In-Person Classes Coming Back (Soon)
Over the years, I’ve hosted in-person baking workshops in my studio with small groups, lots of hands-on time, and real dough on the bench. People have travelled from all over to attend, and from time to time, I’ve brought in guest bakers to teach alongside me as well.
This January, I intentionally took a step back from most studio projects outside of a few micro bakery bakes. Last year was honestly nuts in a good way, and I needed to give myself a bit of space to reset, spend time with my family, and actually appreciate how much was accomplished.
Now I’m starting to work on getting some new in-person workshops scheduled.
On the list right now
- Bread Fundamentals 101
- Beginner Sourdough
- Whole Grain Breads That Actually Work
- Inclusions Without Compromising Structure
- Rye Beyond Fear
- Micro Bakery Workflow & Production Baking
- Fermented Pizza Beyond Including and Beyond Neapolitan
If that sounds like something you’d want to hear about, click the link below.
There’s no signup form or commitment it just puts you on the short list to be the first to get details and early access when workshops are announced.
Potato & Leek Sourdough 🥔
This is one of those loaves that just makes sense in winter.
Soft roasted potatoes folded into a naturally leavened dough. Sweet, mellow leeks threaded through the crumb. Inspired by classic leek and potato soup, but baked into a loaf that’s deeply comforting and quietly impressive at the same time.
I first started baking potato bread years ago while working at Rundles in Stratford, and it’s something I’ve kept coming back to ever since. This version is fully sourdough, gently fermented, and finished with a blistered golden crust and a soft, creamy interior that stays fresh for days.
It’s the kind of bread I love for toast with butter, grilled cheese, or alongside a bowl of soup when it’s cold outside. Rustic, nourishing, and very much an everyday loaf.
If you want to bake this one yourself, the full recipe is up on the blog, with a detailed timeline, inclusion tips, and shaping guidance. The YouTube video is embedded directly in the post as well. The video shows a larger bake, while the written recipe is scaled for two loaves at home, so you can follow whichever format suits you best.
A Good Rye Question from YouTube 🎥
I got a really good question on my 100% rye sourdough video this week, and it’s worth sharing because it trips a lot of people up.
The question was essentially this:
If the recipe says 90 minutes at room temperature, but also mentions 35°C, what’s actually correct? Room temperature is usually closer to 21°C, and rye can over-ferment quickly. So which should you follow?
Here’s the clarification.
When I talk about “room temperature” in rye baking, I’m talking about where the dough lives, not the temperature of the dough itself. With rye, the dough temperature matters far more than the room.
If you use the water temperature listed in the recipe, your dough should finish mixing warm, usually somewhere around 30–35°C. That warmth is what drives fermentation. Even if your kitchen is cooler, the dough will continue fermenting properly as long as it starts warm.
This is also why I don’t chase big volume increases with rye. You’re not looking for doubling. For a 100% rye, I’m usually looking for a subtle rise, around 20–30%, along with a softening of the dough and a slight doming on top. If you wait for rye to behave like wheat, it’s very easy to push it too far.
If your dough feels cool and inactive at typical room temperature, it’s absolutely fine to move it somewhere slightly warmer. An oven with the light on is often perfect. Warmer dough and shorter fermentation is generally safer for rye than cooler dough and longer time.
If you want to go deeper on this, I walk through the full process and the reasoning behind it in my 100% Rye Sourdough guide. It’s one of my favourite cold-weather bakes; it keeps incredibly well, and once you understand how rye behaves, it becomes very forgiving.
Sourdough Discard Crackers: A Zero Waste Favourite 🧀
If you bake sourdough regularly, you know how quickly discard can pile up. This week I’ve been making a batch of my sourdough discard crackers, and they’re one of those recipes I come back to again and again.
They’re crisp, tangy, and ridiculously easy to customize. I usually keep them simple with sesame seeds and flaky salt, but you can take them in so many directions. Cheese, herbs, spices, even a touch of heat if that’s your thing. They’re great with cheese boards, dips, or just eaten straight off the tray while they’re still warm.
I love this recipe because it turns something that usually gets thrown away into a snack everyone actually wants to eat. I also feel good about packing these in the kids’ lunches or putting them out when people come over.
If you’ve got discard sitting in the fridge and don’t feel like baking a whole loaf, this is a really satisfying way to use it up.
This week in the micro bakery 🕺Blueberry Knots 🫐
This past weekend in the micro bakery, we baked these blueberry knots and honestly… wow. Deep blueberry flavour, soft enriched dough, and just enough sweetness to make them dangerously easy to eat.
These knots are made from an enriched dough, rolled and knotted with a sweet blueberry filling. The batch you see here was proofed, then held in the fridge overnight and baked the next day. That cold proof gives you great flavour and flexibility, which is huge if you are baking around real life.
A few important notes if you want to work with these at home:
• This formula was originally built for production baking, so the Excel is designed to scale easily
• You can make a full batch or just a few knots by adjusting the quantities directly in the spreadsheet
• The knots freeze beautifully after shaping. Freeze solid, then thaw overnight in the fridge, covered, and bake
I first baked these with my good friend and seriously talented baker Mark Hart, and they have stayed in regular rotation ever since. They are one of those pastries that feel special but are very practical once you understand the workflow.
I am including the Excel file directly in this newsletter so you can download it and scale the recipe exactly to what you need, whether that is two knots for a weekend bake or a full tray for a crowd.
Blueberry Knots.xlsx
If you bake them, please send photos. I love seeing how these land in home kitchens just as much as in the micro bakery.
|
|
|
Happy Baking,
MJD
|
Want to learn more from me? Check out my online video resources 👇
|
Unsubscribe · Preferences
