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"swirl" loaf Hi there!Why does my "swirl" look so square? Is it because I'm rolling it too much like sushi?cc	Too thick. Thicker = less Too thick. Thicker = less swirl, thinner = more swirl. That was easy! Enjoy!
"Active cooling", a path to a crispier crust? I do most of my bread-baking in a convection oven. I have been pleased with the flavor and textures but have been frustrated by my lack of consistency in obtaining crispy crusts when desired especially with baguettes. I have tried the method of "declining oven, door ajar" b...	Active drying Very nice concept post thebreadfairy. I started leaving my breads in the oven for some period of time after the baking is done at the suggestion of DSnyder a couple years ago. As you say, the crust softens up tremendously after just a few minutes. I don't have a convection oven so I leave the door cracked...
Steps for Making My Honey Wheat Bread I know I may get lynched for posting this recipe but several people who saw it on another thread asked me to do it...so here it is. I'm going to go run and hide now. Steps for Making Honey Wheat Bread ***Mix together in mixer bowl: 2 heaping tablespoons sugar 1/4-cup oil 1/3-c...	Looks delicious! I wouldn't mind a piece of it! Thanks for sharing. Why do you think you might get lynched? If you're referring to measurement I would be up on the same tree with you! LOL Al
another time sensetive quickie question... So I figured to have home-made runzas for dinner. (runzas, for those in most of the country/world, are a stuffed sandwich, ground meat, cabbage, onion, salt and pepper in a soft bread, not sure what else its called traditionally) now last time I made this, it took way longer ...	well it turned out well. So I ended up portioning it at about 3+ hours, letting it sit in balls for about 15 minutes, then stretched it out sorta like pizza crusts, then dished the cooled filling on the crusts, and pinch them shut over it. Rolling them over(to try to let the seam seal itself and look better) and movin...
Need help to resolve a problem I have been baking my bread for quite some time now. I have a bread machine which I use mainly for dough cycle only and then I shape and do the stuff in a standard fashion. In the last one month, I baked bread about 3 times with the same recipe, same measurements, same batch of AP flour. ...	Oh yes! That was the first thing that crossed my mind was warming room temps. Try using ice water in the machine to cool the dough and less yeast while mixing. Or chilling the machine down before using (slip something from the fridge into the mixer bowl, like a bag of ice cubes, then remove before mixing. Then wet a...
Minimum amount of yeast Hi! I would like to ask what is the minimum amount of yeast (commercial) to use in a recipe that would not negatively affect the results. I have read that yeast can reproduce but in fact it has not enough time to do so during dough fermentation. It just eats (and therefore produces gaz and incre...	Yeast is only one factor that influences dough And even instant yeast is only one form of a variety of yeast. If you are aware that there is wild yeast in the flour also, I guess the minimum amount would be "none." There are recipes where no yeast is added and the flour ferments with the liquid that has been added to...
freezing bread dough.... Hello! long time lurker here, don't post much, too much of a noob.. :) I was thinking of getting in the kitchen this weekend a whipping up batches of various bread doughs that I can put in the freezer then simply take out and unthaw and bake when I need them. But I am unsure at what a point i...	Better to bake and freeze! I am strongly of the opinion you are better off baking first and then freezing. And IMO you should not bake is short, expecting to make it up later when you heat. It is very hard to get the center and the crust both right if you do. Most typically, the center never reaches ideal temps of 205 ...
One HUGE Hole So I was NOT carefully watching rising time, etc on my dough, as I was making pizzas in the WFO. When I formed and baked some ciabatta style loaves, they looked great and tasted great. However, in the middle of two of the loaves there was one huge hole, about 1" high' 2" wide, and 4" long. To the point ...	When I first started using When I first started using the stretch and fold method I had this problem (I don't know if this is how you prepare your dough or not). I came to the conclusion that I had too much flour or oil on the folded surface of the dough which stopped the two surfaces amalgamating when formed into a lo...
Why high gluten flour for starters? Hi, often people claim or even recommend to use high gluten flours for creating and feeding sourdough starters. My question is: why? Does high gluten flour take any advantage to the microflora of a starter? Thanks. (PS my only flour is still rye;) ).	not really nico Hi Nico, I think it is more to do with the glutenin fraction in the stronger flour. I assume the theory will be that the stronger flours will be less susceptible to protease breaking down the fractions of the proteins too quickly. So you get the benefits of the long fermentation, with the dough structur...
is it too late to add vinegar to make buttermilk???? so i'm making whole wheat honey bread with a biga and soaker. usually, i like to use buttermilk, but only have whole milk right now and used it for the soaker. but checking on the internet, saw i could "sour" the milk to make "buttermilk" by putting in 1TBSP per cu...	Go for it I say go ahead and try to knead in the vinegar. I soak all my whole wheat flour now overnight before using (soaker) and it needs to have an "acidic" medium added to it like whey, vinegar (preferably raw or cider vinegar) or lemon juice. This helps to break down the phytic acid in the grain a little better th...
Help with the characteristics of some special flours? During my trip to the US I've bought a number of flours: Teff Flour, Graham Flour and Oat Flour, and also some raw wheat germ (wich I now understand that I should have bought the roasted type- but what can you do). I've heard abot Teff and Graham but about the Oat F...	Complex questions Hi You are asking some complex questions here, but hopefully a few people will chip in with some good advice for you. Graham flour is a wholemeal wheatflour, if I'm not wrong. I would expect this to be a reasonable grade of bread flour. Not really up on Teff flour, sorry. I'm thinking it is gluten...
how to use S-G H-E A-P flour? Hello, I've got a bag of this stone-ground high-extraction (~80-85%) all-purpose wheat flour bought mostly for SD baking.I was wondering, however, if this high-extraction flour could be used for quick doughs leavened/fermented only with commercial yeast? I've used regular all-purpose whi...	what would this flour be good for? Baked a raisin bread with a one-pass stone-ground, high-extraction bread flour from hard red wheat. I used a multi-stage recipe that starts with scalding with diastatic rye malt, then fermentation of the scald with LAB starter and bakers yeast, followed by pre-dough with more yeast a...
