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How would you make this dough? In the TV Series "French Odyssey", british TV chef Rick Stein visits this french lady who makes an amazing apple pastry with a super stretchy dough that she stretches out over a table. The whole process is described in this excerpt of his video. Its only 2 minutes and 30 seconds long on Y...	KRÉMES I'm partial to krémes which is an Hungarian Custard Slice. Must be my Hungarian roots. Now I've no idea how to determine a pastry from just looking at a video however if you want a thin flaky pastry from a dough that can be stretch out like a table cloth then krémes is the way.I'm sure there are loads of recipes...
Can't get it right I've tried the Overnight White Bread by Forkish three times, it never works. I weigh out my ingredients, I autolyse for 20-30 minutes, I follow his timelines for mixing, folds, etc., my dough temperature is 78F, I bulk ferment for 12 hours in an oven with the light on, I take it out, divide, and proo...	You aren't the first and won't be the last If you're sticking to the recipe exactly and it never works then something needs to change. I suggest you make this an overday white bread and when the dough is aerated, billowy and blisters appear on the surface of the dough then proceed onto shaping. The dough might not nec...
Judging bake completion in 100% ryes I made this 100% rye bread following this video from the WSU Bread Lab the @Abe posted a few days ago. I misremembered the total baking time (60–75 min) from the video: I remembered the time of the second stage as the total time of the bake.I checked the loaf after about 46 min. The...	10% 10% weight loss should be enough. If it was 1000g before bake and is 900g now (hot, not cooled down yet), then it is done.If it is still sticky inside it might be due to the quality of the rye flour and or fermentation/acidity level, but not due to underbaking per se.
Baguette Tradition - needing help with my crumb :c) I use a levain and poolish. I understand to get them fed and active and to use them in the dough recipe at the right time.I understand the concept of strengthening the gluten so it holds in the gas. I have been achieving this through folding rather than kneading.I und...	Maybe there is just too much water in the dough. Try using less water for your flour. Got any pictures?
Using levain for all yeasted efforts? Now that I actually have a SD starter and can keep it alive, I wonder if and why I have to use anything but that to leaven any bread, brioche, high fat doughs etc. Can i get some feedback from FL master bakers? What say the community to this notion?	short answer is you dont. you short answer is you dont. you just have to go back over your recipes and adjust hydration and flour levels and then experiment with time.
Brioche help This weekend I make two different batches of brioche dough using the same recipe. One I added vanilla beans and browned the butter (it was a little colder than room temp when i used it) and the other i added orange zest thats the only difference. I made both doughs using a stand mixer and switching betwee...	It's browning the butter Butter contains 16-17% water. By browning the butter, you boiled off that water, reducing the hydration of your dough. As I'm sure you know, drier dough is less sticky.The liquid in your recipe is 80 (milk) + 170 (approx, eggs are about 75% liquid) + 34 (butter) = 284 g. This gives you a hydrat...
Brioche bread help hello! So I just started experimenting with baking bread and decided to start with brioche. I made braided brioche using the recipe below and it ended up being pretty dry and not very rich or buttery tasting. I was thinking I could improve it by adding more butter? I’m also wondering what difference ...	Sometimes it is technique rather than ingredients Welcome to The Fresh Loaf! Lots of good brioche to be had here. Holidays are coming up so there will also be lots of panettone, pandoro,etc! THIS is a great (but a little more involved) recipe. I'm not sure I've seen posts from nico lately but take a look at his posts-...
are my braids too tight? Hi There- I'm new here.... I'm a long time baker and am rediscovering my love for breads! I found a really nice recipe for Challah - ( https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/152915/most-amazing-challah/ ) the flavors great and it's easy to work with... whats more it makes 4 loaves so I can practice ...	less spring the tearing between the braids is characteristic of an underproofed loaf...so try taking your proof a bit further
Bread too difficult to cut I'm coming to realize that bread doesn't have to be as difficult to cut as mine is. The crust is just really hard for my knife to bite into. My bread knife is quite sharp, and in any event I've tried other bread knives and it's no different. My baking routine is: Preheat oven with combo cooke...	This might be connected to your other post Over fermented dough can produce a thick hard crust. Without more to go on and taking into consideration your recipe with timings I'm thinking it's not in the baking but the fermentation time.
