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ITJB Week 3: Honey Whole Wheat Challah (p. 31), 12/17/11 - 12/24/11
I'd never made challah before test-baking for ITJB, and just loved the beauty and ease of it. I chose this bread for this week because our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is clam chowder with homemade bread (usually Swedish limpa). This year I'm going... | we'll be watching!
*wink*Stan |
How High Can You Go? High-Hydration Challenge!
When I first saw this section, I thought it meant challenges like competitions, not challenges like struggles you were having. I'm obviously in the minority of that train of thought, but you can't prove that I'm wrong! As I have finally managed to restock strong flour via ... | Well, my first semi
Well, my first semi-successful 75% SD. Perfect Loaf’s Beginners Sourdough (ha!) scaled down from 78%. AP because no bead flour to be found. 73% practice loaf to the right, before I learned to score a little better. Also, should I be scoring closer to the middle? I liked the smiley face but maybe tha... |
South-Tyrol (Alto-Adige in Italian) The Keiser roll
Hello, friends.In the past few weeks, I have made some very good progress with the tricky baguette shape. While there is still work to do, I am going to pause. I am sure part of my frustration and limitation, is the old leaky domestic gas oven. That being said, I will... | Karate chop
Maybe this fine young lad can school his Pop-Pop, on the finer points of the Karate chop! |
Buckwheat/dsicovery/comment
AYK from past posts, I love the taste of buckwheat, but have repeatedly failed to get my Panasonic to make good buckwheat bread with Dove's flour (sold in supermarkets). My wife bought on-line some expensive Italian buckwheat flour (Tudori), and lo! three good loaves in a row. So as an exper... | Whole grain or hulled?
Hulled buckwheat flour is a lighter tan/green color- at least my crumb is. I prefer to use Bob's Red Mill whole buckwheat flour ( I am in the USA) and the loaf is a darker brown-almost like a dark rye-color. I've recently made buckwheat bread with commercial yeast, natural levain (in the buckwhea... |
Sourdough Bread has Large Air Pocket
Hello Guys,My loaf the other day came out with one large air tunnel throughout instead of smaller air pockets. I have made quite a few sourdough loaves and this has never happened before - could this be a proofing issue? Note: it is slightly underbaked if that has any effect on the ... | Underproofed
It is underproofed. Give it more time on the bulk ferment or use warmer water and make sure the dough rises during bulk fermentation. |
Sourdough fruit loaf consistently fails to rise
Hi allI've been baking sourdough for a few years now and have a consistent starter that works well with every loaf of plain white soudrough. I have also made many great fruit loafs but recently I have had issues with the rise. I'll use the starter one day to make excellen... | Try not using the fruit soaking tea
Try wihout the tea water in the liquids. Rinse the fruit in a strainer before and after soaking. Cinnamon and nutmeg can be added later with the fruit after the bulk rise. If he tea flavour is desired, make it fresh. If there is still a rising problem more than likely the high sug... |
The effects of coarse-ground whole wheat
Hi all,I've been baking sourdough for many years, and feel fairly confident with it. A couple years ago I was given a KitchenAid stand mixer with a grain-grinding attachment, and since then have been buying sacks of wheat berries from Palouse (I'm in Seattle). The attachment doe... | several things
See my blog entry:https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64863/7-things-about-freshmilled-flourIf your grinder attachment makes very coarse, you could soak it really well and use it as an add-in. Doing a cold soak in the fridge, with salt, would help prevent excess breakdown of starch to sugar, and any ferme... |
Help in this hi Hydration pillow likeSLAB pizza
There is a place in Portland, Me where the SLAB pizza started in back for a grocery. THen this guy went onto open SLAB. Well, the grocery still makes it. it is so pillowy (word?) and I just can't stop eating it. So soft, great chew, just AWESOME. So I started a for... | Hydration
I actually used to work with the guy who made the dough for Slab. I'm pretty sure he said the dough was 80% hydration and made with tipo 00 flour. I assume the olive oil is counted in the hydration. |
Diagnose my crumb!
I’m very new to sourbread. This is just my second attempt as baking it. Which is the preferred crumb? I can’t tell if it’s under-proofed or over-proofed or something else? Same dough, same fermentation times and proofing time, left was stretch and folds with Pyrex bowl bake, right was coil fold with ... | I looked up
criteria to evaluate bread crumband pulled up many helpful links, among them this onehttps://www.thekitchn.com/bake-your-own-bread-how-to-determine-when-its-a-good-loaf-195406? |
Purchasing Fresh Unbleached A/P & Bread Flour in Colorado
Has Anyone worked with or purchased unbleached-AP or Unbleached-Bread flour from "Grains From The Plains"? Since I've moved to Denver a decade ago I've had difficulty purchasing modest quantities (20-50 lbs.) of flour locally. Any & all suggestions would be gr... | pizza & restaurant suppliers.
With so many restaurants closed, some/many restaurant suppliers are selling to individuals.50 pound bags of flour go for about $21-$24. Call, ask about "counter sales."Check here for links to General Mills and King Arthur:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/62291/experience-w-general-mills-50... |
Large air pocket in sourdough loaf
Hello! I recently baked a loaf of sourdough, and ended up with this large air pocket! I’m wondering what may have gone wrong? Overproofed? Underproofed? I did a series of stretch and folds every 30 min over about 2-2.5 hours; then bulk rise for about 3 hours; bench rest for 30 min; th... | A couple of possibilities
The crumb looks very dense. There are a couple of causes. Was the levain fully ripe and active when you mixed the dough? Other causes are under fermenting and under proofing. |
Loaf falls apart in the middle
Hi, I'm making my loaves in a tin. The centre of the loaf just falls apart. The outer portions hold together. It seems baked through. After taking it of the tin I put a tea towel over it to give a softer crust. Any ideas? | It could be overproofed.
Although we need way more details to really know. |
BF Context for Slap and Fold?