Proofing towel question Hello... gathering my equipment for baking. This may seem silly but regarding proofing towels, I have several towels... namely “tea towels. Do I need flour sack towels for proofing my dough?The tea towels....some have black printed sayings, is this a concern? Just don’t like to buy things if I d...	Tea towels should be fine... As long as they are cotton, smooth (no texture) and well-floured. I’ve used tea towels (with design/printing) and flour sack and there’s little difference in performance. I always put the print side away from the dough just in case, though I doubt the print would transfer. Happy baking!
How long to preheat? I have not been baking much recently. We have spent the last 4 months renovating a farmhouse, putting in a garden, etc. So not much baking. But I have a couple times. I have a new propane range. Nothing fancy. Just a plain old stove. When you set the oven for a temp the oven goes into prehea...	Heretic This is pure heresy but I admit that I sometimes just bring the oven to temperature, wait about five minutes and load the loaves. Although it does take a bit longer to bake the bread, I truly don't find much difference in the final result and waiting up to an hour (as some do) for the oven temperature to equal...
Suggestions for teaching an intro bread class for children Hi everyone. Sorry I've ... er ... been away for a while. I'm still baking breads several times a week, and pizzas, English muffins and other delights as well, but with an East Coast schedule in a West Coast world and a six-year-old to take care of (and cart ar...	Some thoughts (no experience) Hi, Jeff. It's great to see you here again. You've been missed. My first thought was to ask the 10 year old what kind of bread he likes and go from there. (I'm assuming he has had some exposure to good bread, I guess.) How about something beyond a basic sandwich loaf that involves some pla...
Going to be making challah dough night before... I am going to be making the dough for challah on Thursday night and baking it Friday night, how do I go about keeping it until its time to bake it? Do I just leave it in the fridge until Friday night covered in plastic? Also how do I bake the challah? Do I bake it on a c...	The fridge is fine You can leave it there for your first rise, overnight and then shape, proof and bake on Friday. Place the shaped loaf on a cookie sheet to rise amd bake it on the sheet. I like to line my pans with parchment, you can also sprinkle some cornmeal on the pan first. I haven't tried shaping and storing -...
Cinnamon Rolls- cutting out morning rise time I have been making my mother's cinnamon rolls for the last few years but have never figured out a way to have them ready first thing in the morning (without getting up at the crack of dawn). The recipe is a basic yeast dough with a significant amount of sugar in it. It's us...	I like the first option best I bet you could make some test dough trials without wasting the cinnamon/sugar part of the roll and just use the tests to see how well things are rising.
1st Sourdough, No Success Into my 1st sourdough and have no success, wonder what I did wrong I copy this recipe, Norwich Sourdough, from this forum and I'm using half the recipe (all quantities divided by half). My starter is 6 days old and has double in volume with a frothy top and very nice sour smell. The dough from...	Don't scrap them A six-day old sourdough culture is pretty immature, so you can't expect your dough to react the same as Susan's (Wild-Yeast), who modified this recipe from Jeffrey Hamelman's Vermont sourdough, and who has a very mature sourdough culture. Yours is just taking longer. It would be wasteful to scrap the ...
How can you tell when final proof is done? One aspect that I can't seem to get the hang of is final proofing. I have overproofed, underproofed, and when I get it right it feels as much chance as anything else. Yesterday I started off making Hamelman's Pain Au Levain with 5% rye flour. I have made it once before, a...	the touch test It sounds like you're already touching the dough to see if its done, and thats exactly what you need to do. First thing to check is time, its going to take at least a certain amount of time for the dough to final proof, how long that is depends on what type of bread you're baking. Ciabatta might take as ...
Help! Packing and Transporting Bread Hi everyone. I'm going to bake bread for an all day event next month but I have no idea how best to pack and transport. Are there any methods or ways to transport bread while maintaining quality as best as possible? I'm a bit lost here so any suggestions would be much appreciated. T...	What kind of bread? It might make a difference what type of bread it is... soft versus crusty. I've packed crusty sourdough loaves and batards before to take to family about 7 hours away. I put my loaves in paper bags so that the crust would stay crunchy. I frequently bring over my baking surplus of bread (whatever kin...
3rd Starter This is my 3rd attempt to make a sourdough starter and so far it looks good. Today it's the 3rd day since I started my latest starter which is based on John Ross recipe. I noticed on the 2nd day that the starter had about 3/4 of the surface covered with tiny bubbles and it had a pleasant sour smell like a b...	Yeah that's fine. If the starter is nice and stable, go ahead and put it in your refrigerator. Feed it about once a week and it also does not hurt to stir it once in awhile.
Deflate I only have one oven in my kitchen and when I make my breads I use the oven light to create the warm environment the bread requires to rise. The kitchens ambient temperature is about 72 F However when the bread is in the last stage and has risen nicely, I have to leave the bread in the counter and wait about 10...	If the kitchen ambient temperature is about 72F, why bother putting the dough in the oven to rise? That room temperature should be plenty to keep the dough happy. The other thing that your description suggests is that the dough is over-proofing while it is in the oven. You might want to try pulling it out earlier by,...
It's a great feeling using my grandmother's bowls I wonder if anyone else has the pleasure of using legacy "equipment" like my grandmother's bowls. I never knew her, I just knew family lore of her. She was supposedly a remarkable woman who provided bread and bakery and other talents to her family of 12 kids. Every time...	My Grandmother taught me to bake at a very tender age. She was a professional cook - in the way that poorer women would hire themselves out to cook for wealthier women - not the "I was trained at the CIA" kind of cook. In fact, she was the cook for the president of Lehigh University, the same university from which tw...
Do you HAVE to punch down your dough? What happens if you don't? Is there a specific or best way not to? I love how soft and fluffy dough is after it rises and you punch it down. About 75% of the time I make Italian bread if that matters, normally I let it rise, deflate it, shape it, let it rest for about 30 minutes o...	Press maybe, punch no "Punching down" dough as fallen so deeply out of fashion that I suspect some readers are reluctant to weigh in on your query because they fear it's a joke or a scam. But maybe not.No, you don't "have" to "punch down" your dough. In fact, in the current era of open crumb and holier-than-thou brea...
