News/2022.03
A Collaboration with a Café in Fukuoka
Sourdough bread is hard to find in Japanese bakeries. A café in Fukuoka is now serving it.
All Posts
Recipes & Journal
62 POSTS
Sourdough Bread/2022.02
Chocolate and Coffee Sourdough Bread
A loaf for February. Dark chocolate and coffee folded into a sourdough dough.
Variations/2021.11
Gothenburg-Style Sourdough Crackers
Thin, crisp, faintly sour crackers made from sourdough. A Swedish idea worth stealing.
Sourdough Bread/2021.11
Sourdough Ciabatta: Working with a Wet Dough
Ciabatta means slipper in Italian, and the flat shape gave it the name. A high-hydration dough, handled gently, baked with sourdough.
Sourdough Bread/2021.10
Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
Autumn arrives in the vegetable aisle before it arrives outside. A sourdough loaf made with roasted pumpkin.
Journal/2021.10
How a Niche Blog Reached 5,000 Views a Month
A year and a half of writing about sourdough in Japanese, and what the numbers actually showed.
Journal/2021.09
Making Pear Vinegar by Lacto-Fermentation
Salting pears and waiting. The vinegar that comes out of it, and what to do with it.
Other Recipes/2021.08
Pumpkin, Summer Vegetable and Fig Salad with Lacto-Plum Dressing
The vinegar from lacto-fermented plums, turned into a dressing for a late-summer salad.
Sourdough Bread/2021.08
Baking Sourdough Bread with Coffee
What happens when you replace the water in a sourdough loaf with brewed coffee.
Sourdough Bread/2021.08
Simple Rye Sourdough Bread: The Recipe I Settled On
After a lot of trial and error, the rye sourdough recipe I now use. Straightforward, forgiving, and reliable.
Other Recipes/2021.08
Sourdough Crackers with a Gentle Tang
Crisp, salty, faintly sour. The easiest thing to make with a sourdough starter.
Sourdough Starter/2021.08
Music and Fermentation: Playing Records to a Sourdough Starter
An experiment that had no business working. Playing records to a jar of starter.
Journal/2021.08
Why Bake Sourdough in an Age of Sustainability
Bread made from flour, water and time. What that means when everything else is made fast.
Other Recipes/2021.07
Baking Campagne with Paradise Yeast
A jar of fermented apple juice, passed hand to hand since 2007, used to raise a loaf.
Other Recipes/2021.07
Lacto-Fermented Plums
Salted plums left to ferment. The liquid that comes out of them is the real prize.
Sourdough Starter/2021.07
Keeping a Starter Through the Rainy Season
Humidity and warmth change how a starter behaves. Adjusting through Japan's rainy season.
Sourdough Bread/2021.07
Moving House and Sourdough: Rye, Pita and Walnut Raisin
A move, a new kitchen, and three loaves baked while the boxes were still unpacked.
Other Recipes/2020.11
How to Make Dried Persimmons
Peeled, hung, and left to the cold air. An old method that still works.
Other Recipes/2020.11
Bread with Wild Kiwi Yeast (A Failure)
Raising a leaven from kiwi fruit. It did not work, and here is why.
Sourdough Bread/2020.11
An Ordinary Day of Baking Sourdough
Nothing unusual. Just the loaf I bake when there is nothing to prove.
Other Recipes/2020.11
Making Bacon in a Wok
You do not need a smoker. A wok, some chips, and a lid will do.
Other Recipes/2020.11
Kogyoku Apple Jam
A tart Japanese apple that holds its shape and its acidity. Made into jam.
Sourdough Bread/2020.10
An Everyday Loaf, After a While Away
Coming back to the oven after a break, and finding the rhythm again.
Journal/2020.09
3,000 Monthly Views, and a Short Break
A note on where this blog had got to, and why it went quiet for a while.
Variations/2020.08
Sourdough Focaccia, Take Two
The first focaccia did not rise evenly. Adjusting the proof time and the flour.
Variations/2020.08
Sourdough Focaccia
Olive oil, tomatoes and aubergine on a sourdough focaccia. A different loaf entirely.
Sourdough Bread/2020.08
Sourdough in the Height of Summer
Warm weather speeds everything up. Adjusting a sourdough schedule for midsummer.
Sourdough Bread/2020.07
Sourdough with Homemade Bacon and Cheese
Homemade bacon and cheese baked into a sourdough loaf. A meal in itself.
Sourdough Starter/2020.07
How to Store a Sourdough Starter
You do not have to feed it every day. How to keep a starter alive between bakes.
