter has used some of the beer and stout featured at the festival in his breads.

The St. George’s Hall Beer Festival is held in the Great Hall of a fabulous historic building.  You can see the photo of Peter and me at the festival hall. It was fun to meet Peter, and he gave me helpful advice for purchasing the right kind of flours for my baking in Liverpool.  My husband’s family are all fans of the Liverpool Football Club (LFC), and Peter is an ardent fan of Everton, their cross town rivals.  Interestingly, the “derby” or annual contest when they play each other was on Saturday (we met Peter on Thursday), so that always is an interesting Reds (LFC) vs. Blues (Everton) conversation! The game was on during the wedding, so many of the chaps were itching to go to see the score. It ended in a tie, 1-1.

While in the UK, I did bake a bit, but had several disasters.  I ended up making rolls out of a classic sourdough loaf I was making, and they turned out OK, as you can see below.

Because of all commitments we have had with family and friends, I was making the dough and bread meet my schedule, which did not work, needless to say. I brought my sourdough starter over in checked baggage last year, and I revived it with no problem after several months.

I will have to chronicle some other bakes when I have more internet access.  It was great to meet Peter and bake for my UK family and friends.  Now, it's back to California.  Best,  Phyllis

Back in the UK, and it's great to be baking again.

I was pleased with the crumb on the classic sourdough I made today.  My husband liked the crust as well.

I have revived my sourdough over months in the fridge in the UK and have started baking. Lots to do to make bread for family and friends.This one was for us, and it tasted great. I always worry about my sourdough starter when I have to leave it for so long, but it bounced back nicely. Thanks to Kiseger for giving me a great UK website to find some items I couldn't pick up at the store.

The bread made a great sandwich.  I pasted in my original recipe below.  I didn't use my covered baker (don't have one here in the UK), so I used the steam method instead. Hope to post more from here.  Best,  Phyllis

Makes: One 2 pound loaf.

Method adapted from: Classic Sourdoughs by Ed and Jean Wood.

I varied the recipe by using my active starter that was a 70/20/10 mix of AP flour, WW flour and dark rye at 100% hydration. I really liked this mix, as it added a bit of texture to the loaf as the original recipe starter has no whole wheat or rye. I also changed the cold fermentation, extending it considerably by adding a bulk fermentation phase.

Ingredients:

Final Dough:

• 230 grams (about 1 cup or 240 ml) active starter, 70/20/10 mix of AP, WW and Rye flours at 100% hydration
• 300 grams water (Approximately 1 1/2 cups or 360 ml water)
• 10 grams salt (about 2 teaspoons)
• 500 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (about 4 cups)

Method:

1. Mixing the dough. Pour the starter into a mixing bowl. Add the water and mix well.  Add the flour a little bit at a time until it starts to stiffen.  Hold some flour out to knead in a bit later.  Let the mix autolyze for 30 minutes and then add then fold in the salt.
2. Kneading the dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in some of the remaining flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes until it the dough is smooth and easy to handle.
3. Bulk fermentation. Lightly coat a glass bowl with olive oil and place the dough ball into the bowl, making sure that the top of the dough ball has a thin coat oil. Cover and bulk ferment in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours.  I did two bakes of this bread in the last week or so, and I bulk fermented the first loaf for 72 hours, and it came out really great. The original recipe calls for it to proof at room temperature for 8-12 hours, so I made a major change here. Over this period in the refrigerator, the dough should about double in size.
4. Shaping and final proof. Use a spatula to ease the dough out onto a floured surface. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, shape it into a rough ball, cover it with a cloth, and let it rest again for 30 minutes. Now, shape the dough into a boule and place it seam-side up into a banneton coated in brown rice flour. Put in a clean plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
5. Baking the loaf. The next morning, remove the loaf from the refrigerator and let it warm up before baking. You should be the judge of how long you need it to warm up.  My loaf needed to pop up a bit, so I let it warm up for several hours at room temperature before I preheated the oven. I used my Emile Henry covered baker, so I preheated it with the cover on at 500 degrees (260 degrees C).  When the oven and baker are at temperature, remove the lid and pop the loaf into the bottom tray. Score it in the pattern you desire.  I sprayed a light mist of water on the dough, trying to avoid the hot surface, as I was hoping for a really beautiful crust.  Bake at 500 degrees with the lid on for 30 minutes, and then take the temperature down to 450 degrees and remove the lid for the final browning, which is another 10-15 minutes, depending on the type of crust you like.  We tend to like a bolder crust, so I bake it a bit longer. Watch it closely during this phase. If you do not have a covered baker, you can use a baking stone or tray with parchment paper, but make sure you create steam by using your steaming apparatus or baking tray with boiling water from the start of the bake.  Bake the loaf at about 480 (250 C) degrees for the first 25 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 435 for the next 15-20 minutes, depending on how bold you like the crust.
6. Cooling and slicing the loaf:  Remove the loaf from the covered baker tray or stone and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

As a number of you know, I have experimented with freezing dough and baking it later.  I have had some recent mixed results, and I thought I would share it to see if there are some things to learn from my experience. Recently, I made a wonderful Tartine sourdough with olives, herbes de provence and lemon zest, recipe link below.  I froze the second loaf to bake later, and I baked it in the last few days.  It was terrible--a flat, gummy disk.