Help! Puff Pastry Hi everyone. I've been making puff pastry two days straight and I've noticed that my puff has a dry mouth feel. I'm wondering why it is. Could it be because I'm using water in my dough?In this post by Uisgea http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2041/puff-pastry Jacques Pepin's recipe suggests using water...	water in puff dough Hey uberathlete,I'm going to have to be one to vote for water as the liquid in puff pastry dough. It creates a crispier/flakier puff than with milk. I use milk in my croissant dough to provide a contrast, but it makes the dough a little breadier. I can send you my recipe if you'd like to try it o...
Can you really tell bleached from unbleached flour? Hi all, I hope this topic hasn't been 'done to death' already, but I was wondering...Can any of you guys actually see (or taste? or feel?) a difference between bleached and unbleached wheat flours? My search of this topic on TFL yielded lots of cries for help that usu...	Flour This is one of those subjects that if you ask 100 people the same question you will get 100 different opinions. I live in rural Texas...it's not Japan but I can't get bread flour or unbleached flour unless I want to drive 70 miles (one way) to the nearest city. I don't. I use the cheapest all-purpose flour I ca...
How to tell from a formula what the crumb should be like? Hello All, I've been baking various types of bread at home for a while now, with pretty good success. My question is how to tell from a formula what the texture of the crumb should be? It is simply a question of hydration - a higher percentage of water will ...	Not so simple as hydration levels Hi Evan, you've entered a complex area here. There are many variables in a recipe and formula which can, and will, impact on the final texture of the crumb. Clearly hydration levels is one factor, and a major one at that. Here are some others that I can think of: fat level; sugar l...
My dough had too much memory I've baked two versions of the blueberry cream cheese braid bread. The first was very slack and came out great. The second was about perfect as far as dough handling and consisency. It both were all white enriched bread flour, King Arthur or one of those varieties. The second batch. I want...	The gluten in the dough acts The gluten in the dough acts somewhat similar to rubber bands being stretched. The gluten will stretch only so far(at one time) until it begins to shrink back, or tear(rip). When this happens, what you want to do is let the dough rest(or relax) in between the rolling out sessions. So if the...
Laurel's Kitchen WW Breads I got the book 2 months ago, and I just love everything I've made so far. For WW breads, they rise so high! And the crumb is very light. Here's my question, as far as I can tell, she doesn't use any special techiques - a good thorough knead until passing window pane, 2 good rises, and a good ...	I could not agree more...I I could not agree more...I think I was fortunate to have stumbled on Laurel's book at my public library and started my bread baking with her 3 years back. It is still my favorite and her WW breads are light and flavorful. The featherpuff is one of my favorites too and so is her deluxe raisin ...
Savarin recipe? or 'Celebration Bread'? I would like to bake a Savarin for desert on Easter but I don't know of a dependable recipe. Can anyone point me toward one? I would also like to know if I can bake this bread-like cake the night before serving it or is it best baked the day of serving? I intend to soak it ...	Artos PR's Artos (Greek Celebration Bread) is very nice. Lots of compliments
Where do you Keep your Bread? Since I started baking bread, I always make two kinds each time; one it is a sandwich loaf which we use for sandwiches and during breakfast and the other one it is a French baguette type for the main meals. I keep my breads inside a plastic bag in the fridge but I find the plastic bags not...	I have two bread storage I have two bread storage containers. One is an large old enamel tin, the other is a modern ceramic bread storage jar. Despite these, the bread seems to stay on the wooden chopping board turned cut face down. Haha, even as I write this I can hear one of the kids cutting a slice. I think she's ma...
A thank you and a question about crust. I want to start by saying thanks again to those who help and contribute to this site, and especialy those folks who offered tips in my first post ask for help with many failed breads :) I'm now using the "Lesson 1" bread, as a starting point, with a few variations. 1) I cut th...	Familiar Ring One of the things that troubles me about those progressive recipes in the lessons portion of this forum is that they attempt to instruct the newcomer to bread making using bulk measurements. That makes it extremely difficult for the student to duplicate results from one bread making experience to the ne...
How high is too high? When I make ciabatta or sourdough, I cook to an internal temp of about 205... but it seems that sometimes it still comes out as what I perceive to be doughy, but it's really just undercooked. How high can I take the internal temperature? What happens if I go too high?	Are you letting the loaves Are you letting the loaves cool thoroughly before cutting into them? Is your thermometer accurate? Are you cooling the bread on a rack and for how long? At 205° F you should not have doughy bread IF you let it cool thoroughly. If you are letting them cool, then I would check your thermomete...
Hamelman's Berne Brot or Brioche w/o high gluten flour? Hi! I've just noticed that Hamelman's Broiche, Challah, and Berne Brot formulas from _Bread_ call for high gluten flour which I don't have access to. I have KAF Bread, regular AP, and Hodgson Mills Vital Wheat Gluten. The Berne Brot is 75% 11.7 flour and 25 % h...	The 75/25 blend you mentioned The 75/25 blend you mentioned will result in a protein level of 11.95%. KA AP(all purpose) flour is 11.7 %, so if that is what you have, use that. Other ap flours can be all over the map, as far as protein level is concerned. One source lists generic ap flour at about 10.3%. If that is wha...
Blisters on Pretzels Hi folks - newbie here... I've been making pretzels using a variety of recipes. This one here has so far been the most successful although I was dubious because it didn't call for bulk ferment before shaping (goes to shaping right away). I read somewhere else that this is supposedly easier to roll ...	I think the recipe needs I think the recipe needs more fat. 2 tbsp of butter in 6 cups of flour is almost nothing. The lye needs some fat to bind with to get that good "saponification."
Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Everyday White Sandwich loaf question Hey all, I have made this recipe and both the man and I enjoy it a lot, however.. His recipe calls for retarding the dough in the fridge for 24 hours. I was curious about anyones experience with not retarding it. We're pretty much out of bread because...	Go for It Retarding the loaves helps develop flavor. That said, if you're out of bread and your only other option is (gasp!) to buy it from the store, I'd say bake away. It's still going to be superior to Wonder bread.
