We recently rode in our second two-day Grand Cru ride from San Francisco to Petaluma and back to visit Lagunitas Brewing and other breweries along the way.
We rode out from the Embarcadero through North Beach towards the Golden Gate Bridge loaded with supplies and camping gear.
The obligatory shot of the Golden Gate Bridge from Chrissy Fields
Our first stop was Iron Springs Pub and Brewery in Fairfax. I had a Kent Lake Kolsch. I was a little surprised to not receive it in a Kolsch glass.. but getting it this way probably meant more beer for me.
A flight of beers from Iron Springs
We rode off from Fairfax, to climb White Hill
Then we rode through Nicasio. Beautiful green hills, blue skies and cows.
The group, riding along Nicasio Valley Rd
It’s It at the Cheese Factory. I was looking forward it all morning.
Rolling out after a short ice cream break
Petaluma – The Willowbrook Ale House. Had a really good burger lately? … With fries?
We saw the remnants of a police chase and car crash from our campground.
We headed to Lagunitas Brewing and got a flight.
At the bottom of the glass: “BEER SPEAKS”
This dude had a 4 wolf moon t-shirt. And a 3-wolf belt buckle.
A great burger… with fries! I wasn’t even hungry. I just got it because I had to.
This is Bud, rocking the mic.
Poor Eric – his tent was broken. Looked more like a bivy.
Dog outside of the bathroom
Aeropress coffee with Scarlett City Roasting beans. We had the Nicaragua Los Papales. (It was fine as a strong aeropress brew but at home, I find the beans to be slightly boring.)
We had brunch at Henny Penny’s before heading back south to San Francisco. In searching for information about this place online, I learned that in 2003, the owner of the restaurant was robbed in his home and died of a heart attack during the robbery. 9 of the 10 suspects in the robbery have been arrested..
Back to lighter stuff – this chili pepper sauce has the YouTube logo on it. I don’t know why. Apparently they have a lot of YouTube videos, including this one that ends with 1) a guy spinning a box of hot sauce bottles 2) a different guy kissing a hot sauce bottle
We all headed south to Novato to stop by Moylan’s Brewery. Most of the group stayed there and then stopped by Marin Brewing before catching the ferry back to San Francisco. We elected to ride all the way back to the city. Once we got back, we rewarded ourselves with a burger and onion rings at Gott’s. and a white pistachio shake.
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Tags: aeropress, bikes, gf1, gott's, koa, lagunitas, petaluma, the grand cru, touring, willowbrook ale house
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phil
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As some of you know, I’ve been trying to bake a lot of bread. I’m experimenting with the idea of creating a bread diary. This is loaf #24, a 30% rye 10% spelt and the rest white King Arthur bread flour loaf with a sourdough starter. hydration was about 68%.
Top view – kinda funky ears. slashing could be improved
3/4 view of the loaf
side view. Didn’t rise as high as I’d like because I had this loaf retarding in the fridge for 4 days. Better flavor though..
some big holes at the base. gigantic ear on top. Tasted great.
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Posted in: the bread project
Tags: bread, dough, rye, sourdough, the bread project
Here’s a bread and dough (works for pizza dough too) troubleshooting guide, culled from a variety of sources. I hope to continually update this as I learn more in my quest to make great artisan bread.