I'm trying to learn the slap and fold technique, and modify and experiment with it in recipes. My loaves are coming out a little flat with a relatively tight crumb, and I think much of that is my dough development and handling technique could improve.For slap and fold, when is the ideal ti... | When people talk about slap
When people talk about slap and fold they generally refer to a kneading technique used for soft and/or wet doughs. Stretch and fold is a different technique and is aimed at developing dough during bulk fermentation. |
Big issue with very soft water
Hi Everyone!I moved into a new home and my tap water is around 30 ppm/l. Gluten production on a 75% hydration bread with 12%protein content bread flour is almost nonexistent. Hard to keep the shape, would require a lot of work.In my old home, I had no issues.I did a search on the forum, p... | Calcium carbonate
Soft water lacks calcium. Lack of calcium can give a gummy crumb and may give poor gluten development.I'd probably start with a trial of 100% bottled spring water, something about 50ppm calcium. If successful, you could try adding calcium carbonate to your tap water. Try 130ppm (130mg per litre). Get ... |
Sourdough crumb gummy and moist
Hello! First time posting here! I've been struggling with dense, gummy sourdough loaves for a while. I finally got some decent rise on my most recent attempt, and thought I had it! But when I cut into it... alas, still pretty gummy inside.Since most of the troubleshooting articles I've r... | Some observations
Assuming your starter is at 100% hydration, the dough hydration works out to about 70%. That doesn't seem excessive for the flours you are using.You must have a very active starter. I doubt that I'd be able to do an adequate bulk ferment in just 4 hours with mine, especially with hourly S&F. That's... |
Save my teeth!!
Hello all. Love this site....what a wealth of information!Like much of the world, living in Australia under Covid lock down is upping our baking skills. I am new to SD baking. I use a dutch oven and preheat it before baking. I add about 50 ml cold water around the uncooked dough before putting lid on. I... | You don't need to add water
You don't need to add water into the Dutch Oven, the dough alone creates sufficient steam.If you want a softer crust, add some fat in the form of oil or butter. There is a huge discussion why exactly it makes crumb and crust more tender, but hey - as long as it works...Add 3-5% fat, that sho... |
Spiral Baguette
This is a spiral bratwurst designed to not fall thru the rack while grilling. Clever eh? Now...what if we wanted to bake a baguette....but didn't have the big oven space....but had a big round baking pot.... or a small oven.... or a pizza pan we would like to bake our oval or round loaves upon. Could ... | You crack me up!
Nobody think outside the box like you... |
Newbie problem with rolls
I'm an experienced cook (40+ years) but have always said, "I'm a cook, not a baker". Lately I've been trying to change that.I found this recipe:https://www.melskitchencafe.com/french-bread-rolls/Printable version (skips all the discussion):https://www.melskitchencafe.com/wp-json/mv-create/v1/c... | Is the problem that the 12
Is the problem that the 12 rolls merge together during the final proof and baking, so that you end up with one rectangular loaf that doesn't easily pull apart?Could you maybe post a picture of the final product, ideally sliced across to show the crumb? |
retarding fermentation mid-way through bulk
I'm doing a variation of Tartine 3 Rye Porridge Loaf. I need to leave the house two hours into the bulk fermentation for 4-5 hours. It's very hot here where I am in California, so I'm going to put the dough in the fridge after the final folds. When I get back, how long will i... | You’ll read this time and
You’ll read this time and again, ”watch the dough, not the clock”.It’s really my best advice.Let the dough come back to room temp, then monitor the growth to determine the best time to terminate the BF. |
New York Bagels in Utah
I have been trying to make NY bagels in Utah. I am getting closer.i want to know what the proper Lye solution for boiling my bagels is. I just used 1tsp Lye per 1 quart water. I felt they tasted soapy.As well what is the best temperature in F and how long to cook. I am using bagel boards an... | Read these
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014445-baron-bagelshttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/dining/bagel-recipe-homemade.html |
Crumbly Yeast Dough
I was following a burger bun recipe I got on King Arthur Flour's website, The only 2 things I changed were toasting the bread flour before putting it in the recipe, and using an extra egg yolk. Now the dough feels like cookie dough instead of yeast dough, and I don't know if it was because I toast... | “The only thing I changed...”
Famous last words. Even without knowing the degree of “toasting”, it is almost certain that the flour has been fundamentally altered. Those alterations might very well lead to the conditions you describe. An extra egg yolk would make the dough richer but not so much as to make the dough... |
Giant Hole Under Sourdough Crust
Hihi! Just started baking sourdough recently and I was trying the oval/batard shape but got this huge hole at right under the crust. The rest of the crumb is what I was going for - not too dense and not too open, so I'm curious what could be the cause of the huge hole. Is it likely a gi... | Since your crumb looks
Since your crumb looks excellent, I think it's just a shaping issue. You must have trapped a large air bubble by accident. |
Any advice please?
Hi! I’m a new baker and while I’ve done a couple of breads, I tried to tweak a white bread recipe. After second proofing (1h each proofing), I found the dough overproofed and tried to punch it down. The sticky dough got stuck to my fingers and became the above cobweb mess. I tried to search online re... | Normal
That looks ok to me. It’s just a wetter dough that is well proofed or over proofed. Use slightly wet hands or a wet scraper to work it. The stringyness is from the gluten development which is normal. |
Brioche dough temperature for Tartine brioche recipe?
I'm planning to make the brioche from the Tartine Bread Book.In the recipe it recommends bulk fermentation at a room temp of 70 degrees for 2 hours.I don't have anywhere in my house that's anywhere close to that cool, especially at this time of year.I plan to contro... | Shave some time
If it's your first time doing a recipe you're sort of in the land of trial and error. I do a lot of brioche and as coincidence fermenting a batch right now. The temps are never consistent as I imagine is the case with many home environments. I will typically try to choose early morning or late evenin... |
Bomboloni Italian donuts
Hi all!Im a baker doing some work for a resto that needs bomboloni, which are Italian donuts. They are essentially a brioche type dough but with some potato in the mix. I’ve tried several recipes and changed them to my liking, the final product is great BUT I’m running into a problem. When I cu... | How are you flattening the dough before cutting out circles?
My guess is when you are flattening the dough, you stretch it more in one direction than the other...so that when you cut the circle, the side that was stretched further wants to shrink back more. Try rotating the dough as you flatten so that it gets stretche... |
Moffat Turbofan or convection oven: advice needed: baking with a baking stone
Hello Bakers. I got a Moffat Turbofan E32D5 and it works beautifully for bread baking in a Dutch Oven (or any other type of baking – e.g. cookies, cakes etc.). I decided to take it up a notch and experiment baking my bread on a stone. To test... | bread and convection.