Bread rising too much in fridge I retard my bread overnight in the fridge and it's just going nuts in there. See photo. I actually tend to go on the longer side of retardation---probably fourteen to sixteen hours on average, sometimes a little less. But it's not the length of the final proof that's doing this; the brea...	How cold is your fridge? Perhaps your fridge isn't cold enough. Other options might be to go easier on the bulk ferment. I see you have quite a high percentage of starter at close to 40% and you've got wholegrains as well. At 40% starter a 5-6 hour bulk ferment seems a bit too long. Perhaps you could do closer to 4 hou...
Ciabatta with open crumb structure I have been trying forever to get really good Ciabatta with large open hole crumb.I have see on the internet 120% hydration recipes. I did not have very good luck I even seen higher hydrations.Is it all in the handling? Do not use the mixer and just do folds? I don't consistently ma...	try this video try this video, looks amazing... Good luck!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v24OBsYsR-A
Experiment with koji gone awry I made fresh barley koji. (It looks beautiful growing those spores).I was excited about the possibilities of adding a little sweet chewiness from the barley koji as a mix-in during the 2nd stretch and fold.I was so proud of the shaping job I did - it felt like the best one I've done yet. ...	Koji Enzymatic Activity Koji enzymatic activity is way too high and too broad to include in any but the tiniest quantities in dough without first cooking it to deactivate the enzymes. Pretty much impossible for the dough not to break down.
Loafs not rising well Hello, I am trying to make a good sandwich loaf and it is not rising well. It tastes really good though... I would really appreciate a good tip or trick for timing, or if anyone has a good recipe I can use with my sourdough starter, I would be happy to try it. I attached a photo of my bread, it so...	Take a look here http://www.classofoods.com/page1_8.htmlSome science behind salt
Rofco b10 @ home Hello, I’ve got a question about safety. Im looking into buying a Rofco B10 but live in a smallish house with 2 kids (both under 2). If any of you own a Rofco, where do you put it that is safe? Does it heat up everything around it? Does it have to be somewhere away from other appliances? How hot does t...	I don't own one, but how do I don't own one, but how do you keep your normal oven safe? The same applies here. I have a galley style kitchen, so those expandable baby gates are awesome. I've heard some people put it in their garage. You could try a child proof oven lock on it that's too high for the kiddos to reach (an...
Help-having issues with my new dutch oven, the bread came out very chewy and thick bottom crust Hello, I am new to sourdough bread baking. I have had pretty good success with using a flat pan, and adding hot water to a pan underneath when baking my bread. I had read how great a Dutch oven can be for baking and made two...	Are you sure The salt amount is correct? It's very low.
yeast water questions fig 2.jpg Aloha, I am the newest of neophytes. I have enjoyed and appreciated the wealth of information I've found on this site the past couple of months, but this is my first post. I have an apple yeast water maturing in the fridge. This week I started 4 new YW's: a fresh blueberry, fr...	I don't think there'd be lab in YW Should be all yeast. Secondly, you say maturing in the fridge. Do you mean they're fully fledged YW and you're now storing them in the fridge?Photos will also be very helpful in diagnosing mould. What you can do is try the yeast water. If it behaves and leavens dough then it's not mou...
Giant hole in my Sourdough Hi everyone, Long time follower, first time poster! I'm Trish, been a chef in Dubai for 6 years and I'm attempting to build up my bread skills. But I feel very defeated.I have made 2 starters one with plain strong white flour, one that's a mix of both strong white and whole wheat. Both are ...	Trish, whenever possible Trish, whenever possible please include pictures. Can you provide any for this bake?Thrilled to see your first post. Ask away. Even if we don’t know the answer, we’ll do our best to make something up. NOT, just kidding... Welcome.Dan
The 1.8 kilo boule. (First attempt was a catastrophe) Hi all, I started baking with Forkish FWSY back in February. I've made most of his loaves, and also very many from the Tartine books (and am now obsessing over bagels). On a family trip this week, I attempted the 1.8 kilo Forkish boule (from memory - I didn't have a...	Rice flour might work better or maybe let it proof on a cookie sheet that you can just put in the oven. Good luck
Tartine recipe Hi all,Been making or rather trying to make the tartine country loaf for a while and it's not going the best...i've had my current starter for about six years, and it's still responsive but when I use it in the levain for the bread, it seems to not do as well and the the dough just seems to flop open whe...	Tell us more about your starter What would a typical feed be like and how often.This would be a good start.Since a levain is just an off-shoot starter it would make no sense for a starter to rise and a levain to not rise.