| Category |
Amount |
Effects |
More information
|
| kneading |
under-kneading |
Dough is floppy and loose, tears easily, looks shaggy. Lack of oven-rise, dense texture. Gluten has not become elastic enough. Windowpane test fails because the dough doesn’t have the strength to stay together. |
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/bread-baking-clinic-underkneading-overkneading-157484 |
| adequate kneading |
Dough is elastic but not too tight. Windowpane test success – you can stretch a small portion of the dough thin enough so that you can almost see through it, like a translucent window. |
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/bread-baking-clinic-underkneading-overkneading-157484 |
| over-kneading |
Dough is dense and tough and tears easily. The gluten is so tight that it has little give. Windowpane test fails because you have to pull so hard you tear the dough. |
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/bread-baking-clinic-underkneading-overkneading-157484 |
| hydration ratio (water to flour ratio, or baker’s percentage) |
low hydration (<60% or so) |
Dough is craggy and really hard to work with. It doesn’t stick together when you work with it. When baked, small, tightly-formed cells in crumb. This may be desirable in some cases, such as for bagels. |
My own hydration experiment for bagels |
| medium hydration |
Dough is easy to work with but not too sticky. |
|
| high hydration (>70% or so) |
Dough is floppy and sticky and hard to shape. Large holes will appear in bread when baked (if they don’t collapse). The bread won’t rise as much because it will be weaker. Some breads are supposed to be high hydration – like ciabatta. |
http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizza_glossary.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W580u–9poM |
| rise |
too little |
Fails poke test – poke the bread with two fingers. If the bread rebounds to its original shape then the dough is still too firm. The bread will be dense and “doughy” – it will smell and tastes like dough. The loaf will have a light or greyish crust – no Malliard reaction (browning of sugars) occurs because the flour hasn’t been broken down. To fix, make sure the yeast you’ve used is active and/or let the bread rise for longer or increase the rise temperature (optimal temperature is about 100-110F. Too much heat will kill your yeast!) |
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21628/finger-poke-test-problem |
| just right |
Passes poke test. If the hole from the poke rebounds part of the way then proofing is just right. |
|
| too much |
Fails poke test – (the hole does not rebound at all.) Dough collapses on itself. There’s so much air in the loaf that it cannot hold its weight. |
|
| salt |
none or not enough |
The loaf may look good but it’ll taste like cardboard. It’s surprising how much salt enhances the flavor of the bread. If you realize you’ve forgotten before you bake, you may be able to make a salty paste and spread it onto the dough while you stretch and fold. |
|
| just right |
The general rule of thumb is to use 2% (baker’s percent) salt. That’s 2 grams for each 1000 grams of flour. A little bit of salt slows yeast activity by a bit but can strengthen gluten. |
Encyclopizza, chapter 4 |
| too much |
Too much salt can inhibit yeast fermentation. |
|
| baking temperature |
low |
Lower baking temperatures generally make softer and thinner crusts. |
|
| medium |
somewhere in between. |
|
| hot |
Higher temperatures generally make crustier loaves. This means darker and thicker crusts. |
|
| salt |
none or not enough |
The loaf may look good but it’ll taste like cardboard. It’s surprising how much salt enhances the flavor of the bread. If you realize you’ve forgotten before you bake, you may be able to make a salty paste and spread it onto the dough while you stretch and fold. |
|
| just right |
The general rule of thumb is to use 2% (baker’s percent) salt. That’s 2 grams for each 1000 grams of flour. |
|
| too much |
Too much salt can inhibit yeast fermentation. |
|
| bake time |
too short |
Light crust, doughy and gummy interior. |
|
| just right |
Bread sounds hollow if you knock it on the bottom. Nicely browned crust. The internal temperature will be about 190-210F. |
|
| too long |
Longer baking times mean a darker crust and a firmer and dryer crumb. Too much bake time = burny. |
|
| gluten |
too little |
low-gluten breads will not rise well. The bread won’t have the strength to expand when the yeast creates carbon dioxide. |
|
| just right |
stretchy enough to hold CO2 bubbles without being too taut |
|
| too much |
If there is too much gluten, the bread won’t be able to expand because the dough will be too tight. The bread will be really chewy and rubbery. |
|
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Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: bread, dough
From another day walking around Northwest:
At Voodoo Doughnuts. They’ve got a large menu. It’s so hard to decide.
There’s a mango tango, an old dirty bastard, a portland cream, and an old fashioned glazed.
Cappuccino and a shot of espresso from Stumptown coffee
We stopped by the Saturday winter farmer’s market at Shemanski park to meet some friends. there were lots of colorful carrots including these white “creme de lite” carrots.
American Dream Bingo in the NW Pearl District. “Dream More”
Upside down bicycle route sign
A beer at Deschutes Brewery. I don’t remember which one :(
We ran into some folks on a Brewcycle Portland tour at Deschutes. Andrea guides this 15-person Crawler Fabrications vehicle between breweries for weekday and weekend mini-tours.
US BanCorp Tower
This is an old Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo bike hooked up to a mill to grind flour at the Portland Homestead Supply Company in the Sellwood district in Southeast Portland. It still has front fenders and a back rack.
A neat mosaic-y use of reflective tape on the fender and the rim and spokes
A shot of espresso from Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters. I think I had found a recommendation to visit them from chow.com. It was a decent cafe but I was disappointed with the shot. The one from stumptown above puts it to shame.
Tilde had some neat items, really nice people, a great window display (shown above) and some beautiful art on the walls. I was really impressed by Marnie Karger’s hand-cut work that she sells under the named “Crafterall”.
A house in sellwood
We took a little trip to Dairy Creek to finish off the evening. Here are the pool cues and some of the many beer signs at the dairy creek tavern.
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Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: brewcycle, dairy creek tavern, deschutes, farmer's market, gary fisher, hoo koo e koo, marnie karger, portland, sellwood, stump, stumptown, tilde, us bancorp, voodoo doughnuts