Easter basket Help! I remember having a recipe to make a basket from yeast bread. The last time I made it was probably 15 years ago and now I can't find it in my files! I remember making a white dough and shaping/baking it over bowls, but, I have no idea how much bread to make etc without the recipe. I have a fairly ea...	Link http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Cz4rQSMt9Wc/R-EXd2Oe9pI/AAAAAAAAALg/oXwGf4Yrw_w/s400/morning%2Beaster%2Bbread%2B029.J...
help with yeast measurment please.. Hey all, I need to know if I am putting enough yeast in a recipe I have. It calls for 2oz FRESH yeast.. I have been putting 6 3/4 tsp dry active yeast.. is that right?	From the King Arthur Baker's From the King Arthur Baker's Companion: "If your recipe calls for cake or compressed yeast, you may substitute 1/4 ounce (2 1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast for every ounce (or cake) of compressed yeast." Using this calculation, if your recipe calls for 1/2 ounce fresh yeast, you'd use 1/8 ounce of...
My 1st Starter? I try my 1st sourdough starter based on Sam Fromartz recipe but it seems that I may have done something wrong. For day 1 I mixed 100 g water, 50 g rye flour, and 50 g white flour and let it stand for 24 hrs.For day 2 and every 8 hrs, I discard all but 75 g of the culture and feed this with 75 g water, 2...	New Starter Keep on feeding. I think you can now feed only once a day. Good Luck! Ford
Final Dough Weight Good Morning AllThis may be a silly question but, when calculating the final dough weight do you just use the weight of flour and water or do you include all the other ingredients, such as yeast, salt, oil etc? Many thanks Peter	Don't forget weight loss of the bake The final loaves after baking generally approximate 92%-93% of the pre-bake dough weight. So a 2lb target loaf would need about 2.2lbs of dough.
Healthy? Is the home baked bread healthier than the commercial ones? I mean, do we miss any good ingredients which are possibly available in the commercial breads?	Ofcourse. Home made bread does not use any unnatural preservatives, except sourdough which is a natural preservative. Sourdough unlocks many hidden nutrients in whole grains which commercial breads do not. It also tastes better. Happy Bread-ing SndBrian
I need help with sticky dough I've been making the Light Polish Rye from Leader's book for quite a while. When baking one loaf, handling the dough is no issue as you can just scrape it from the bowl and dump it on the counter. Recently I made six times the recipe. Below is a photo of four breads made with this mix. Two...	Rye is sticky If you've read all the way through "Local Breads," (presuming that's the book you have) you should have come across Leader's advice to "embrace stickiness" because that's what rye is. A bowl of water for dipping your hands and a good dough scraper will help. I dribble a bit of water on the counter as we...
How do you make Zopf without egg? When I first saw Zopf at a farmer's market, I figured it was challah, but the salesmen (definitely not farmers) from Swiss Bakers assured me it wasn't and that it had no egg in it. It was really amazingly tasty. Since then all the recipes I have seen posted for Zopf have egg, and l...	My Zopf has no eggs Hi Varda, I make Zopf all the time and don't use eggs in the dough (only in the egg wash). You'll find my recipe in the comments section of this post: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/13045/hello-switzerland-celebration-bread-and-zopf And you should definitely read Thomas' Zopf experiments with and ...
Enhancing flavor naturally? Will you share some tricks you have for improving the flavor of your breads? I'm assuming that we're all doing things like preferments, and other things similar to the techniques in Peter Reinhart's books. What interests me is special tricks beyond that. For example, I just tried diastatic m...	Diastatic malt is good for one thing only (as far as I know) and that is to 'speed things up' a little bit—more sugar becomes available more quickly to your yeast. It's used in such tiny quantities that it shouldn't affect the taste of your loaves at all. I use it, very rarely, if I want to feed my starter twice in a ...
Please help me identify the banneton Hi, I am trying to decide what two bannetons to purchase so I am looking in older posts here on TFL for any information and I found some photos from David's blog that I don't know what banneton is used ther. Are these the oval or the oblong bannetons? I would very much appreciate ...	one is oval and the last one round They are both cane. The longer loaves got their final rise in an oval brotform with a cane bottom and the round loaves in a round brotform. There are many shapes to chose from but these are most popular. They also come in different sizes for different amounts of dough.
How do I get "ears" or the folding back of the layer on top of the bread? How do I get "ears" or the folding back of the layer on top of the bread?I have been baking the standard whole wheat sandwich loaf of bread for over 10 years and find that the crust and crumb are fine. However, after I slice the top of the loaf p...	here's a video. This might help.https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64447/how-get-ear-sourdough-bread
Doing something consistantly wrong I've finally figured out that I must be doing something wrong. Every recipe I've tried turns out the same exact way - duds during the second rise. I have used both a KitchenAid mixer (which I've burned up) and now (today) an Eletrolux DLX. I'll list both recipes. That might help...	How full were the pans? How full were the pans when you put the dough in, and how high does the dough get after 45 min, after 90 min, after 2 hours, and after 3 hours? After what % rise in the 2nd rise did you bake it, and how much oven spring did you get? How did the crumb turn out? There are others here better qual...
Strange Flour Type I would like to make a French bread recipe from a Greek baking book. The ingredients for the flour are 3 cups of all purpose flour plus 3 cups of another flour which if I translate it directly to English it means "Strong Flour" Any Greeks out there? Does anyone know what this flour may be in the Nort...	Strong flour, from what I Strong flour, from what I gather, a British term, generally means a higher protein flour than the typical all purpose or plain flour. Typically flours with more than 11 % protein. Bread flour is thought of as a "strong" flour.
Can I add oat flour to this recipe? Hello everyone, I need help. I found a good yeasted white bread recipe on Recipezaar that works just fine with AP flour. However, I would like to try to incorporate some oat flour into the recipe. Will it work? It calls for 3-1/4 cup flour.. I was thinking of replacing 1 cup of AP ...	The oats will not contribute The oats will not contribute to the gluten, and at some point, probably interfere with a satisfactory rise and texture. If your loaf is not satisfactory, maybe back off on the oats a little. King Arthur suggests 25% oat flour. Sounds like a good starting point to me: http://www.kingarthurfl...