There have been many threads on that, baking a bare boule with convection:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/search/node/convection%20blowoutquick answer: the blowing air dries and sets the top crust too fast, and the expanding dough "blows out" towards the bottom and opposite the side where the air is b... |
Sourdough with pomegranate arils?
I'm talking about the little liquid-surrounded seeds when you cut open a fruit, not the molasses or juice.Just wondering if anyone has tried it; it would certainly look great, but my guess is that most of them would pop open during kneading. | Not necessarily the case
They can be added when doing stretch and folds. Not sure how they'd fare during baking though. Can't see any advantage of using the arils. I'm assuming you'll get minimal flavour and just the annoying crunch of the very hard seed centre. |
Using sourdough technique with instant yeast
Does using sourdough techniques with instant yeast lead to overproofing? For several reasons I cannot make my own sourdough starter. So I make all my bread with SAF Instant Red label. However, I would like to make artisan style bread with open crumb. I've experimented with t... | How much instant yeast are
How much instant yeast are you using? For a sd recipe which calls for 50g of starter , i substitute with half a tsp of yeast and follow the sd recipe method. And it turns out fantastic. If you want a long bulk ferment as the recipe calls for, i find that half a tsp of yeast works just fine.... |
Baking sourdough in a dome pizza oven
Hi allwe started baking sourdough bread in our pizza oven here is the method and challenges any help would be appreciated.12 loaf batch at 70% hydration 80/20 white ww and 90 grams starter per loaf.Oven is preheated to 525 f for 2 hours then i turn it off for the remainder of the b... | 525F may be too hot. The
525F may be too hot. The crust is setting before the rise fully takes place. Maybe 450F would be better. your deck oven will probably be more true to temp and consistent than home ovens where 500F is really like 460F.see if you can increase steam. a fine mist spray on the dough before going in... |
Levain not ready
Hi,I am new to this forum and sourdough and bread baking in general. I revived a dried starter from a friend earlier this month and made my first loaf. It was dense and didn't rise much but I think that was more on account of the process I used and the lack of experience I had. My second attempt was ex... | Hi Melissa,There is a lot of
Hi Melissa,There is a lot of info needed to understand why your levain and starter are sluggish. The most common mistakes are ambient temperature and the temp at which your water was when mixing. I always like mixing my starter and levain on the warmer side (85 degrees). And I push my levai... |
Loaves don't keep shape
Until recently, I made loaves with approximately 60% hydration. I did that because the dough was easier to work with, but obviously it made for a denser crumb. Over the last few weeks I've increased the hydration to 70% to get a better crumb, but I can't get my dough to hold its shape. I've watc... | Can you give us your recipe
Can you give us your recipe and process? 70% is usually a good hydration to manage. |
Tartine bricks, hockey pucks, and frankenloafs
After ~3 years of trying, I have made so many Tartine bricks, hockey pucks and frankenloafs that I doubt I can ever make the beautiful perfect Tartine Country Loaf. Case in point, here's my loafs from last week: Last week's loafs looked decent going through bulk fermentati... | welcome to tfl.
Welcome to TFL. Are you using chlorinated tap water? (IE, "city water"?) Are you using house tap water that has passed through a "water softener" ? If yes to either, try bottled _spring_ water. (Not filtered water, not bottled "purified" water.) Just looked up Chiddam Blanc de Mars. One web p... |
Ball shaped baked loaves
I know most people face an issue with a slack dough, that goes flat in the oven. My problem is quite the opposite. The loaves puff up like a pita in the oven, and bake like a ball. I followed the Tartine basic bread recipe with 75% hydration. Final proof was done at RT (no retarding) I'm really... | Mayank
It appears the crust of your dough is browning and therefore setting before the dough is able to enlarge from expanding gas. Tell us about your oven and steam setup.By the way, this is a better problem to have than deflated loaves... |
Nightmare on Dough Street
I've had this happen 2 times now. I've been doing lots of experimenting with the ingredients and the method, mistakes were made, but I'm not sure what factor is most responsible. Before I get into the mistakes/theories, here's the method I was going for...This is a 2 loaf recipe (Totals includ... | link please?
Weldome to TFL!Could you please give a web link to the formula (recipe) that you were attempting? Or a recipe-name and page# from a popular cookcook? Also, what is your experience so far in baking bread? What kind of loaves have you been doing successfully (or not successfully) up to now? That will hel... |
Why is the crust tearing at the edges of the score?
Hi All!This is my 4th attempt at Tartine Method sourdough. This loaf is 85% Hydration; 90% KA AP, 10% Spelt. I baked in a preheated (500F) Dutch oven at 450F covered for 25 minutes, then another 20 minutes with the lid off. With my other loaves, this hasn’t been an is... | I think I figured it out..
I believed my loaf was underproofed, based on the crumb. Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
64CC21B8-29E1-43FD-9894-F9D1DF3C38E3.jpeg |
can you OVER stretch & fold?
I've made about a dozen loaves of sourdough now and am still having a great deal of difficulty with loose, floppy dough. It's nearly impossible to shape and I can't get any real tension on the surface. I've read everything I can find on the subject, I've poured over this site as well as ... | Are you doing
an autolyse? theperfectloaf recommends a longish autolyse about 1.5 hours for the "best" sd recipe, maybe shorter for the beginner, I can't recall right now.. This can't but help with gluten development.Another factor is the strength of your starter. Full Proof recommends an involved feeding of starter fr... |
My baguettes are very dense
Hi everyone, I have been on your we site to get more info about making baguettes at home. I tried many different recipes but my baguettes still are pretty dense inside. I put my oven to the highest and include a pan at the bottom to create the steam at beginning of cooking. I am also using a... | How are you mixing and proofing
If you provide a little more detail on the process you're using that might help diagnose. Please provide some more information tks |
Bread too dense at the bottom of the loaf
All the bread I make is great, except it always seems to be denser at the bottom of the loaf than at the top. There are nice big evenly spaced air bubbles at the top that evenly change down to tiny air bubbles at the bottom. What does one do to prevent or minimize that. I... | I am thinking I should add
I am thinking I should add more information. I make a variety of breads, using slightly different recipes by making the dough in "dough mode" using a Panasonic bread maker.. After the dough cycle is done I remove the bread, reform it into loaf shape and put it in a bread pan . For proofin... |
Blowout, what happened?