Yeast substitution issue Hi all, newbie here! I make a delicious cinnamon roll recipe that I've always used Red star Instant yeast with. The other day, I tried to sub in Saf-Gold yeast and it was a disaster!!! I tried the recipe multiple times thinking it couldn't be an issue with the yeast but still turned out the sam...	Could be several factors There could be several factors going on... a change in humidity, forgot the salt, too much yeast, higher dough temperature. Sticky dough sounds like it overfermented. Without the recipe, I suggest a try at using only half the amount of yeast and watch the dough carefully for the next run. Er...
feedback on this crumb - fool's crumb? Since I'm new to this, does it look like I could I have pushed the proofing a little longer to get a more open crumb in some of those denser areas? There's also a strange distribution of holes - is that from the shaping process or fermentation?With that being said, I feel like thi...	Looks perfect to me. Nicely done!!!hester
baking bread in pizza oven - question about regulating stone heat Hello,I am hoping someone can offer me some advice on baking bread in a pizza oven. I have always baked in combo cookers but was hoping to increase the amount of loaves I can do at a time so found a second hand Italian electric pizza oven that had a ston...	I expect that the oven I expect that the oven thermometer is sampling the oven air temperature, rather than temperature immediately above the oven heating elements. A first step to resolve your problem may be be to try and get a better translation of the manual to see it offers any advice.I have a couple of other thin...
bread suddenly sticking to my dutch ovens Greetings, I've been baking sourdough loaves in a pair of dutch ovens for about 6 months, working mostly through the Forkish and Tartine books. Until this week everything has gone so smoothly - a series of successes, with me baking anywhere between one and five times a week. Al...	No idea why your loaves are suddenly sticking but I had the same thing happen to me. After losing a crust or two, I just have rounds of parchment paper that I reuse for the bottoms. Problem solved!
100% WW Cooperative Baking with Texasbakerdad Same recipe, different results! Well, at least it tastes much better than it looks -- even the texture! When I first sliced it open, I thought it was going to be really dense and gummy. Thank goodness it doesn't taste that way. And it was even my fussy eater who remarked, s...	Wohoo! Finally have a quiet moment to comment! Your crust is brown! Do you have any idea why it finally came out brown?Ok,first, a few clarifying comments, I think my blog post was a bit too verbose and unclear...I used freshly milled flour too. The flour in my starter was a few days old, but the bulk of the flour in t...
Loaf dense in the middle - shaping issue? Hi bread lovers! My sourdough loaves always come out denser in the middle and a little flatter than I’d like. Is this a shaping issue or proofing issue? I’ve only been able to achieve that perfectly filled out dome shape once, and I have no idea what made the difference that ti...	Are you cold proofing the Are you cold proofing the loaves?
yeast water questions (cont) blackberry 2.jpg	See my answer on your previous post Looks good!
Poolish or not poolish Poolish or not poolishHello all,I am a newbie to the forum and also a newbie bread baker, actually I shouldn't call myself a baker because I have been only baking since June '16, or 156 loaves to be exact, and the only thing I've baked so far is baguettes. So to clarify, I am just a newbie period...	Analysis paralysis I think you are over-analyzing what appear to be fantastic loaves ! Ok there's some dense areas - these are just great. Poolish versus cold ferment is a personal preference. I don't care for poolish but many stand firmly behind it's 'nuttiness' and complexity. The pros for a cold ferment are things l...
What would you diagnose as wrong with this bread - over or underproofed? Hi everyone,I've recently started baking and am having trouble getting those dramatic oopen crumb and ovensprings.I used 100% hard whole wheat and sifted some of the the bran out of around 800g. The rest of the 200g was not sifted. From memory, I ...	.???. wrong with it? Maybe it's not standing in my kitchen. Looks pretty darn good to me!-M
100% whole grain white wheat and spelt sourdough bread After being forced to take a short break from baking, I decided to start out again with a pan bread, cutting this recipe in half and baking it in an 8.5-inch x 4.5-inch loaf pan: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/whole-grain-wheat-and-spelt-pan-bread/ I did use the 69...	Send Some My Way If you can ship some of that bread to me digitally, please do. Looks yummy, and for a 100% whole grain has great texture and crumb. Very nice bake.