Dough in the Fridge Into my 12th bread baking and so far the results have been very satisfying and exciting So I thought to try this French Country bread recipe which calls to have the dough into the fridge for 2 to 24 hours. I was curious to see what the fridge will do to the dough Besides the all purpose flour and wa...	The best selling book Artisan The best selling book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is based on keeping a large batch of dough in the refrigerator for a couple weeks at a time. When you want to make a pizza, bake a loaf of bread, or make some fresh Pita Bread you just tear off a grapefruit size piece of dough. http...
How do you keep/store your bread after its made ? Once the bread comes out where and how do you keep it ? My loafs last 3-4 days, right now I keep them on a wood cutting board with a microwave dome with holes on top of it. No refrigeration, no sealed plastic enclosures. What is the best way to keep the bread fresh, c...	re: Bread storage I used to keep mine in a cooled oven. 3-4 days sounds about right. Recently, my mother-in-law bought me a bunch of these. Completely gimmicky, I know, but they work. Do they work better than a regular old plastic bag or bread box? Not sure. I never would have bought them on my own (nor will I in the f...
Boule Making Alrighty guys, I've been making whole wheat boules for a while now and I have noticed that there are large air pockets that seperate the crust and the crumb. Am i not forming the boule correctly or maybe not making a strong enough outter-skin? -Brian	steam that sounds alot more like a steaming, than shaping problem are you steaming? if so, how?
How to make Corn Bun at taipan bakery Does any one know how to make corn bun (粟米包) sold in Tai Pan Bakery at New York? http://www.taipan-bakery.com/product_e.html Click on Corn Bun, you will see picture of it. Thank You!	No idea, to be honest,, but... it looks just like a 'typical' item in a Japanese bakery. I eat them very rarely. From the photo you linked to, it's probably a glazed 'butter roll' with sweet corn in white sauce added before baking. It could be sweetened with honey or sugar, or made 'spicier' with white pepper and cayen...
Anyone notice that fresh flour uses less water? I was fixing Peter Reinhart's Variation 1 White loaf on page 266 of his Bread Baker's Apprentice and used 10 oz of water as opposed to the books 13 to 14 oz.	It's in the Aging Yes, but the gluten structure in fresh flour is weaker than the structure created using flour with some age on it. But if you're using commercially marketed "fresh" flour it probably been treated to improve the flour's ability to build a stronger network of gluten.
Dough Hook Kneading I need some input on this one. I have a KA Pro. 600 Stand Mixer. Have baked bread years ago and kneaded by hand. Unless a type of bread that might be like a cibatta bread that you add flour table spoon by table spoon until the bread starts to breakaway from the side of the bowl. If I use exact mea...	Need for details to understand your problem. Hi, Bob. I'm not clear on what kind of bread you want help with. The one you mention - Ciabatta - is a very wet dough. I wouldn't expect it to ever clear the sides of the mixer. It should be very sticky. You don't really "shape" ciabatta. You just form a loaf by stretching a...
Dividing Recipe If a recipe calls, among other ingredients, for 1 tablespoon yeast and 5 cups flour and I want to make only half of the recipe are any rules to follow? Do I just divide the above in half?	I am assuming that you are I am assuming that you are referring to a bread recipe and if so, you just divide it in half. Jeff
Best mixer for 52% hydration bagel dough? Here I am again, deciding between the Bosch and the Electrolux. I tried mixing the bagel dough in ITJB, with 52% hydration, as dense as dough can be. I first used my friend's loaned Electrolux Assistent (the Magic Mill brand, over 10 years old). I followed the directions I s...	Define: It just couldn't cut it (the DLX) At what distance from the bowl's rim did you lock the roller?At what speed did you mix?At what speed did you knead?cheers,gary
Jason's Ciabatta - bread machine to mix? Hi all - I've been eyeing off Jason's ciabatta recipe and wondering how best to go about it. I don't have a large kitchen mixer, and I don't think my hands and arms are up to doing the whole thing by hand. I do most of my baking using a bread machine for the initial kneading, th...	Ciabatta is the one bread I Ciabatta is the one bread I always use my bread machine for.
how to make a better baguette I have been trying to make a good baguette and reading up on this site, I discovered the whole discussion about the Anis Bouabsa formula. I have tried it twice so far. The first time didn't work out at all. The second one is the best baguette I've ever made - not saying much since I'v...	Walk before you run... Baguettes are among the simplest of breads but most difficult to make well. Your shaping technique is crucial, because if the baguette lacks sufficient surface tension when you form it, it's going to show in the finished product. That said, starting out with a 75% hydration formula is almost cer...
Flat sourdough loaves Here is a problem I can't figure out - can anyone help? I've made two attempts at making the Danish Sourdough Rye from the book Bread Alone. In short, it uses a rye starter, but white flour for the main dough. The book cautions that the dough will be sticky but warns against adding too much fl...	Hi Sour Doh, I looked at the Bread Alone recipe, and the rye starter formula, built from rye chef. I think Bread Alone is a fine book, but mixing volume measurements (fluid ounces) with dry weight (avoirdupois ounces) make careful analysis a royal pain. 1 fluid ounce of water is ALMOST equal to one dry weight ounce, bu...
Pointe-à-Callière- Flour Mixture In this thread, Shiao-Ping posted her attempt in Hamelman's Pointe-à-Callière. She noted that because of her lack of high extraction flour, she used what Hamelman recommends- a mixture of 84% WW and 16% AP flour. In the photos, and also the photos from the book itself it looks like a wh...	Shao-Ping explains this Shao-Ping explains this herself later on in the comments following her main post, where she says: "...for the 86% WW flour in the formula, half of that was Australia WHITE whole wheat flour. The breakdown of flours that I used follows: 312 g normal whole-wheat flour (43% bakers percentage) 31...
Oil for kneading I've been tying to reduce the bench flour I'm using so as not to mess with the hydration levels of my dough. THis weekend I experimented with VERY LIGHTLY spraying just a tiny bit of olive oil on my marble board when I take the dough out of the KA to do the final bit of kneading and rounding (note I a...	Works Fine I use the method you describe for several of the breads I bake without ill effect.