Hi guys, I'm a home baker based in Europe and I've been trying to up my sourdough game and get better oven spring but it backfired this weekend.470g wheat40g wholegrain rye375g water8g salt100g starter (1part wholegrain rye, 1part wheat, 2 parts of water)Start levain at 8, start autolyse (no sal... | Did you manage a picture
the baked loaf bottom? It does look like the crust was too firm (drying out in the fridge) or set too fast in the oven. Something preventing the spring where it should be. I'd vote for drying out in the fridge creating a thick skin. So how was the loaf stored in the fridge?Too long sitting i... |
Flat loaf, big air pockets, bread not breaking through score
Hi bread friends!I've been baking sourdough with mixed (ok, mostly low) success for a couple months now. I wasn't satisfied with my results, and decided my starter might be the issue, so I created a new one, and now I feel confident I have a strong starter. B... | How much did the dough
How much did the dough increase in volume? Maybe the starter is still not active enough? It's still young, probably needs more time on regular feeding. Maybe try doing exactly the same recipe (preferably with the same temperature conditions) but significantly increase the bulk (e.g. by 2 hours) a... |
Pain de Campagne (hybrid sourdough)
Hey everyone! I came across this forum and it seems like a super warm and friendly place to trouble shoot some bread issues. I have been working my way through FWSY and finally finally managed to get a strong sourdough starter and attempted the Pain De Campagne which is sourdough tha... | Looks overproofed
The big holes at the sides and the more open crumb at the bottom of the loaf let me think that it is simply overproofed.Maybe you could try and bake without the commercial yeast or shorter proofing time and see what happens. |
brioche type dough
Good evening. I make a pastry called Ensaimada (or Ensaymada) which uses a brioche type of dough. I make it at home and give or sell to friends and family. I'm not sure if many people deal with this type of sweet dough, but I can't keep any at home. People want them constantly. The problem I have is ... | That's a tough stretch ...
To want to push the limits of the doughs extensibility without relaxing. Same drill with laminating croissants. On occasion I will try and one-shot the full lamination which usually involves two rest and chill stages. To do this maybe try adding about 5% SD starter. It tends to increase th... |
bread collapses in the oven
After nearly ten years of baking bread I ran into a problem with rising. My method has not changed but my brand of flour has. I think I'm using a good quality flour but, due to covid19 and the store shelves, I'm locked into using a different brand and sometimes type of flour.I have used, e... | Try reducing the water amount
as AP flour absorbs less water and ferments slightly faster when it is more hydrated. Also maybe one bulk rise is enough. Try it and see. Bread flour absorbs more water and has a longer working time. |
Trouble with First Loaf - Tartine Method
Hi everyone! So I baked my first ever sourdough loaves yesterday following the Tartine method, and it all went a bit pear shaped as you can see from the photos. I would love your advice!It was a mixture of 900g white wheat and 100g strong whole wheat bread flour at 75% hydration... | Overproofed for sure but
Overproofed for sure but 7also 5% hydration is pretty high for white wheat. I recommand to start with 65% hydration until you are use to handling the do and then gradually push the hydration further. |
Help!!!
So this is something I’ve experienced many times before and I have no idea what’s wrong! I started out with a 45 minute autolyse of 365 g of water and 400 g AP flour and 100 g of whole wheat flour. I added 100 g of my active starter to the dough, let it rest 30 minutes and then added 13 g of salt. it rested abo... | Looking at your method, the
Looking at your method, the weights of ingredients look ok but salt is a fraction high, you could cut that back to 10g. I noticed you haven’t developed the gluten structure with a mix or folds- that would explain the density of the crumb. If you do sets of folds about every 30 mins over that... |
What am I doing wrong?
0D512ECE-6911-4419-8A95-91B874127B17.jpeg | Without knowing your process,
Without knowing your process, it's hard to say for sure. When I made loaves like that it was because they were under proofed. Can you share you recipe and process, especially around fermentation times? |
How to make sure seeds are distributed evenly between loaves?
Hello there! I am trying to scale up a recipe that calls for 30g of pumpkin seeds per loaf.My current process (in a nutshell) is: make pre-ferment, mix/knead dough, do 3 stretch and folds at 45 minute intervals, pre-shape, shape, cold proof overnight, then b... | Can you divide the dough up
Can you divide the dough up right before you’re about to do the last stretch and fold then put your seeds in and individually do the last stretch and folds? |
My croissants rises unevenly when baking
Hello everyone !!i'm facing a problem when i cook my croissant. They opens up and rise unevenly as shown in the picture. The layers get separated as well. help out guys. thanks
IMG-20230110-WA0000.jpeg | Try tucking the tails under?
Hard to tell from the pics, but one thing I see is the tails (points?) of the rolls may not always be tucked under the body of the roll. I have the occasional escaped tail and I can see how you might call the result layer separation.Other than that, they look pretty good from here. To me th... |
Sourdough always has dense patch on the bottom
Hi everyone,I always have this dense layer/patch at the bottom of my loaves and I can't figure out why or how to fix. Would really appreciate some help or suggestions!I started with the Tartine years ago and that has slowly evolved into my own method. I generally get prett... | Could something be wrong with
Could something be wrong with the bottom element in your oven? Do your other baked goods have the same issue. Like your banana loaves or cakes. Have you tried to bake on the lower rack maybe? I’m thinking maybe the lower element in your oven isn’t hot enough?, |
Taffy?
I forgot to add salt to my 75% hydration flour and everything was going swimmingly until reshape. I pulled it out and it instantly turned to taffy. No amount of slap and fold got it back. It had great strings but no cohesiveness. I originally didn't remember I forgot to add the salt. Would this explain the taffy... | My guess is that your dough
My guess is that your dough fermented much faster than it would've with salt! Whatever the actual scientific reason, my understanding is that lack of salt can produce this result. |
Why does this happen?
Hello everyone! I'm new to the group. I am a pastry chef at a restaurant downtown Denver and I make all of our breads in house. I don't have too much experience with bread, everything I know is self taught for the most part. Ive been having this issue with my country bread and cant figure out what... | Oven Temperature Distribution?
