Jeremy Cherfas

A space for mostly short form stuff and responses to things I see elsewhere.

Latest newsletter revisits Passover and asks a fifth question: if you are an observant Jewish sourdough baker, what do you do with your starter over Passover?

Questions too for sustainable fish, citrus salads and livestock emissions.

https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/ETN-236-leavened/

Latest Eat This Newsletter has it all: mac and cheese, sourdough, Indian Indian, microplastics in mothers milk, and the drive to large chain restaurants.

https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-189-inauthentic/

Finished reading: Sourdough by Robin Sloan

Currently reading: Sourdough by Robin Sloan, ISBN: 9781250192752

#Fiction

This week’s sourdough is packed with nigella seeds and it smells terrific.

Today’s bake. Sourdough buckwheat bread

One of the resultant loaves

One of the resultant loaves. 50% wholemeal sourdough.

pesos

Time for some of that fine 100% rye sourdough with toasted sunflower seeds and a hint of caraway.

pesos

Today’s effort: seven seed sourdough semi wholemeal.

pesos

Today I will mostly be baking light rye sourdough with caraway seeds.

pesos

Today, I will mostly be baking light rye sourdough with caraway seeds.

pesos

Ave Fornax!

@tavolamediterranea has decreed that today is the start of Fornacalia, which I am celebrating with a very un-Roman bread. At least, I don't think the Romans ever baked with rye. And certainly not sunflower seeds.

This is the 100% rye sourdough with a sunflower seed soaker from @raleighstreetbaker reduced to what is, for me, a more manageable quantity. Link to full recipe in bio.

pesos

No sourdough discards here.

pesos

A mostly white (5% each rye and wholemeal) sourdough loaf for Sunday breakfast and beyond.

pesos

5 kg of sourdough emerges from the fridge after an overnight, active slumber party.

pesos

Inspired by last week’s class from the @coloradograinchain I have been working my way to this moment

Inspired by last week’s class from the @coloradograinchain I have been working my way to this moment. Of course I don’t have nearly enough loaf tins. 100% rye sourdough with toasted sunflower seeds and caraway soaker.

pesos

Baked up nice, too

Baked up nice, too. Taste test in about four hours.

#khorasan #sourdough

pesos

A friend and bread client gave me a bag of Khorasan flour, so not Kamut, but, with a tacit request, later confirmed, that I baker a loaf

A friend and bread client gave me a bag of Khorramshahr flour, so not Kamut, but, with a tacit request, later confirmed, that I baker a loaf.

So, here goes. I fed my 75% wholewheat starter, thinking this would be whole too. It isn’t, but that’s ok. Kneads up oK, with a nice pale yellow cast. Seems a bit weak though, even though the packet said 14% protein. Obviously not that great for gluten. We shall see.

#khorasan #sourdough

100% wholewheat sourdough, to be savoured with soup for lunch.

2020-02-13

Even after spending all night in the fridge, my sourdough shows a prodigious rise.

I wrote about reviving my sourdough after an extended absence.

https://www.fornacalia.com/2020/sourdough-revival/

I realise I forgot to show off the finished black pepper rye sourdough loaves. So here they are.

And this is how they turned out. Sourdough kalonji loaves.

A couple of plump little kalonji sourdough beauties that have been sleeping overnight in the fridge before I get stuck into the rye.

Preparing for this week's bake of super-seedy Just one of the breads we'll talk during Sunday's one-day course here in Tickets available until 1PM today at https://ti.to/sourdough-u/2019-11 or DM me for details.

#sourdough #Rome

And a few hours after that, the magic. We won’t be making this recipe, and we certainly won’t be handling 4kg of dough, at the one-day sourdough course at on 17 November. But we will have a lot of fun and get to know about sourdough, wheat and bread. Link with details in my bio.

#latteriastudio

Straight outta the oven ... this is the basic sourdough loaf I will be sharing at the workshop on 17 November @latteriastudio Details from link in bio.

A BLT is so much better on homemade sourdough. Come and learn how - the bread, not the sandwich - with me @latteriastudio on 17 November. Lunch included. Details in bio.

Just flipped the switch on tickets for the next one-day Sourdough U course in Rome. Come and learn how to care for and use a sourdough leaven. Suitable for experienced bakers and absolute beginners. https://ti.to/sourdough-u/2019-11

Almost forgot to share this perfect start to Sourdough September: a lunchtime BLT on fresh 50% wholemeal sourdough bread.

Just strolling through the market on my way to test the spiffy new oven @latteriastudio for the sourdough bread course on Sunday. Still a couple of places left. Link in bio.

One of the things I love about making my own bread is simply watching the effects of time. From a shaggy, sticky mass to a living dough with a lot of structure, just by waiting 30 minutes and then doing a few quick strech-and-folds in the bowl. Over the course of the next couple of hours I will continue to build structure, but that will take me less than a minute in total. The rest of the time, time itself (and biology, chemistry and physics) works the magic. Still a few places left for the one-day sourdough course at @latteriastudio in Rome on 9 July. Link in bio. And if you can't make that, there's a two-day course in Wales later in the month.