Floured surface for kneading dough It just hit me.. if i used bread flour for my dough and am taking out to knead on a floured surface, do i need to flour the surface with the same type of flour, or do i need to use bread flour as well? LOL, it might seem kinda silly but am just wondering. Thanks :)	No No. I typically just use AP flour to dust the counter for kneading but I would avoid using a specialty flour (rye, brown, etc.) unless it was included in the original formula.
Croissants - a video demonstration. Hi all! I'm new here and hope I can make a contribution. The ABC, the Australian Government owned TV (and radio) network has a new cooking show Poh's Kitchen and the first episode included a video demonstration by a very well-known French pastry chef on how to make croissants. The vi...	Poh's Kitchen Welcome to TFL Thanks for the heads up on Poh's new programme. Delighted it isn't restricted to Australia only, great to be able to watch advert free and at a time of my choosing too. Really enjoyed episode with David Thompson. Have his books but have never heard him or seen him in action before so it'll ...
Oven / Fridge I have a standard 30" electric stove. I will usually have more than 1 loaf of bread to bake at the same time and I wonder what is the best to do. 1. Place each loaf on a separate baking sheet and put the baking sheets on different racks inside the oven and bake at the same time? 2. Place only one loaf on ...	How many loaves to bake I prefer to bake all the loaves on the same shelf. That saves trying to move them around so they all get the same heat. I also have a "pizza stone" on the baking shelf to give me a more uniform heat, AND I preheat the oven at least a half-hour before baking. However -- it's your bread -- do t...
Dividing Dough When I want to divide my dough to make 2 or 3 loaves out of it, is there any good / bad way of doing this? Do I cut it with a knife, scissors, pull it appart ?	Bench knife You do not want to rip or tear the dough. A bench knife is the best tool, but if you don't have one, you can use scissors or a sharp knife. Cut cleanly and avoid sawing through the dough. Hopefully you have a scale so you can make sure each division weighs the same, especially if you plan to bake them at ...
Nearly Water-like Dough Problem I have been making this recipe for about a month and not had a problem. 4 cups of flour2 cups water 1/4 teaspoon yeast1 1/2 teaspoon salt Stir about 3-5 minutes until the flour is blended in. Place tin foil over the bowl and let it rise for 18 - 22 hours. It rises fine but the problem i...	Could you add a bit more flour? I generally go with about 6 cups of flour to 2 cups of water.
Air bubble in Doughnut Hi Everyone,I’m having a problem with my doughnuts and I can’t seem to figure it out. I’m getting an air bubble under the surface of the doughnut (the side that hits the oil first), and I don’t know why.After I mix my dough, I let it sit at room temp for 30 minutes. I then form it into loaves and...	They are under proved I never had the issue with rings but Bismarcks would get the bubble, they would actually flip themselves at times, during colder weather.
Pane Siciliano from Bread Baker's Apprentice I tried making the Pane Siciliano from The Breadbaker's Apprentice. These are lovely S-shaped loaves that were intriguing to me because they use a lot of semolina. It has one excellent property that makes it outstanding: It is excellent for use in panini sandwiches. The text...	Pane Siciliano Makes excellent sandwich bread no matter the form. Free form large loaves or in a loaf bread pan. Everyone's favorite. What a mess with the seeds, but worth every bite. M
Warped Banneton Hi all, I recently ordered a rectangular cane banneton, it arrived today but it is warped (does not sit flat at all on counter). Should I send it back? My round bannetons don't do this. Is it common with this shape and material or is it a fault? Any advice much appreciated! Alex	Definitely send it back, if Definitely send it back, if you don't incur shipping and other charges. If you have to pay shipping, maybe that changes. Most places usually cover shipping for defective returns. I have not used them so don't know if it can be somehow straightened, or still useable as is? Maybe, even if warp...
Just have to share! Ok so, I have been baking something almost every weekend and am still loving it. I've made the Pita bread recepie posted on the site twice and have had great success then this past weekend I finally got a basic sandwich bread I am happy with! The taste is great, the texture is nice and chewy and I...	Very nice looking loaves Very nice looking loaves indeed. They look like you glazed them with a wash. Did you used egg white and milk? What to work on? Sounds like you are pretty happy with the results so far. Maybe work on expanding your repetoire, and adding some whole-grain or sourdough challenges to keep you i...
Salt! Can a .5% reduction from 2% to 1.5% make a big flavor change? I did that today and just can't believe my bread taste's the same. Using slow natural fermentation process. Thanks	Many times Salt is used for flavor. If the flavor of the bread increases (thru longer fermentation) less salt is needed. It is still good to maintain a little salt in the recipe for the chemical reasons and control of fermentation. I reduce my salt to 1.6% all the time. Yesterday I made such a flavorable pork roast...
How to make Tzitzel bread? Can I adapt the Greenstein corn rye recipe? I have been trying lately to recreate a bread that I ate as a child. It was called Tzitzel and was made by a local Jewish baker, Pratzels, in University City - a suburb of St. Louis. I have so far made 5 attempts - 4 with sourdough starters an...	Tzitzel rye Hi, vhaimo. I'm not familiar with "tzitzel" rye, but if the bakery says it's "just plain Jewish rye rolled in cornmeal," I would take them at their word and make a traditional sour rye and roll it in polenta before baking it. I am doubtful whether you can make it using a no-knead approach. The rye doesn't h...
How To Taste Bread Hi All, I love all the discussions on TFL. One I haven't seen yet is a primer on how to taste bread in the same vein as how people learn to taste wine. Not sure if there are any competition judges that want to weigh in here, but here are a couple things I came up with that contribute to the overall...	Broader View I'd want to break down the crust and crumb into two separate categories for color and texture instead of lumping them together, and I believe "chew" and "texture" amount to pretty much the same thing because it's texture in the bite that counts.
