New Fall Season Baking Schedule

Hi, Had a good summer? Good. We canoe tripped, visited the family cottage in Muskoka and went to Ottawa to see an amazing bakery called "True Loaf Bread Company" where the couple that run it (Patrick and Yael) are living the dream. Their breads are amazing, crafted with care using the finest ingredients and sold with an obvious passion. We were very inspired by what we saw at their bakery. It's with that inspiration that we return to our own neighbourhood scene here in Cliffside. We've been told recently that some people are in need of bread...so...
On Saturday September 26th and Sunday 27th, we'll fire the oven again and bake as many loaves as we can.

Madawaska River White Water

So, what does white water canoeing have to do with a bread blog?
Absolutely nothing. I post at my peril.
We recently canoed the Madawaska River northeast of Toronto, here are my brothers taking a leisurely paddle downstream. We were supplied a canoe by Clarence from Madawaska River Rentals, and it was a good boat...we never dumped once! Thanks to Clarence for all the good advice for our trip, we'll be back again. Visit him at
www.madriverrentals.ca, or click on the link to the right > > >

Last bread bake of the season

Hi, We will take a break for the summer so this Sunday, June 21st will be our last bed break until Sept. I am hoping to post more video and pics of us doing everything bread. I am also going to continue with the testing of the Red Fife wheat. My initial formula was WAY off, must improve.
Hope you have a great summer, drop by again soon.

Up close and personal

Hi, Some people like their dogs or cats. Me, I like to keep a nice liquid levain or a friendly stiff textured spelt levain. I have even been known to maintain a deep and satisfying relationship with a whole rye sourdough. These are my pets, and for the minimal attention I give them; water and flour on a regular basis- they, in return, help me to leaven the bread I bake. Imagine, millions- no billions of tiny wild yeast fungi, "eukaryotic microorganisms" milling around in a small container of flour and water, kept at room temperature, sometimes a little cooler. They live, reproduce, consume delicious meals of starch from the flour I have fed them, they belch up carbon dioxide and finally die. While they do all of this the bread slowly rises...

1. A mature liquid levain made of all purpose flour

Note the large bubbles and the wispy tiny bubbles- a good sign
of a healthy levain.

2. A stiff textured levain made of 100% whole grain spelt flour

This levain is both responsive and flavourful, what more
could you ask for in a "pet"?

3. Liquid Rye Sourdough

Ready to build into healthy, delicious rye bread-naturally.

All of these levains have a very nice earthy, not too sour smell.
When I'm arrive home after work I remove the lids off their respective containers, take a deep whiff, smile and mutter a few endearments to them and revel in the wonderment of nature.

Miche Shapiro

Hi, I baked just two of these large 2 Kg. Miches on Saturday night. To be totally honest no one had ordered a Miche but I felt like doing a least a couple of test loaves. At any rate they ended up serving as sacrificial offerings to the oven beast; the heat was up around 550 F and with other more numerous loaves waiting I needed to bring the temperature down somewhat. The two loaves baked for over an hour and came out a deep chocolate brown, too dark perhaps for most peoples taste but perfect for mine. The temperature did decline to a more acceptable 500 F, I got the temperature I wanted and the Miches were shoved onto a side table and forgotten...until today.
I decided to cut into one just to take a peek before reluctantly tossing them out and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw and tasted. The crust is highly carmelized almost to the point of being bitter, it maintains an almost sugary crunch into the crumb, a hint of earthy rye, strong baked whole wheat and a mild but long lasting tang. The formula is courtesy of my very good internet friend and fellow baker/chef/foodie, Jeremy Shapiro, a man on a mission to expand the role of the humble but tasty rye grain. Jeremy maintains a passionate and wide ranging food blog called stirthepots.com, I highly recommend it for those who are avid to read, look and listen to everything about good food. When I am seeking knowledge, general or specific or simply browsing, Jeremy never fails to entertain me and I'm grateful that he has continued to post, update and generally document his unending search for all that is tasty. I will be hitting a deli tomorrow for some decent cheese and good sausage, this is bread that will stand strong beside you through the storms of life...arrrggg. Put a lid on the psycho-babble yer a baker not an analyst.

5 Grain Levain

My 10 year old son chomps his way through a half a loaf of this bread every morning. It's loaded with sunflower and flax seeds, oats and whole rye berries yet it's a very light bread. Usually when I finish the mix I often wonder how on earth is this puddle of porridgy soup ever going round up into a cohesive dough, but a fold or two later and maybe an overnight retard and it springs forth with a nice bloom. Who says whole grain breads are stodgy and boring? These are high quality carbs baby! Munch, slather, crunch!

Cliffside in 1953

Hi, Lou Cincelle, a former longtime Cliffside resident was kind enough to give me a photocopy of a picture from an event from long ago. In the picture you will see a sign that says "Bakery". There was a business in that location called "Patisserie Parisienne" that Lou's parents ran from 1958 to 1976. At the time of this photo it was called "Sorensen's Bakery". If you have any old clippings from this era that are pertinent to Cliffside Toronto, please scan and send them over, I will post. I'm interested in anything of historical value that`s connected with our neighbourhood.

Semolina Levain

Hello, I continue to mine the fertile terroir of Jeffrey Hamelman's fantastic book, "Bread, A Bakers Book of Techniques and Recipes". This book is a bible for myself and many others. Jeffrey's commitment to the details of making good bread help make the attentive reader focus on developing the skills of manipulating time and temperature for optimal results. This latest bread, Semolina Levain is another of the "liquid levain" style formulas. 60% Durum Semolina flour, a mere 15% pre-ferment and long cool fermentation yields a very scrumptious blond crust with a tangy translucent crumb, studded with added roasted sesame seeds. A bona fide winnah. Go out and buy this book, your bread baking will rise ('~') to the next level. Enjoy the photos...

Pana Rustika- The Inside Story

Hi, This bread began as an adaptation of "Rustic Bread" from Jeffrey Hamelman's book, "Bread". I began using a liquid levain instead of the yeasted preferment in the original formula and increased the hydration from 68% to 72%. The results have been pleasing, the loaf is well flavoured with whole grain rye and whole wheat flours, and the levain provides a mild tang. I needed a new name, one that paid homage to the original and that had some fake european nomenclanture (like Corinthian Leather), and Pana Rustika was born.

Bender's Laundromat

A memorable day. Thank you to everyone who took bread. And now...ZZZZ

A little chilly