My sourdough leaven, active and spongy and ready to do its thing after two builds. I originally received this more than a decade ago, as a Tuscan starter that was more than 100 years old. Is there anything specifically Tuscan about it? I doubt it. Is it the same now as it was 100 years ago, or even 10 years ago? Again, I doubt it. But it is ready to make some delicious, flavourful, nutritious bread -- and that's what matters. Let me hand it on to you, along with the knowledge to start using it, at a one-day bread workshop here in Rome on 9 June 2019. Link in bio and at https://fornacalia.com/learn-to-bake-sourdough-bread-in-rome

So pleased to be able to announce that Sourdough U is finally coming to Rome. Thanks to the wonderful @alicekiandra.adams and the big new oven at Latteria Studio I can offer a one-day course on 9 June. Learn how to look after an ancient Tuscan starter and use it to bake a tasty loaf of bread. Full details at https://www.fornacalia.com/2019/learn-to-bake-sourdough-bread-in-rome/ (also in bio).

Seedy wholemeal sourdough from out of the fridge to out of the oven.

We have lemon, we have rosemary, we have leaven, flours, water and salt. Soon we will have lemon rosemary sourdough bread.

Two more happy graduates of Sourdough U. And thanks to everyone for a fun day.

All prepped and ready for Sourdough U.

Recipe testing for the next session of Sourdough U, less than a week to go. I think I will reduce the hydration a bit to make handling easier.

They go in, they come out. 40% whole rye sourdough with caraway seeds.

They go in ... They come out 20% maize flour sourdough

I wonder how easy it is to count the corpses of yeast and lactobacillus cells in a baked loaf?

https://www.sourdough.co.uk/can-real-sourdough-identified/

Our Daily Bread 22 - Sourdough by Any Name http://ow.ly/QLnm30ltLNu Sourdough -- whatever you call it -- is the original leavening agent for breads around the world. At its simplest it is just a piece of the last batch of dough, set aside to ferment the current batch. But it can be so much more than that, a stable little ecosystem of species that support one another while keeping out intruders. It also makes the best bread, although I admit to being biassed. It needn't actually taste sour. In fact, except in a few countries, it need not even make use of a natural leaven.

When you’ve been doing high hydration sourdough for a good long while, it is nice to be reminded what a pleasure kneading is and the way the dough comes to life beneath your hands.

Mid mega (for me) bread bake this morning. Multi seeded 50% wholewheat If you’re in Rome and want in, DM me.

#sourdough

Jeremy Cherfas

This week’s sourdough is packed with nigella seeds and it smells terrific.

Today’s bake. Sourdough buckwheat bread

One of the resultant loaves

Time for some of that fine 100% rye sourdough with toasted sunflower seeds and a hint of caraway.

Today’s effort: seven seed sourdough semi wholemeal.

Today I will mostly be baking light rye sourdough with caraway seeds.

Today, I will mostly be baking light rye sourdough with caraway seeds.

Ave Fornax!

No sourdough discards here.

A mostly white (5% each rye and wholemeal) sourdough loaf for Sunday breakfast and beyond.

5 kg of sourdough emerges from the fridge after an overnight, active slumber party.

Inspired by last week’s class from the @coloradograinchain I have been working my way to this moment

Baked up nice, too

A friend and bread client gave me a bag of Khorasan flour, so not Kamut, but, with a tacit request, later confirmed, that I baker a loaf

100% wholewheat sourdough, to be savoured with soup for lunch.

2020-02-13

I realise I forgot to show off the finished black pepper rye sourdough loaves. So here they are.

And this is how they turned out. Sourdough kalonji loaves.

A couple of plump little kalonji sourdough beauties that have been sleeping overnight in the fridge before I get stuck into the rye.

Preparing for this week's bake of super-seedy Just one of the breads we'll talk during Sunday's one-day course here in Tickets available until 1PM today at https://ti.to/sourdough-u/2019-11 or DM me for details.

And a few hours after that, the magic. We won’t be making this recipe, and we certainly won’t be handling 4kg of dough, at the one-day sourdough course at on 17 November. But we will have a lot of fun and get to know about sourdough, wheat and bread. Link with details in my bio.

Straight outta the oven ... this is the basic sourdough loaf I will be sharing at the workshop on 17 November @latteriastudio Details from link in bio.

A BLT is so much better on homemade sourdough. Come and learn how - the bread, not the sandwich - with me @latteriastudio on 17 November. Lunch included. Details in bio.

Almost forgot to share this perfect start to Sourdough September: a lunchtime BLT on fresh 50% wholemeal sourdough bread.

Just strolling through the market on my way to test the spiffy new oven @latteriastudio for the sourdough bread course on Sunday. Still a couple of places left. Link in bio.

Seedy wholemeal sourdough from out of the fridge to out of the oven.

We have lemon, we have rosemary, we have leaven, flours, water and salt. Soon we will have lemon rosemary sourdough bread.

Two more happy graduates of Sourdough U. And thanks to everyone for a fun day.

All prepped and ready for Sourdough U.

Recipe testing for the next session of Sourdough U, less than a week to go. I think I will reduce the hydration a bit to make handling easier.

They go in, they come out. 40% whole rye sourdough with caraway seeds.

They go in ... They come out 20% maize flour sourdough

And there’s one in the oven ... ##sourdough

Ready for a little rest.

And out they come. Rustic Bread.

In they go. Rustic Bread.

When you’ve been doing high hydration sourdough for a good long while, it is nice to be reminded what a pleasure kneading is and the way the dough comes to life beneath your hands.

Mid mega (for me) bread bake this morning. Multi seeded 50% wholewheat If you’re in Rome and want in, DM me.

The infallible standby; multigrain seedy wholewheat.#sourdough #naturalleaven