Good afternoon. Quick question,(1) is it always the loaves in the same locations in the oven that have this issue? It could have to do with oven temperature distribution, some spots in the oven being hotter than others. My educated guess is that you have a nice ear and open scoring in the... |
Baking from bulk retard
Hi folks. Looking for some tips on baking bread that's been bulk retarded. At the bakery I work at we normally retard the loaves in bannetons, and they bake great the next morning - always slash and spring up well. But we're trying to increase capacity, so been bulk retarding some dough too, sha... | Appearance is Pretty Important When You’re Selling Your Bread
After a retard of the bulk fermentation stage, I divide & weigh out my dough, cold, and give each a rough pre-shape. I let them rest for 30-60 minutes depending on how warm or cold it is, in my kitchen. Then final shape, and pan. You can dock & bake from h... |
Kneading
I'm having the same trouble as everyone else. I think my dough is nice and kneaded and then I work it maybe one more time and it starts to get shaggy again. I'm making a pizza dough that is 65% hydration. 390 H2O, 120 sourdough starter, 600 flour (510 AP and 90 WW). (14 oil and 12 salt) It's been cold here, so... | I hear tell, from reliable trusted sources
Low hydration doughs act like that, they come together and then fall apart. Only to come together again for a nice workable dough! I would say, what you are experiencing is par for the course. Good luck and happy baking. Photo depicts a very standard enriched low hydration bre... |
Disaster...had to pry out stuck loaf then this was inside!
Hi everyone, I am a fairly new sourdough baker, have built up a working starter over the course of a month and have baking bread fairly consistently even if not perfectly these past couple of weeks. I tried the Overnight Country Blonde recipe in Ken Forkish's F... | I’ve found turning the dough
I’ve found turning the dough out onto a piece of baking paper and lifting the whole thing into the pot easier. Any excess paper can be cut off once it’s in the pot. You’re less likely to fumble it in off centre or burn yourself and makes it easier to score first.On the flour, I can only sug... |
Austrian flour - getting the right hydration & best flour to use
Hi everyone. I'm new here and a first time bread baker. I thought I'd jump in the deep end and start my bread baking experience with sourdough bread. Wowza.After much research and learning about European/North American flour types, hydration levels and... | The more "whole grain" you go
The more "whole grain" you go, the more difficult it will be to get a good rise (and those amazing "ears" you see on Instagram). Wholegrain is, of course, fine in the typical Austrian "Fladen/Bauernbrot" recipes, but it is a different product. Try flipping the second recipe around and use ... |
Short Ear!
Hello,I have been baking sourdough for a while and the loaves are turning out ok, they taste nice, have good texture and crust but my ear doesn't go all the way along the bread. Am I scoring it incorrectly? Is it over/under proofed? Any help would be really appreciated. I can give you a run down of the recip... | Have you seen this: http:/
Have you seen this: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/scoring ? |
100% WW dough is so sticky I'm going insane
Hello everyone!I baked my first loaf of bread last week. It was a 100% whole wheat loaf – my preference for health reasons – and, unsurprisingly, turned out very crumbly and unsuitable for sandwiches. Reading around, and finding out that whole wheat is actually more challengi... | 100% whole wheat (einkorn) flour (12.5% protein)75% water2% yeast2% salt8% light olive oil8% maple syrupTotal mass: 900g |
Mixed flour starter query - Advice needed
Hello all!I know there are a million questions and answers out there, but I haven't yet found one to match mine exactly.I'm new to the game, and have applied an unsubstantiated approach to my starter maintenance. I'm just not sure if it's a good idea. I keep a 1:4:4 starter at ... | any healthy starter
Many folks just use one starter for all their breads. A whole grain starter (rye is popular) is great for breads that are at least part whole grain (of any kind.) And a white flour starter can leaven either whole grain or white bread. If you do some bakes that you don't want whole grain to be part ... |
Bread rising unevenly
Hello, I am hoping you can help me with a question. My loaves had been very consistent for a while, good flavor and rising pretty evenly. Unfortunately, for the last few bakes, some of my loaves have been rising unevenly. It seems to happen with the oval loaves mostly. Am I not shaping it correctl... | I think the issue is in the baking
Not enough steam. The bread has formed a crust too early so the dough has nowhere to expand and the escaping steam takes the weakest route. And perhaps it's a tad under proofed. Getting enough steam in the oven or baking in a Dutch Oven (or equivalent) will help. This will also help y... |
Gummy bread
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This is my second loaf of sourdough bread. It’s gummy with a thick crust. I’m wondering what I did wrong.Room temperature may be an issue. My kitchen stays at about 70F. The oven light keeps my oven at about 82F so I put my starter, autolyse and dough during... | Underproofed
I bet my money on underproofed, the bulk probably just needs to be extended a little longer. Depending on how cold your fridge was, it might have also needed a little longer for the final proof as well. I've heard that anything below 38 degrees will pretty much completely halt yeast activity (although belo... |
HELP - Failed first time sourdough
Hi everyone,A newbie baker here! This past weekend I embarked on baking my first sourdough. The result? Not so great. The taste itself was fantastic but the loaf itself didn't rise but I cannot figure out what went wrong. I have attached some photos and here is a link to the recipe I ... | Hi Newbie! I've baked a lot
Hi Newbie! I've baked a lot of loaves that looked just like this. It turns out I was overproofing the dough before baking which caused the gluten structure to fall apart (hence impossible to shape). I'd suggest backing off on your proofing time and baking while the dough still has streng... |
Smaller loaves?
My daughter gave me her Panasonic SD YD250 bread maker that she never used, and I have been making delicious bread for several weeks now with good success. All the standard recipes call for 3 cups of flour. I find the loaves this makes in the bread maker are way too big (mainly too tall). A sandw... | I have never used a bread machine, but
it looks like the one you have should have settings for different sized loaves (medium, large, and xtra large). If you still have the recipe booklet that came with the machine, then it should tell you what changes to make to their recipes to make "medium" sized loaves.http://shop... |
No corn meal!