Frustrated scorer. I keep seeing people carve beautiful designs into their bread, like the bread is a blank canvas waiting for the deft touch of an artist.UGHHHH. Everytime I try to score it sticks, and if I confidently rip the razor across the bread things get worse. There have been two loaves where the scoring was cr...	A cold dough is easier to score. So scoring after retarding the dough in the fridge is much easier then from room temperature (all else being equal of course). A lightly floured dough surface can also help.Shaping correctly with a taut skin is important. You'll know it has been done right when it comes to the scoring.D...
Loaf size to banneton size and cloth liners Ok... I am a lucky lad. I have been gifted a lot of baking equipment from my Grandfather who is downsizing his possessions. Part of what I have received is 5 bannetons of different sizes.How do I determine what range of dough weights are ideal for the different bannetons? I'd...	Don't write on the outside, The amount of dough you need depends on what kind of dough you are making and how much you expect it to rise in the basket. Put a water tight plastic bag in the basket and put it on the scale and tare it ou to zero. Fill it with water to near the rim say a half an inch, and see what the w...
third 100% whole wheat sourdough -- still overfermenting! still pale! but more cohesive dough :-) The good news is that the breads are tasting good and getting eaten, and the white bread from the store, in its plastic bag, is languishing away in its corner of the breadbox, largely unused. In fact, this loaf got cut ope...	Wow, you've learned so much! It's amazing how many different things there are to try with bread baking; when you find the ones that work for you it's so satisfying. :) It sounds like your dough is getting better all the time. Here are a couple more little things that might help:When you bulk ferment, what kind of a con...
Use of salt Any imput on decreasing amount of salt used in sourdough bread that doesn't have a negative affect.	I regularly use... ....just 1% salt with no issues -and it's Low Sodium salt at that
Hydration feel problems This post references the following video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnxiawZoL4A%C2%A0%C2%A0Hamelman (the master King Arthur baker in the video) says something to the effect of, "The dough feels a little dry, so I am going to add some water."As I start to play around with different hydration...	Dough moisture My feelings? Ditch the number and learn to feel the dough. Who cares (other than us bread geeks, that is) what the hydration percentage really is, other than a ballpark number. So many things affect the feel at a specified hydration anyway - the type of flour the baker is using (they're all different), t...
Why do my bagels have big holes (in the crumb)? Hello! I'm hoping someone is able to help me with an issue I've been seeing with my bagels. I've been baking bagels for a few months now and I've had a consistent problem with big holes and tunnels in the crumb, I assume from large fermentation bubbles. I've tried differe...	Any luck with the solution to Any luck with the solution to this as we have the same issues?
Dry white flecks in challah crumb? Hi there!Long time reader/silent observer, now finally joining in on the conversation :)I have just started baking enriched breads, and a (four strand braided round) challah I made two days ago -kept in a ziploc bag- was just cut into. It has flecks of white throughout, mostly near th...	What recipe are you following? Without a recipe and method it'll be difficult to venture an answer. The only thing that springs to mind right now is you're getting flour inside the dough when shaping. Take a look at this post which has a link to the recipe http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/52060/challah-bread-amazing
second 100% whole wheat sourdough loaf I'm pretty sure I let the levain ferment longer than necessary on this one (first time working with a bran levain, I wasn't sure when it was ready), so both the bulk fermentation and the proof got cut short when I thought I started to see signs of overfermentation.The loaf feels h...	I have 100% whole wheat oven bloom envy Obviously your loaf is not perfect, but, you got some oven bloom! I'm still working on my oven bloom.I'd think the darkness of your loaf should be an easy problem to solve. Is it possible your oven is not maintaining a hot enough temperature? I find it weird that your crust colo...
my next 100% whole wheat attempt, with bran levain, question This time I sifted out the bran from the flour and added most of it to the starter to make the levain. As I mixed it, I noticed that it was much thicker and more stiff than even my rye starter. I'm not sure to judge when it will be ready to mix into the dough...	Following That starter would make me worried too. I'd really want some visual feedback of vigorous activity prior to using a leaven. I'm interested to read what experienced SD folk say. thanks for the post!
My Sourdough, for comments and troubleshooting Hi guys, Need your opinion on my sourdough that I have baked this morning. It is of: 1) 90% AP flour, 10% Barley flour, 6% raw quinoa (added during 2nd stretch and fold)2) 75% hydration,3) 3 hours of autolyse before salt and levain (which passed the float test) are added,4...	That’s a very nice loaf! It looks like it has a nice crust and a great crumb! If you are looking for a greater oven spring, you might try proofing overnight in the fridge. However, I think you did a great job!
