ottawa foodies

I love to bake bread and pastries and the like. This was so pretty I thought I'd share.

F&T - nice loaves! ;) Check out my profile pic for my sandwich bread. It's yummy!

Nice work...some inspiration to get back to my bread baking!

Nice looking bread Chimichimi....

I agree with the others, nice and rustic. Defenitly looks good

you could set up a cottage industry there
they look awesome
where do I get a sample?

How about sharing the recipe? :-)

Thanks Chef Obi.... as for a sample we could arrange it I'm sure ;)
The recipe is from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, my fav bread book by Peter Reinhart. I can copy it out and fax it to you if you like, just message me with your fax #. Just a little long (method) to post here. It uses a poolish starter, and a VERY wet dough hence the nice holes.
If there is another wine tasting I may try and make it and would be happy to bring some bread.

Well done. Fine looking bread. I have some dough proofing in my oven right now. Ready to be baked just before dinner. Today I used the recipe for no-knead bread from Cook's Illustrated, but slightly modified. Caramelized some onions and mixed in some fresh basil, shaved Romano Percorina cheese, a few drops of olive oil, and a handful of cornmeal (to add a bit of texture) to the dough after the first proof. Made up two loafs and and 10 buns. Not sure if I have the best buns in town, but I'm trying.

Concur about Baker's Apprentice Book. I've read, and scanned many bread books, but the Baker's Apprentice is so good, I actually bought it. I consider it the bible on baking bread.

Your bread looks like something I'd really like to eat foodntravel. I can't remember ever making a ciabatta, certainly not in recent years and if I did 20 years ago that memory bank is now corrupted. So it's on my list to make. Today's bread was the hot cross buns pictured, using a recipe adapted from Liz Briggs of Navan, posted in The Ottawa Citizen back in '97, that is my fave; I tried a spring LCBO Food and Drink recipe last weekend that didn't make the grade with me or my dw. I also have my Oats 'n Barley Beer bread that we had with maple baked beans for supper tonight; not ciabatta but it'll do quite nicely.

I'll keep an eye out for more bread posts as I love making bread too.

PS I also made some lemon, cranberry and almond granola bars and some orange cranberry muffins for my dw for tomorrow as she's organized a 17 km walk, practice for her WTE breast cancer team - here's hoping the sun shines!

Those hot cross buns look terrific Andy!

LeCordon, I actually met Peter Reinhart last summer. I went to Vermont to take a wood oven pizza course from him. What an inspiration he is. I had a blast and plan to try to make another of his courses on Whole Wheat bread. One of my fav recipes from Apprentice is the Pane Siciliano... oh! and his Potato and Rosemary Focaccia from his American Pie... to die for.

I am trying to round up some students to learn bread baking and pizza making so drop me a note if anyone is interested.

Andy - That too is my favourite hot cross buns recipe! My mom and I took a bread making course Liz Briggs offered sometime in the 90's. It was a lot of fun and we learned a great deal about bread making. Ever since I've been making bread. I also have the Bread Baker's Apprentice - great book with a ton of information. I do have to say that The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is my favourite though. I find her explanations very thorough. I haven't tried Peter Reinhart's ciabatta recipe, but yours looks so good I'll have to check it out.
FnT - that must have been a fantastic course!