Wild Yeast Starter

When I baked the Greek Celebration bread a little over 2 weeks ago, I had to use a poolish because my 7-month old wild yeast starter died on me. The last time I used it was 2 months ago for rye sandwich loaves, but the jar got pushed at the very back of the fridge and I forgot to feed it. When I saw the very dark "hooch" and the bubbleless firm starter I knew it's a goner. I tried to revive it, took out half and added bread flour and warm water, left it overnight on the kitchen counter but nothing happened so I threw it away.

Please note that I am not jumping to letter S but since we will be using a starter for future BBA challenges, I made 2 new batches using both PR's BBA recipe and this method. PR's fell asleep on the 6th day after showing great potential. It wouldn't grow or bubble or anything, I just left it alone and kept it on the counter for 2 weeks before finally throwing it away. The one from The Fresh Loaf site is another story. It behaved as described and on the 6th day I divided it, added bread flour to one half and whole wheat to the other, they started growing steadily with every feeding and by the end of the second week have gotten stronger and developed a very fragrant sweet aroma. I immediately baked half a recipe of Basic Sourdough Bread from The BBA to check the flavor and acidity. Both starters are doing well and now resting in the fridge.
A bit of fun with wild yeast starter: I read in one of the BBA discussion threads that the son of a member baker calls us BBA challengers The Bread Freaks and The BBA The Bread Freaks' Bible. I totally agree, we are some sort of freaks! A few (or maybe a lot) of the bakers give their starters a name (and perhaps a personality); Nicole of Pinch My Salt calls hers Lyle after Lyle Lovett. My husband thinks it's weird, I think it's cute and fun. I want to be a certifiable Bread Freak and decided to name my two starters Brad and Angelina, Brad being the fair one.

meet Brangelina

For the [taste test] sourdough bread loaves, I used equal amount of both starters and equal amount of bread and whole wheat flours. I was very confident that Brangelina will perform well and produce a flavorful bread. They did not disappoint. The twins loaves are perfect: tangy but not too sour, very tasty, and chewy yet soft. I am recommending this wild yeast starter recipe to anyone who doesn't have a starter yet because it uses a very small amount of flour so you won't feel wasteful if it is not successful the first time. I will give PR's recipe another try but will reduce the initial amount by half as I don't want to waste too much flour.

The BBA Basic Sourdough Bread Loaves:

top: the dough doubled in volume after one hour
bottom: the dough more than tripled in volume after 3 hours

the finished loaves

Lambanog

sweetish 90 proof liquor made from coconut toddy

Lambanog is a Filipino sweetish liquor made from the sap of the stem of immature coconut blossom. The sap collected is fermented for a a few hours into a toddy called tuba, then distilled into lambanog. It is rather potent at 90 proof but it's not noticeable at first sip because of its sweetness.

I remember this drink as a child visiting my grandparents, aunts, and cousins in Sariaya, Quezon. Their lambanog, in a large 2-gallon jug, was deep amber in color because of the raisins that they add to the liquor. The raisins which were not meant to be eaten render not just its color but also its flavor and sweetness to the lambanog. As an adult I never tried lambanog until now, maybe because I do not particularly enjoy drinking alcohol (red and white wine are the exception) and only have mixed drinks occasionally.

raisins soaking and getting plump in a tiny bottle of lambanog

Watch this video of the Three Sheets guy visiting Quezon province where lambanog is mostly produced, and trying the 160 proof lambanog which according to the distiller is not for sale to the Philippine markets or elsewhere, gee I wonder why. I enjoyed watching this video, specially the rituals when having drinking sessions. Take note: there are several middle-aged women in the drinking group, which reminds me of the after-dinner drinking events at my grandparents' house where everybody drinks except children and my mother.

I made a simple mixed drink with equal amounts of lambanog, calamansi juice, and club soda, and simple syrup to taste. Not bad at all, it's very refreshing and tastes better than vodka.

Sun Shine: a blend of lambanog, calamansi juice, club soda, and simple syrup

Chocolate Candies, Filipino Style

fondant with chopped candied langka (jackfruit)

mango paste

yema (egg yolk candy)

pinipig (pounded young glutinous rice) crunch bars

enrobed in bittersweet chocolate

A Filipino blog talking about a store (in the Philippines) selling chocolate candies with Filipino flavors and fillings piqued my interest and I immediately borrowed the idea. I was not expecting that dark chocolate and sweet jackfruit will go nicely together but surprisingly they do. It's the same with yema and my favorite, mango paste, which I made by boiling mango puree until very thick, the same process in making fruit leather. They are all delicious as chocolate candy fillings with their familiar Filipino flavors. I have a small bag of puffed pinipig which I will be using later for Guinomis and made bittersweet chocolate Pinipig Crunch, an homage to a childhood favorite, Nestle Crunch. Yummy yum yum!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge: Bagels

toppings: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt

It's the third week of The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge and bagels are in the spotlight. I made bagels twice before, the first one about 5 years ago was a total disaster, and recently as a recipe tester for Peter Reinhart's which went great.

Although they are not as shiny as store-bought, I am very happy with the BBA bagels because they came out chewy, dense, and heavy just the way I like them. Delicious!

I made half a recipe, added 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to the bread flour, and I also used barley malt syrup both in the dough and poaching water. I should have increased the amount of baking soda for shinier bagels. The dough yield was seven 4-ounce pieces which are too big IMHO. I might reduce each ball of dough to 3.5 ounces next time. For the topping I used black and white sesame seeds, black and white poppy seeds, and salt. It is worth making these bagels, they taste superior to store-bought.

this gram/ounce weighing scale with tare is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets

shaping the bagel

ready for an overnight stay in the refrigerator

the seven bagels +

toasted and slathered with honey-nut cream cheese

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 4
ease of preparation 3.5 (shaping is not so easy)
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 27.5
Average: 4.58

The BBA Challenge is hosted by Nicole of Pinch My Salt