I can’t find corn meal or rice flour. Does anyone have recommendations on something else I can use to dust my load with before baking it in my Dutch oven so that it doesn’t stick on the bottom???? | to prevent bottom sticking / burning
put parchment paper on the inside bottom of the dutch oven. I cut mine in a circle to fit.lightly sprinkle semolina, polenta, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, whole millet, whole caraway seeds, or similar, under the parchment paper to create tiny air spaces that help insulate. And/Or p... |
Despair on windowpane
So I have been making baguette for quite a while, and have just (as so many have) turned my hand to sourdough. While the results are decent, I'm trying to up my game. So I have done research here and elsewhere, and the answer appears to be "develop more gluten", which I have translated to "keep k... | Tripping on window pane
I would recommend for baguettes to mix until the dough comes together and the fold every 20 minutes or so to see if the dough will smooth out and get more elastic. If you want an open crumb you should not work the dough too much. An autolyse of 20 minutes will help get the gluten started. If it ... |
Rising Woes
Hey All,New here... So, I used to bake bread a lot but had gotten away from it for several years. My method was fairly slapdash but it worked great. From an old cookbook found the "Sponge" method. Starting with a measured cup of water/milk/whatever and a cup of flour with the requisite, yeast, sugar, oil ... | Be quite vigourous when
Be quite vigourous when mixing that batter. My low protein flour bread method is basically this without the batter prove. I just work the gluten then add the rest.The photo looks to me like you simply need a narrower tin. Prevent sideways expansion and the loaf can only go upward.Activate your y... |
Sourdough is very sticky after bulk rise? Where did I go wrong?
Hello bakers, I've just ventured into the world of baking sourdough bread. My first two loafs, from the same bulk, turned out okay. They were quite flat, but still very tasty. It tasted like the sourdough I have tasted in Germany: often more moist and dens... | Cold water
Ive been told that dough becomes sticky if your water was too cold. It makes the gluten seep out and coats the flour leaving it sticky. Use warmer water and make sure its all left to properly absorb before it goes in the fridge.Simply knead in a little more flour, a dusting at a time until the dough is able ... |
Anybody have luck with Sarah Owens' "Sourdough" book?
Has anyone else tried the bread recipes from Sarah Owens' "Sourdough"?The first bread just came out of the oven - Chestnut Bread. Haven't tasted it yet but I had my doubts the whole way along the process. The dough didn't stretch properly - it broke off instead of b... | But at least you tried..
and had the courage to post the picture.. Haven't heard of the book, so I haven't tried it.. maybe posting the recipe can give us a clue as to what might have gone wrong! Let us know.. |
Using yeast from unfiltered beer
I have started an experiment, but now need some advice. I’ll try to lay out things as clearly as I can so hopefully someone can help.In general I am trying to make bread using yeast from a local, unfiltered and unpasteurized beer.On Monday I made a “starter” (a sponge?) by mixing 180 ... | Beer Bread
Nice ingenuity! Even if it’s not what you were hoping...yet. I can’t say that I have any idea as to what is going on, for sure. My thinking is that it didn’t have enough time to build a large enough yeast colony, before you made your bread dough. Others, with more science can probably pinpoint it for you... |
So many problems with oven spring
Hi everyone, I'm new here. I've been reading a lot of your posts and I've found everyone so knowledgable and helpful! As a lot of people, I started baking bread since this whole quarantine situation started, and now I've been working on my bread baking skills for over a month now. For ... | Can you say more about the
Can you say more about the slap and fold you’re doing in bulk?I‘ve never heard of doing this during bulk. Slap and fold would happen in the mixing process. Much too aggressive to happen in bulk fermentation. What recipe are you following that told you to do that? |
Sourdough snowbird
Hi, I’m new to the forum but have been baking really successful sourdough loaves for some time…. Until the past two weeks. I brought my sourdough starter with me to Miami from the Midwest, and fed it regularly on the journey. I bake only once every ten days or so, which means I generally keep my star... | welcome
Hi, I live several clicks up 95 from you in Ft. Lauderdale and never have any issues with my levain and bread being flat. Even after well more than a week or two of not refreshing my levain. The year round temperature in my apartment is ~75-78 with an indoor humidity of ~55-60 and either our A/C or heating.So... |
Pain de Campagne FWSY no oven spring
So I made this bread yesterday following the instructions in the book. The levain was very active, about tripled. Bulk ferment about 3,5 hours. The dough had increased 2,5 the size as per the book. When I got to the shaping the dough looked nice and airy, supple and pillowy. No sig... | I’d like to add I’m new to
I’d like to add I’m new to this. Bought the book a month ago and have worked my way through it. This is the first attempt at this type of dough |
Can i add anything to a dough that has already done 2 rises?
I snipped off half my dough after 2 rises and shaped and baked it. Its decent but a bit bland. Can i add anything to the remaining dough before shaping and baking it, either to the exterior or incorporate into the dough? Thinking seeds, nuts.....? | enhancing taste
It would be easy to add seeds/stuff to the outside. Paint the dough with a little water, or milk, or egg wash (egg white with a little water) to get things to stick. Maybe sesame seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, caraway, poppy seeds, fennel, coriander.Another trick to enhance flavor is t... |
Diagnosis? Pain de Campagne FWSY
Hi Everyone,I'm a long-time reader but new poster, so I hope I'm doing the right thing by creating a new conversation rather than hijacking the other recent discussion about this formula. I have attempted this twice after making adjustments based on self-diagnosis and the collective wis... | a technical questions and a follow up
Hi,Posting the crumb of loaf #2 in hopes of getting some input! Also related question:I've read the finger dent test doesn't work as reliably in refrigerated loaves. Can anyone recommend another method of determining proof timing?Thank you! |
Paleo Bread
We have been making a Keto Bread and are having some trouble with air pockets in the middle. It is a yeast free bread using Almond flour. No wheat or gluten. Any ideas? | Really hard to troubleshoot
It is really hard to troubleshoot without a recipe with both ingredients and handling instructions.A picture is also very helpful.What are you using for leavening-baking powder? Just as an off-the-cuff guess, I would say you could have an uneven mix of the dry ingredients with small pockets ... |
After 3 weeks, starter is bubbling with no rise
I know this is a common problem, but after three weeks of Google searching and trying things I have found with no success...I thought I give this one more shot....First off, my starters are about 5 years old. They are all AP flour/water starters and I store them in the fr... | Do you have a scale that
Do you have a scale that weighs in grams?I don’t have experience with cups and spoons.I think your starter may have a large amount of degraded gluten, or the mixture is very wet. When the hydration is high and/or the gluten is degraded (soupy) it will not be able to contain the gas and conseque... |
Sourdough bursting issues
Hey there! New baker here who is having a repeated problem. I've cooked around 8 or 10 loaves of sourdough now using 2 different recipes, and I've run into a consistent problem. I get some pretty heavy bursting, as well as overall lighter coloring. The crumb is always very decent and overall e... | Let's see...
