Third Loaf

Third Loaf

This one was 'white whole wheat' flour. It didn't rise much at all.
This is interesting and surprising because the sponge for this one rose fairly fast, and quite well. The sponges for the all purpose and bread flour loaves barely rose.

Finished this one in the oven as the grill ran out of steam and it was too late to start coals again.

I'm not quite sure I understand the starter though, the whole loving the wheat in the sponge hating it in the dough is confusing to me. Live and learn I guess.

Second Loaf

Second Loaf

This one is bread flour, the first was all purpose. It seems to have turned out nicely as well.
Don't know about the crumb or the taste yet as I haven't cut this one open.
I'll update when I do.

Sourdough from 'Cloche'

Sourdough from 'Cloche'

This is the first loaf of sourdough from the cloche, sadly I must have had too high of a hydration as it just kind of blobbed out on me and spread, but the cloche did allow the top to get at least a little bit golden. And it had a fair amount of 'grill spring' so to speak.

As you can see, the crust is a much better color than the other loaves have been, and a little chewier.

It is also quite yummy!

Poor Man's Cloche

Poor Man's Cloche

This is my poor man's cloche, a clay bulb pan and saucer and a handle from bolts, nuts, and washers. Testing it for the first time today on the grill.

I think I'll need to get a shorter bolt as this one ended up being a little too tall, either it pokes up too high, or pokes down too far into the bread... oh well! It worked well for the first loaf...

Tragedy Strikes!

So, after making the bread yesterday I forgot to shut the vents so the coals would stop burning. Whether it was just that, or wear and tear, my pizza stone broke right in half!

And I bought stuff for my cloche today, but somehow managed to only get one nut that was the right size, the other two were wrong. Well, I'll get two more tomorrow. And I have a new pizza stone on order already. So I shouldn't be without bread baking ability too long...

Slash Progress

Slash Progress

I made this composite image to show how the slash in the loaf progresses from right as it is put on, to a few minutes later, and then even later. You can see how it opens, and the inside rises up inside the slash.

Three Grilled Baguettes

All Three Finished!

I made three baguettes on the grill today.

This is all three loaves after I finished baking them. The center one could have done with a little more stretching, but I'm glad I didn't because it wouldn't have fit on the pizza stone then.

And there seems to be no way to get a nice crust on the top of the loaf, or browned at all etc. on the grill. I do think a cloche or homemade version will help that though.

I am getting a better hang of the slashing now, it keeps improving although the bottom one isn't quite right, the other two turned out well.

Practice makes perfect!

Pain Polka

Pain Polka

Again, this isn't a sourdough bread, but I haven't had the chance to make sourdough lately so it can go up here too.

Anyway, it's a loaf of Pain Polka I made on the grill on the other day. The loaf used some dough I froze the last time I made baguettes as a starter and for flavor. My cuts apparently were not quite even, but it still looks nice.

This was taken in the car on the way to the Hollywood Bowl for the 4th of July show, so it is a rather odd photo.

I made a second loaf as well, but I had no chance to take a picture of it.

Both loaves had a very nice crumb, and tasted great. Hopefully if and when I get a cloche, or make my own, I can get it to actually cook all the way through without the bottom getting rather burned. I just picked up a bulb pan and saucer so I'll be making m own within the next couple days. And maybe get a nice crunchy crust on the top too. Although the crusts I get on the grill are the most pillowy soft and beautifully squishy of anything I've made.

I also discovered that for some reason they turn incredibly hard on the outside about 1 day after baking. Don't think it would in a bag, but we'll see in the future.

Injera

Other Injera

Well, here are some of the injera. Not sure if they turned out how they're supposed to or not. I think I may have made them a little too thick, but I don't know for sure. They don't look like pictures I've seen online. But I think those aren't from teff flour for one thing. So I'll have to try them again sometime. They are quite sour though.

Injera Starter II

Injera Starter Just Before Making Them

Well, this is the starter right before I made the injera. Quite bubbly, and smells pretty strong and sour.