Fingertip Test What does it means if, when you test the dough with your fingertip after shaping and before baking, it remains a hole into the dough?	Watch this Watch this video: http://www.redstaryeast.com/lessons/how_to_bake_videos.php (click on the link). To get a good oven spring, you would put the loaf into the oven a little earlier than shown. That is, when you "poke" the dough, the indentation slowly fills back in.
Croissants------My First Bread Fortunately i found this website two weeks ago and i saw so many beautiful bread you guys made. i realy hope i can get them from my oven . I think that yeasterday I got a good start in bread baking.I like the croissants so i decided the crossant will be my first bread and i gave it a shot...	Wow-Fast learner! Your Croissants look perfect. Eric
Lumps in dough? Hi. I'm pretty new to bread baking, but this hasn't happened in the last few weeks. I am making this challah bread: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/challah.aspx Anyway, I've done all the steps and I kneaded my dough, but I've ended up with tiny little lumps over the entirety of the dough. I mixed all...	Okay... The recipe doesn't call out an autolyse and only has 1/4 cup of water which is mixed with 1/2 cup flour and yeast to make a sponge (a term which is correctly used in the recipe itself). So I'm not so sure why you are talking about an autolyse. Sponges are used to give a little extra flavor to enriched breads ...
A proud moment! After much experimentation I think I have finally cracked my first loaf! The recipe from TFL: 3 cups flour2 teaspoons salt2 teaspoons yeast1 1/8 cup water I went to my local supermarket and bought some new flour (more expensive) and yeast. This time I kneaded the dough for 12 minuts ...after around 9 mi...	A proud moment, indeed! The loaf looks gorgeous and you deserve some gloating!
Freezing bread As I slice a recent loaf, I am pondering freezer organization for bread. My frozen bread stash is somewhat haphazard at the moment, and I don't want to lose any to freezer burn down the road, just because I didn't know it was in there. ?I'm curious what others on TFL do... How do you freeze your bread? I...	We store all the bread I bake We store all the bread I bake in the freezer. I slice it, bag it in plastic bread bags that I buy from NYBakers.com, closed with twist-ties we save from the produce we bring home from the grocery store, and freeze. We take 1, 2, ... however many slices are needed out as needed. If we re...
Help please! - problems with learning to bake bread Hi Guys, I'm having real problems in my first attempts to bake homemade bread using a number of recipes including 'your first white bread' recipe from this site. Nearly every time I follow a recipe through to completion my bread seems to be very 'beery' in the middle ...	Not a boxing match Those instructions are a bit dated. We're not in a boxing match with our dough so there's no need to punch it. You simply want to gently degas the dough and prehape it. Check out some of the TFL videos which cover folding, shaping, etc. Are you kneading by hand or machine? If you are baking in a...
Shaping without degassing the dough- How? In the last couple of weeks I've been trying to get to the right shaping technique. I tried several ways wich I took from books as well as from the net. I always run into the problem of degassing the dough during shaping wich usually leads to a denser crumb without any irruegul...	It can be done! There are several videos available on this site-take a look at the top toolbar and use the search box for shaping a loaf. An interesting thing to know (according to Emily Buehler's "Bread Science") is that it is the existing bubbles (from the fist doubling rise) that fill and inflate when a loaf is fina...
stories from yesteryear.... OK admittly im a plant baker and a mere push button baker however i bake a lot at home. I am entered in a young bread baker of the year competition and the topic for a presentation is to identify key processes or law changes in the last 50 years. so ive decided to look at the food safety and...	Sanitation Hi doughboy82, When I was younger, I worked in foodservice, major grocery store chains, for approx 14 years starting in 1969 until 1983. We were not required to wear gloves when handlling ready to eat foods. Hand sinks were also not standard equipment in food service areas, ie. deli, meat dept, bakery. My f...
Brotform measurements. If you had a 5" brotform how many grams of dough would you measure out for it? Same for 8" brotform too. I have been preparing 4 kilograms of dough per cooking. Thanks for any help.	See here for recent See here for recent discussion: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16320/bannetons-what-size-and-shapes-do-you-use aloha, Dave Hurd, Hilo, Hawaii
Peter Reinhart live chat on B&N.com Thursday Peter Reinhart posted this to his blog today: Hi Everyone, I will be the guest of honor on Barnes & Nobles's author's chat group this Thursday, Feb. 18th, from 12 noon till 1 :30 PM Eastern time. I will field any and all questions in real time, so please feel free to jo...	Join Peter's Chat Hi: I registerd with B&N but I don't know how to participate in the Chat set up for today at 12:00 Noon. I am a novice at this 'Chat Room' stuff.
Help with making a ferment Hello everyone, I am semi amatur-beginner bread baker that has been trying out new recipes and techniques. I have been baking quick breads from the Joy of Cooking for a number of years but I received Dough by Richard Bertinet about a year ago. This was my first venture into more french/arti...	You've come to the right place Just use the search function and look up sourdough starters. There's a boat load of information in the archives that will answer a large part of your question. You can also research poolish, biga, pre-ferment, and levain too. While that may be overwhelming at times, most of the threads ha...
poolish Recently I had the good fortune to be kept away from home for a few days (48 hrs) longer then I expected. I started a poolish and never came home. Is it still good? How long will it last? And how exactly do you pronounce it? Thanks to everyone, about everything. Baking has turned into a wonderful experience. Ke...	Hard to Say Pronunciation is "POH lish" http://www.thefreshloaf.com/blog/leucadian You didn't say what type of environment you poolish is living in so it's difficult to say what you might expect under your specific circumstances.
Third generation beer barm, cold start This is a boule made this morning using all white flour and a third generation beer barm. By that I mean that after I concocted and used the original beer barm from Dan Leppard's recipe, I refreshed the leftover barm with flour and water to make another 100% starter, then refresh...	Bowl Cover Te loaf looks beutiful and tasty! Please, what kind of bowl cover did you use? And how high and large? Thanks, zdenka
Can I mix fresh ground red berry flour with store bought white flour? I sometimes find that 100% whole wheat is a bit to heavy for me to eat, so I was wondering? To make a lighter loaf, can mix fresh ground red berry flour with store bought white flour? If I can, what would change in my measuring?	I bake many of the available I bake many of the available recipes containing WW / AP flour combinations substituting my freshly milled wheat berries for the WW, and it works great. Go for it.