Can you post a photo of the undersides of the loaves, and the crumb?Could you describe the timings, temps, procedures of feeding your starter for the last two feeds before mixing this dough? (My second guess is too much starter.)What's the hydration of your starter? "Typical" is 100% hydration, but let'... |
Too much yeast in my poolish
Hello :) I found some old frozen fresh yeast in my freezer yesterday, and thought I'd give it a go and see if it's still good. The fresh yeast were frozen within the first few days of purchase, exactly two years ago today. It was the only time I baked with fresh yeast. The rest of the yeast... | Andrea, I have a thought
Andrea, I would think you could continue to feed it similar to a sd starter, but then you are eating up flour. I wonder what would happen if you dehydrated some of it and restored it when needed.Desperate times call for desperate measures... |
sourdough didn't rise and dough is wet and super sticky
I made 2 batches of dough 12 hours apart from my starter. I used the 1-2-3 recipe and both times the dough was really wet, super sticky and didn't rise much. It's so sticky and wet that it doesn't hold a shape at all. I haven't baked either batch. Threw one in the... | HELPED A LOT, BE PATIENT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NspiG3y1R0&list=LLEXjTDXma4EYjuh1cqGpYDg&index=4&t=0s |
First time FWSY bread
Hey everyone,Today I made my first Flour Water Salt Yeast bread. I haven't made a lot of bread in the past either.I tried to make the overnight 40% whole wheat bread. There were some issues.I had some problems at the start: I didn't have a lot of white flour, so instead I used 700 grams fine whole... | Page 85 has 75% WW formula.
Welcome to TFL. Actually, those loaves are kinda good! I would have no qualms about eating them myself, or serving them to others.I have the FWSY book, so I looked it up. For even better loaves, you could have used the recipe/formula on page 85 for 75% whole wheat.Your first rise (bulk fer... |
Help in the Desert!
I need some help! I love to bake but have never done this from scratch. I'm currently deployed to a desert environment. I took advice from an arizona baker/blog and finally got this starter going. It's finally smelling like real sourdough. Anyway, I have an oven, no Dutch oven, and I can bake in wha... | make-do conditions.
(I'll let others chime in on how to determine if a starter is mature enough to bake with.)A measure (by volume) of white flour (AP or Bread flour), is about 1/2 the weight of an equal volume measure of water. That factoid can get you in the ball-park, and from there you can adjust by feel and pract... |
Making bread with MSG instead of salt?
Just to be clear, because the original post isn't clear as written:I'm asking for people who have actually tried putting MSG in bread in lieu of salt, and their experiences with it. I'm aware of the various salt alternatives such as KCl, but I don't keep them on hand. I've got som... | KaCl?
When my father-in-law's heart disease put him on an NaCl-restricted diet, a shaker of KCl appeared on the table (that's potassium chloride). I'd vote for trying that before MSG, which comes with plenty of its own issues and unknowns.Tom |
Does expiration matter.
I am new to the game and have been working on a starter for about 10 days, with an issue on day 4 growing some white mold. I figured it was cross contamination while feeding so I started again and now it's been 5 days and I see bubbles but no rise. I've read that rye can help boost a starter and... | Keep going
You are on the right track, don't worry too much about getting rise now. The bubbles mean the starter is very much alive and you just need to be patient. a decent starter will take you at least 15 days to properly develop so I wouldn't worrytoom uch about not seeing great result after only 5 days . Good luck... |
Poolish drying out, dough taking over my body
A couple questions from a novice bread-maker (I'm on my fourth loaf) trying to figure this out:I started a poolish yesterday (mid-day-ish) with starter plus equal parts WW flour and water. I put it in a bowl and covered it with a warm wet towel. When I checked it this morni... | A few suggestions
I'm not too experienced myself, but I have some tricks and observations that have taken my own baking up a level or two over the past few months.Are you using an established 50/50 recipe or is it something you adapted from a 100% AP flour recipe? In my limited experiments with adapting recipes, a high... |
Did the salt make my bread not rise properly?
Hello,Please see picture if it has loaded properly. I made a basic white bread recipe and the instructions told me to kind of keep the salt and yeast separate as I was mixing as this can make the yeast not work. I tried but think my result was a bit flat.Even though I had a... | Hi SMQ! Your image is too
Hi SMQ! Your image is too small to see any real detail. Next time you upload an image look for the popup box that says “width” and put 625 in for a very large image. Try it and see how it works. You can enter any width you desire.I don’t think (from what I read) that the salt coming in contact... |
May have used expired yeast
Hello, I made a pre-ferment this morning that doesn’t seem to be rising as it should (it did get a little bigger but is taking a long time) and now I’m wondering if my instant yeast was expired or dead. Do I have to throw the dough out or can it be used? Thank you! | How does the yeast smell?
how would you describe it? |
Freezing half my bread dough
Hello! I bake a sandwich loaf using Ken Forkish's recipe for 50% Whole Wheat Bread With Biga, with these changes: I use 75% whole wheat flour and 25% all-purpose white flour, and I incorporate ¼ cup canola oil and ¼ cup honey when I combine the biga with the final dough. I am using SAF Gold... | Jayson, I can’t speak to
Jayson, I can’t speak to freezing dough, but freezing individual slices has been my practice for decades. I really like taking out the slices I need, microwaving a few seconds and either eating of toasting. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/62257/tip-frozen-bread-individual-slicesBy the way, whe... |
Help needed to recreate a favorite low carb bread with Rye and Gluten
Hi, I have been buying this brand of low carb bread for awhile for a diabetic family member but with the current situation, I am trying to save money and thus trying to recreate this bread at home. It has quite dense of texture but still soft and fle... | You can subtract fiber
try subtracting the fiber, gram for gram from the total carbs and see how that works out.if the ingredients are listed as 100g. Then use the weight of two slices of bread for your figuring making it also 100g. So you deal with 60g instead of 30g. I'll just edit this post. Ok. My sack of rye s... |
Finger poke is perplexing here!