It would not get done, and you can see how gummy the dough was after baking forever. The color was slightly white, looking overproofed. I did have another bad frozen dough experience recently when I left some frozen five grain dough in the Midwest and baked it from frozen after it had been frozen for some time.  When I baked it, I got a small, gummy disk that also would never get done. I kind of wrote it off as it had been frozen for a long time.  But, it was interesting that the exact same thing happened again back in my home kitchen in California with the olive loaf, which hadn't been frozen for very long.  The gummy olive loaf sure didn't look like the original loaf below, with recipe link:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39505/tartine-sourdough-olives-lemon-zest-and-herbes-de-provence

Interestingly, I had frozen some other dough a few days before the olive dough, when I made Ian's semolina porridge bread for the first time.  When I made the first loaf, it was tasty, but was a bit flat as you can see in the photos below.

The crumb was fine, but I just didn't get the lift. Ian suggested less hydration, so I tried something different on the second loaf, which I baked from frozen.  I defrosted it and kneaded in more flour and sprinkled it with a bit of yeast to try and get some lift.  It turned out very well when I baked it today, as you can see below.

The crumb came out very well, and the bread was just delicious!  Thanks, Ian. The crumb was just right.

It is interesting that this dough had been frozen longer than the olive loaf. All of the doughs I have frozen recently had pretty high hydration. Is that a clue?  If so, why did the semolina loaf turn out so well, as it was high hydration like the other two that ended up as flat, gummy disks? I have another five grain frozen, which has been frozen for some time, so that will be my next experiment.  Perhaps if the dough seems too wet, I should knead in flour as I did with the frozen loaf I made from Ian's recipe.  So many questions to pursue!  Thought you would enjoy the results of my recent experiments.  Best,  Phyllis

Here is the link to Ian's recipe:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39261/semolina-kamut-porridge-bread

Our friends, Tim and Barb, are visiting us in California from the Midwest, and I asked them what kind of bread they wanted me to make.  Tim asked for sourdough with olive oil and rosemary.  As rosemary is plentiful (and drought-resistant), we have lots of it growing everywhere in our backyard, so this was not a difficult request.

I modified one of my sourdough recipes to make the bread, adding olive oil and rosemary (recipe below).

Ready for the overnight proof.

It popped up overnight.

Scored and ready to go.

The crust turned out well.  You can see the rosemary in there.

The crumb was good, and the texture of the bread was quite moist.

Our friend, Tim, is making his sandwich in the back of this crumb shot.  He loved the bread, so I am a happy baker!  Now, we are off for a spin around the lake.

Sourdough with olive oil and rosemary

Makes: One 2 pound loaf (this loaf was 2 lbs 9 oz).

Method adapted from: Classic Sourdoughs by Ed and Jean Wood.

I used my active starter that was a 70/20/10 mix of AP flour, WW flour and dark rye at 100% hydration.

Ingredients:

Final Dough:

• 230 grams (about 1 cup or 240 ml) active starter, 70/20/10 mix of AP, WW and Rye flours at 100% hydration
• 300 grams water (Approximately 1 1/2 cups or 360 ml water)
• 10 grams salt (about 2 teaspoons)
• 500 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (about 4 cups)
• 9 grams chopped fresh rosemary
• 40 grams olive oil (reserve some for kneading)

Method:

