Cannaoil Brioche and English Muffins

The Tartine cookbook has a recipe for brioche that uses olive instead of butter. I had a few bottles of cannaoil in the fridge so I decided to do a lifted version. Using canna- olive oil instead of extra virgin.

I loved how the brioche from Emilie Raffa's cookbook turned out. It was more firm after the bulk rise. That meant it was less sticky and easier to handle. This brioche recipe was wetter than ciabatta dough when it came time to handle it. I added extra flour to the counter, that made it handle-able. The final version was burnt so I think I'd bake it for a shorter amount of time. I think the multi- processing of the olive oil made it more susceptible to burning. The insides are delicious though! Light and fluffy. I'm curious about how to eat it. Maybe with a nice soup.

I was extra eager so I simultaneously made baguette dough when I made the brioche. Tartine's cookbook uses baguette dough for its English muffins recipe. It also calls for using a fat when cooking in the pan unlike Raffa's. I didn't use a fat because I didn't feel like it. Love how they turned out!

I wanted be careful of my salt intake. When I eat these, I'll toast them and add butter. I like only using butter once.

I haven't bought bread from the store in a few months. When I did, it was because I assassinated my starter and didn't want to wait a week to ferment another.

Raffa's cookbook is user friendly for beginners. I consider myself a beginner. Tartine still feels like a textbook. I've no complaints about the flavors of what I make when using Tartine as a guide. Glad I have them both. Can already see my growth.

Tartine Baguettes

I've tried to make baguettes twice. The first time using only sourdough starter as Emilie Raffa's Artisan Sourdough Made Simple: A Beginner's Guide to Delicious Handcrafted Bread with Minimal Kneading asks of you. The second time using Tartine by Chad Robertson. I bought both books plus a 3rd for myself for my birthday. I've made most of the recipes in Raffa's. I just started with Tartine. Tartine is hard because clearly Robertson loves bread. Clearly he's brilliant at it. I think he wrote it for other experts because lawd are there hella explanations in the middle of the recipe. He also sends you to other places in the book at not so helpful times: "fold it like step 4 on page 54 then return to the recipe then rotate it like step 6 on page 56..."

SIR! My ADHD and I need bullet points AT LEAST. So last night, because I assumed that my baguettes would need a 12-18 hour rise like Raffa's. Nah, 2-3 hours and then 30 minutes then another 2-3 hours. Sooo that's why Zoe got more leverage out of my unmade bed last night than I did.

My partner gifted me a red Kitchen Aid stand mixer when I first started baking with sourdough starter. It was smart, because now I make emergency phone calls that sound like, "Do you want fresh bread???"

I finished the last loaf of baguette at 5am. This picture us the one I sent my Italian bff this morning.

All this practice means I'm making hella bread so I bake and give away. Mostly to my neighbors and family. Often via North Beacon Hill Free Bakery that I started. I just wanted to practice making bread and feeding people. It's working out nicely!

While it's not a baguette yet, it's a long loaf of delicious bread so I'm happy.

Making work.

I had a session with Zorn B. Taylor a few years ago. I wanted headshots/pictures of myself that felt like me. He refers to making photos as if they are a verb. That verbiage poked at me for awhile, and I like the discomfort I feel. it reminds me that art is active. I tell my theatre students, of all ages, that it's a called a play for a reason.

I've been avoiding making ceramic work. It requires attention and timing and I've been so attracted to being on my own time as of late that the idea of being beholden to the heat of my studio and the ceramics that dry too quickly in it annoys me. I started slowly, for me. I found a bunch of bisqueware beads (middle photo) that I hadn't known what to do with for over a year. I finally settled on hand painting them with gesso and eventually acrylic paint. I find the black beads beautiful. I've added a gold acrylic paint that makes the beads look bronze. I've made some earrings by attaching bronze shapes that I've had laying in corners of boxes since before the pandemic. I like how they're turning out and will take photos and list them soon.

Last night I slept relatively well, so I made it onto the wheel around 7am. I just finished adding handles and it's about 12 hours later. I finally realized that I was too tired to continue so wrapped the vessels in plastic, cleaned my tools in the yard, and attached four handles to mugs that'd be too dry by tomorrow. That's a promising day of work. My self-imposed deadlines are looming, but they feel more manageable now that I've started.