Hi! Was 45 min into second proof and finger indent didn’t spring back at all. But dough wasn’t even close to doubled in size. And then! - I got great oven spring anyway! Thoughts? | A. There's no rule that the
A. There's no rule that the dough (or sponge, or starter) must double in size.B. Unless it's panned it is virtually impossible to estimate the increase in volume. |
Gluten Free bread not rising/oven spring issue
Hello,I’ve been making bread for years, sourdough, white bread, honey wheat, parker house rolls, etc. Trying gluten free – but it is not rising/springing as expected - hoping someone can offer some thoughts.The GF flour mix consists of:1020 grams white rice flour355 grams ... | which yeast?
Which yeast do you use? Long time bakers often like Red Star which is OK if you wake it up fully before use, but for GF I like Fleischmann's, Only use packet yeast if you're doing GF, by the way, both Red Star and F's have confirmed that the plain yeast and rapid F's yeast packets are safe, the jars are no... |
Help with starter (10 days in)...
Hi folks:I am in the middle of my first SD starter. So far so good. I'm using 100% ww org flour, as it's the only thing i have other than bleached AP. The first 10 days went as expected: Started feeding 1:1:1 every 24 hrs. I got the initial bloom and crash and re-bloom. Once the second... | Find a spot to keep it warm.
On top of the fridge, in the oven with the light on, in the microwave with a cup of warm water ate a few ideas. It sounds like you are off to a great start but 64-68 is way too cold. |
Need help on how to adjust to avoid dense/heavy loaf
Hi everyone! I was wondering if I can get help with a problem. I think my bread is underproofed, but I'm not sure whether this is a problem during the first fermentation period or the second. I'm not a novice baker, but it's been about 7 years since I baked bread reg... | Just looking at the recipe
the large amount of starter and the small amount of fresh flour... I'm thinking your dough already had a bulk ferment (the starter is already fermented) and you get maybe one ferment or proof before baking. |
Uneven crumb
This is a photo of the crumb about an inch from the outside of the loaf.This is from the center of the loaf.Tastes great, juts disappointed in crumb.Any ideas to fix? | Did you have a cold proof
Did you have a cold proof stage? We've discussed this here a couple of times, I think it's due to the cold proof and how the dough cools down faster on the outside than inside... |
Help troubleshoot bagels -giant ugly blisters
Hi, we are trying to make bagels for our coffee shop. We are using the Reinhardt recipe. We are having a problem where anywhere between 20 and 80 percent of the finished product has huge blisters. They are sometimes 1 inch in size and create a truly ugly product. The b... | I've got to bake an order of bagels next week..
...so I'll give it a go with your formula & recipe and see what happens. Could you post your first choice formula? Thanks. |
Collapse after proofing
I have been a yeast bread baker for over 50 years, starting with my mother's all white sandwich loaf.Most recently, the past 30 years, I have baking a version of Edward Behr's rustic country loaf. Usually with some combination of bread flour, all purpose unbleached, and whole wheat.I do my fina... | Advice?
turn it out of the banneton sooner before it puffs up too high. Let the oven puff up the last part of rising with heat and the steam it makes. Bowl shapes (like bannetons) are hard to eyeball when judging "almost double" volume.one solution is to pinch off a tiny piece of dough and make a gauge when shaping. ... |
Ciabatta - HELP!
Hi All! I am a very new (and enthusiastic) bread baker. I have tried making focaccia and easier breads in the past and have been fairly happy with them. A few days ago I tried to tackle a relatively high hydration dough - a 75% hydration ciabatta following the BBA Poolish method. It was also the first ... | Nat, take a look at this
Click the link below or copy and paste the text into your web browser for a full search of the BBA poolish method.site:thefreshloaf.com BBA Poolish methodIf you post your process with as much detail as possible, it will give us a better chance to reply with more accurate help.Danny |
How long is too long for bulk fermentation? Second ever try at making sourdough
So I'll try to include as many details as I can:First time making sourdoughStarter has been being fed regularly for 2 weeks and I've made one batch of bread (two loaves) before this that look similar so I'm thinking I have similar problems.... | YeastyB, a few things...
Sourdough is quite different from Commercial Yeast. SD ferments much slower. Your dough was under fermented.To determine the amount of levaining, the “Percentage of Pre-fermented Flour” (PPF) is calculated. To be completely accurate the amount of flour in the levain should be considered.1000 (5... |
Is it the loaf or the knife
New sourdough baker with an odd question. Several times I have tried to cut a slice off a loaf and it just sort of crumbles. At first I figured I wasn’t cooling them long enough so I waited a full day to slice into a loaf. But it still continues to happen. My bread knife isn’t the highest q... | A better knife never hurts.
Good bread knives are always your friend. Fortunately, they're not really expensive and their purchase pays off in the long run. There have been threads here about the best knife and the best value knife that are archived for retrieval. The Victorinox bread knife is a reasonably priced knife... |
Pullman Loaf - Chalky Taste and Dense Bottom Layer
Hi everyone!I recently started baking as an outlet to my stressful days :). I was wondering if you could help me with a few issues and questions I have.My current goal is to obtain a very soft, fluffy, semi-chewy bread. Ingredients - The loaf attached was made using A... | Crust looks very pale
What about baking it for another 10 minutes until it reaches 210° F?Could try baking it sooner, maybe 15 minutes sooner. |
Slices split along folding seams
Hey all,I'm pretty new to bread making so this might be an easy fix/obvious problem, but I'm having trouble with how the shaping of my loaves affects the crumb (in sandwich loaves and Italian bread). Overall, the crumb is good - pretty uniform, holds well, etc. But I've noticed that sli... | Do you use flour (or oil)
Do you use flour (or oil) when you shape? |
Manual Baking High Moisture Loss
Moisture loss has to be only 13-14% in bread baking where as when we do manual baking we get a moisture loss of more than 31%. How to avoid this high moisture loss. | What is manual baking?
Sorry for the question but I haven’t got a clue what you are talking about. Please give more detail on your baking methods. |
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