Variations/2020.07
Sourdough Pancakes
A good use for the starter you would otherwise discard.
Sourdough Starter/2020.07
Feeding and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter
Notes on keeping a starter healthy: ratios, timing, and what to look for.
Sourdough Bread/2020.07
Baking Sourdough on Hot Days
Notes from baking through a run of hot days, when the dough moves faster than you do.
Other Recipes/2020.06
Spiced Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
Red cabbage salted, spiced and left alone. Nothing else to it.
Sourdough Bread/2020.06
How to Score Sourdough Bread
Scoring decides how a loaf opens in the oven. The angle, the depth, and the pleasure of the cut.
Other Recipes/2020.06
How to Brew Good Iced Coffee
Flash-chilled over ice, so the aroma survives. The method I use all summer.
Sourdough Bread/2020.06
Why My Sourdough Didn't Rise
A flat loaf is worth reading. Working backwards from a failure to find what went wrong.
Sourdough Bread/2020.05
Four Things That Made My Sourdough Better
Four small changes that made the biggest difference to how my loaves turned out.
Journal/2020.05
Sourdough Bread, and One Morning
A slice of yesterday's loaf, toasted. What a morning can be built on.
Sourdough Bread/2020.05
Small Improvements to My Everyday Sourdough
A few adjustments to the everyday loaf, and what changed in the crumb.
Sourdough Bread/2020.05
Refining My Sourdough Recipe
Changing one variable at a time to find out what actually matters.
Sourdough Bread/2020.05
Experiments in Scoring Sourdough
Trying different blades, angles and patterns to see how the loaf responds.
Other Recipes/2020.05
Homemade Doubanjiang with Broad Beans
Broad beans, chilli and koji, fermented into a chilli bean paste. Off-topic, but worth it.
Other Recipes/2020.05
Sauerkraut with Onion
Onion added to the ferment, and what it does to the flavour.
Sourdough Bread/2020.05
Working Out a Rye Sourdough Recipe
Notes from the middle of the process, before the rye recipe settled down.
Journal/2020.05
Feeding the Starter on a Moonlit Night
A quiet evening, a jar of flour and water, and the slow work of fermentation.
Sourdough Bread/2020.05
Notes on Rye Bread
Rye behaves differently from wheat. What I learned trying to make it rise.
Journal/2020.05
Potato Potage
A smooth potato soup, made to be eaten with bread.
Variations/2020.05
Open Sandwiches on Sourdough
A slice of sourdough is a plate. What goes on top of it.
Sourdough Bread/2020.04
Baking Sourdough with Golden Yacht Flour, Part Two
A second attempt with Golden Yacht flour, with the hydration adjusted.
Other Recipes/2020.04
How to Make Sauerkraut at Home
Cabbage and salt, and time. Lacto-fermented sauerkraut that goes with almost anything.
Sourdough Starter/2020.04
Starting a Sourdough Starter with Rye and Whole Wheat
Whole grains carry more of the minerals a young starter needs. Raising one with rye and whole wheat flour.
Sourdough Bread/2020.04
Walnut and Rosemary Rye Bread
Walnuts and rosemary in a rye sourdough. Good with cheese, better with butter.
Variations/2020.04
Camping in the Living Room
A day indoors made to feel like a day outdoors, with bread involved.
Other Recipes/2020.04
Homemade Oil-Packed Sardines
Cheap sardines, salt, oil and low heat. Far better than the tinned kind.
Other Recipes/2020.04
Semi-Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil
Tomatoes dried just enough to concentrate them, then kept under oil.
Sourdough Bread/2020.04
Baking Sourdough with Golden Yacht Flour
A high-protein Japanese bread flour, and what it does to a sourdough loaf.
Soups/2020.04
A Basic Chicken Soup
The soup I make to go with a loaf of sourdough. Simple, and better the next day.
Other Recipes/2020.04
How to Make Proper Bacon at Home
Curing, smoking and slicing your own bacon, without special equipment.
Sourdough Starter/2020.04
How to Make a Sourdough Starter with Bread Flour
Flour and water, once a day, for one to two weeks. How to raise a sourdough starter from nothing.
Variations/2020.04
Pizza Toast on Sourdough
Yesterday's loaf, a little tomato, and whatever cheese is in the fridge.
Sourdough Bread/2020.04
Rye Sourdough Bread
A rye loaf built on a sourdough starter. Denser, darker, and deeply flavoured.
Sourdough Bread/2020.04
Basic Sourdough Bread: A Step-by-Step Recipe
The recipe I come back to. A crisp crust, an open and chewy crumb, made with bread flour alone, with video for each step.