1. Mixing the dough. Pour the starter into a mixing bowl. Add the water and mix well.  Add the flour a little bit at a time until it starts to stiffen. Let the mix autolyze for 30 minutes add then fold in the salt. After that, add the rosemary and about 2/3 of the olive oil.
2. Kneading the dough. Turn the dough out onto an oiled surface, using the reserved olive oil, and knead in the remaining oil if the dough is too sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes until it the dough is smooth and easy to handle.
3. Bulk fermentation. Lightly coat a glass bowl with olive oil and place the dough ball into the bowl, making sure that the top of the dough ball has a thin coat of oil. Cover and bulk ferment in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours. 
4. Shaping and final proof. Use a spatula to ease the dough out onto an oiled surface. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, shape it into a rough ball, cover it with a cloth, and let it rest again for 30 minutes. Now, shape the dough into a boule and place it seam-side up into a banneton coated in brown rice flour. Put in a clean plastic bag and refrigerate overnight (or longer if you want more sour flavor).
5. Baking the loaf. The next morning, remove the loaf from the refrigerator and let it warm up before baking. You should be the judge of how long you need it to warm up.  My loaf needed to pop up a bit, so I let it warm up for about an hour at room temperature as I preheated the oven. It will overproof if you keep it out at room temperature too long. My experience is that this pops up in the oven quite nicely. As the original recipe calls for 8-12 hours of room temperature proofing, I did notice that this dough did need time to warm up and rise a bit at room temperature before baking. I used my covered baker, so I preheated it with the cover on at 500 degrees (260 degrees C).  When the oven and baker are at temperature, remove the lid and pop the loaf into the bottom tray. Score it in the pattern you desire.  I sprayed a light mist of water on the dough, trying to avoid the hot surface, as I was hoping for a really beautiful crust.  Bake at 500 degrees with the lid on for 30 minutes, and then take the temperature down to 435 degrees and remove the lid for the final browning, which is another 10-15 minutes, depending on the type of crust you like.  We tend to like a bolder crust, so I bake it a bit longer. Watch it closely during this phase. If you do not have a covered baker, you can use a baking stone or tray with parchment paper, but make sure you create steam by using your steaming apparatus or baking tray with boiling water from the start of the bake.  Bake the loaf at about 480 (250 C) degrees for the first 25 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 435 for the next 15-20 minutes, depending on how bold you like the crust.
6. Cooling and slicing the loaf:  Remove the loaf from the covered baker tray or stone and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

I have been baking some of my favorite recipes lately, mostly for family and friends.  While I was in the Midwest, I made a classic sourdough and Tartine sourdough with olives, lemon zest and herbes de provence (2). (my updated recipe links are below)

I was a bit concerned when I got home that my California sourdough starter was tired and flat, so I worked for a few days to get it back to normal.  It seems to be OK now, as I baked some bread for us today and for friends on Saturday.

While in the Midwest, I baked the Tartine olive bread for my friend, Theresa, and she sent me these crumb shots.  I also baked the same loaf for my friends, Tim and Barb.  I made the dough and then split it, shaping the first loaf for baking one day and then saved the second half for a longer bulk ferment, shaping it later and then baking it the next day.  I have to say that the second day bake was better than the first. This second bake produced one of the best loaves I have ever baked as it had great height, crumb and taste (as reported to me by my friend). The starter I have in the Midwest is the "baby" of my California starter.

I made this classic sourdough (below) in the Midwest for my friend, Carole.

When I got back to California, I used the same recipe to make a Classic sourdough for our friends, Sandy and Chris (above).  They loved it, and sent me the crumb shot below.

I baked the loaf below for us today.  I am on a classic sourdough kick!

The crumb was quite even. My husband likes it that way, but I am always looking for a more open crumb.  It tasted really good, quite sour as I left it to bulk ferment for 72 hours and then shaped it and let it proof overnight in the banneton. I'll have to get back to some multi-grain bakes next.

We grilled outside last night, and I wanted to suggest a wonderful and light dessert, grilled peaches with Greek yogurt and rosemary-infused honey.  The recipe is below.  There are lots of peaches around now, and we can use the rosemary from the garden.  We aren't big dessert people, but we love this simple recipe.  You can scale it down for fewer people.  We used one large peach for both of us.

GRILLED PEACHES WITH YOGURT & ROSEMARY HONEY

 From Carla Hall, cohost of "The Chew"

Ingredients

4 firm but ripe peaches

sprig of rosemary

grapeseed or olive oil

1/2 cup honey

2 cups greek style yogurt

Directions

1. Prepare the grill and heat to medium

2. Cut the peaches in half and pit them.  If desired, cut the peaches into quarters. (Note: they do not have to be peeled). Brush the cut sides of the peaches with oil.  Carefully place the peach pieces onto the hot grate and grill, turning once, until grill marks show and the peaches are tender but not falling apart, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

3. While the peaches are grilling place the rosemary sprig and the honey into a microwavable bowl and heat for about 1 minute.  The honey should be runny and warm.

4. To serve:  Put 1/4 cup yogurt into each of the 4 cups or bowls and then top with several peach slices, warm or at room temperature and another 1/4 cup yogurt and the remaining peaches.  Drizzle with the rosemary infused honey.

We also made smoky tilapia tacos with simmered pinto beans with chipotle sour cream.  Quite good!

The bread recipes I used are below:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39435/new-twist-classic-sourdough

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39505/tartine-sourdough-olives-lemon-zest-and-herbes-de-provence