JH Wholewheat sourdough I have decided I like J Hammelmans Whole Wheat sourdough recipe (which is really 50/50 wholewheat and bread flour) without the use of the mixer or kneading. The bread I made this week came out much better than past tries and the main difference was a no mixer, no knead approach. I could have let...	Nice loaves! That formula is one of my favorites. Like you, I've discovered the joy, and payoff of mixing bread entirely by hand. I've got pecan sticky buns rising as a write, their dough developed entirely by frisage in a bowl and french folding. David G
Water temp to final dough temp question Hello all,Recipe I'm following calls for water temp of 80°F with an overnight ambient temp of 65-70°F and a 12-14 hour pre-ferment prior to mixing final dough.Mixed the pre-ferment but forgot to check the ambient temp prior to starting. When I did it's coming in at 75°F so I kno...	This is in celsius, but you This is in celsius, but you just have to replace the C with F values as it works the same. Not exactly scientific, but works well. DDT.jpg
Suggestions about a good rye? I want to bake over the weekend a tasty. good, european style rye loaf. I would like it to be quite sour (sourdough of course) and may include grains/ seeds in it. I went over tons of recipes here and in books and I just got more confused. I own the BBA. WGB. and Leader's Local Breads if y...	Depends Do you have your sourdough starter ready? It takes a few days to get your starter going. Also, if you want it sour, leave time to let your dough ferment at room temp. My husband likes a real sour taste sometimes and though it will sour more as it ages, leaving finished dough covered at room temp for 8-12 hours ...
A Long weekend full of bread I took Friday and Monday off work last weekend as a bit of a treat to myself because it was my birthday at the end of January. Along with seeing some friends and our beautiful new god-daughter I took the opportunity to do a big batch of baking and use some of the presents my wife had bought...	Beautiful loaves! Enjoyed your post and the photos. Agree with the fun in making a particularly large loaf, especially when it's a bring-along for a gathering. Also, how fortunate that your S.O. is in tune enough with your hobby that she gifted you with such useful items!
Does barley flour has any means to rise? Hi, besides rye another passion of mine is barley. I was wondering it barley flour has any means to rise, just like wheats have gluten and rye has pentosans. I know fo sure that in Sardinia bakers have been making a 100% barley bread for centuries, but now it's only a memory o...	Hi Nico Barley has a tradition in flat breads. I haven't tried boiling the flour (water roux) and then making a loaf, might be worth a try. I've observed it does gel just a little and can thicken a soup, so maybe there's a chance that way. Let us know. The Scotts are known for their barley bannock scones: http://en...
can you bake bread recipes into muffins i suppose this is a vague question as i am sure many recipes can be adapted to different shapes. but what i have in mind is a sourdough banana muffin concept and all i can really find is sourdough banana bread recipes. there is even one on this site. so my question is this: w...	Not much different than Not much different than making "rolls" from a loaf bread recipe. The only modification would be the obvious, of taking small pieces of the dough to form rolls. And maybe not so obvious, but you would bake for a much shorter period. Sounds to me that you are mainly talking about "shaping dough", ...
First Ciabatta I'm like most people, I LOVE homemade bread straight out of the oven with real butter. I like it with apple butter, or jelly. I like it plain... Its just so good and the smell is the best part. I have been facinated with bread making and artisian, rustic types of bread for a good long time. I think I h...	I guess this probably should I guess this probably should have gone under the Artisian section.... hopefully this is okay. Still learning my way around the forum. Tom
100% hydrated bread Hi all, I just wanted to bring up the subject of baking bread in a tin with a 1 to 1 ratio flour/water I don't know if it's been discussed already but I think it's something really cool. I started making it because I broke my shoulder and wanted to make super simple bread, I'd just mix the dough wit...	I did this a few weeks ago. I did this a few weeks ago. I did a 95% WW, 5% Rye with 15% muesli at 100% hydration with similar results... I baked them in rounds directly on a baking stone... I did maybe 4-5 turns of the dough after mixing every 30 mins. It firmed up when the muesli started absorbing the water...
Need help with shaping a loaf... Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong. Every time I try to shape a traditional loaf of bread this is what I get.	In my experience . . . this happened to me before I started really pressing down on the seam while rolling up the dough. That is, rolling it up a bit, pressing down the seam where the rolled and unrolled dough meet, then repeating until it's all rolled up. Creates better surface tension, too. But I avoid that issue in ...
Chocolate Bread I spotted this recipe from Suzanne Martinson and gave it a try. It turned out good. Pretty dense structure and rich taste with good chewy crust. We served it cool with sweetened cream cheese, peanut butter and hot coffee. Next time I am going to add walnuts.	good looking loaf That's a very nice rustic style looking loaf of bread you made. I made a chocolate yeast bread once years ago, using a recipe from Carol Field's Italian Baker. It took the better part of 4hrs to rise but when it was finally baked, cooled, and sliced it was the well worth the wait. I'm wondering how lo...
I don't understand how bagels work! Having recently been making bagels for PR's recipe testing, I've baked two batches of eight. The first batch was topped with a cinnamon sugar for a supper; the second batch is topped with sesame seeds to be used for my lunches at work. With the first batch, I can't really quantify ho...	Bagelmania.... There is a tremendous variation in what is called a bagel. It depends on who makes it and what their goals are. A New York style bagel should be very firm, with a crisp crust a chewey crumb and a very great depth of flavor. If you drop one, you should make sure you move your feet out of harm's way. La...
Baking for the First Time.. HELP!! I'm trying to bake (cookies) for the first time ever.. However I encountered some problems which I wonder if anyone here can help me:1. How to preheat the oven correctly? For example if i set the temperature to 325 degree (as required by the recipe), the timer to 15mins, and once 15mi...	Hello there, maybe I can help Hello there, maybe I can help you a bit. Turn the oven to the temperature specified in the recipe, and wait a while, 10-15 minutes should be plenty for 325. Most ovens have some way of telling you if there up to temperature, they beep, or the little light cycles on and off, or so forth. ...

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