100% whole wheat partial success Yesterday I baked a loaf of bread using this recipe, with a few changes:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34166/100-whole-wheat-bread-rye-sourdoughMainly, I tried a soak at 80% hydration, but added the salt, and the dough was very stiff, so I added more water until the dough was wet enou...	Nice end grain cutting board! That end grain cutting board is huge! Is that walnut end grain? Is it your entire counter, or just a really large butcher block? I'm green with envy.
basic 100% whole wheat sourdough learner formula needed The quest continues, after a week being forced to focus on other things...My most recent loaf (yesterday) seems like baked starter. Surprisingly, it is getting eaten. Thank goodness for home-milled Red Fife, it will compensate for a lot of failings! I think I shou...	I forgot to write that I figure the amount of salt should be about 1.5-1.8%
How to fix burnt bread bottoms? So recently, I've baked a few loaves from Chad Robertson's Tartine book, and he recommends using a cast-iron combo cooker to bake the bread in. It says to preheat the cast-iron cooker in the oven before baking the bread in it. However, I always find that the bottom and sides of my bread ...	burnt bread rescue https://youtu.be/t7jtmDeTun8?t=95
My Levain Has Failed Me For Over A Year...SOS I cant seem to get my levain to pass the float the test. And I have read that many people do not seem to agree that this test is important, so I have tried to move past it and move forward with baking only to find a barely risen (but still edible) hunk of grain. So this i...	The most important thing with starters and levain is temperature but you make no mention of this. 78 to 84 F is best.Take 10 g of your starter and add 10 g each of flour and water to it mic cover with plastic and let sit for 4 hours. Add 20 g each of flour and water to it and mix cover and let sit 4 hours. 4 hours l...
Sourdough keeps me humble! Please help diagnose this fail I have been chugging along merrily baking all of my family’s bread for some years now. This is a 68% hydration loaf ( Cindy Hall’s Same Day Sourdough formula) that I assembled yesterday whrn it was hot and humid here in British Columbia. BF was waybshorter than ...	Diagnosis: Under-fermented + over-proofed The crumb appears to be generally under-aerated, a sign of under-fermentation. The very large holes are due to gluten breakdown due to over-proofing as is the pale crust and poor oven-spring.Now, there are alternate explanations for each "symptom." My diagnosis is based on the ...
Broken gluten Can someone please tell me what went wrong to have gluten disintegration with this bake?All of the following ingredients were mixed together and started autolyse.6 hour BF @ RT created nice volume but couldn’t pass the window pane rest. The dough was so wet I just couldn’t shape it at all.Mixture of BF+AP...	How do you know it was 'broken gluten'?
I don't even know where to start. I'm lost. I have a soy intolerance. I'm currently living in Ireland, and I swear, every. single. loaf. of whole wheat bread has soy flour in it.I am not a baker, but I am super stubborn, and I'm determined to eat whole wheat bread while I live here.I've been trying to bake my own bread...	Do you include an autolyse? Perhaps don't go so high when it comes to hydration, try gentle stretch and folds and include an autolyse or use a poolish method.It might be a bit of trial and error but it can be done.What is your recipe at the moment? And judging by what you've done so far have you got an idea of an ideal...
Getting a better rise on whole wheat sourdough (other advice welcome!) I started making 70% whole wheat sourdough last year and have ended up with a loaf that tastes pretty good, but doesn't look great or get a good rise. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong (and I'm mostly self-taught) so I thought I'd just post my whole...	refreshed starter In the AM when you look at your refreshed starter, what do you see?
Reminder - 'Celebrate the Sun' Solstice 2018 Challenge http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/56309/whos-solstice-challenge Come bake with us!	Solstice entry A corny rye loaf in the shape of an 8 point star. First mentioned on this post:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/56475/slap-and-fold-and-save. Edit after edit after edit... having no fun posting pics. From iPad. Very confusing. IMG_1556.JPG
Sticky, sticky dough I've been making bread several loaves a week for over a year now. I flatter myself that I've become pretty good at it, at least so much so that I've got a few "customers," i.e. one paying customer and a couple of local farmers with whom I barter for pork and raw milk. This is how my bread empire be...	Have you considered reducing Have you considered reducing the hydration?what about a super thin coating of oil on your hands, bench, and tools? A little dab will do ya...Are you sure your formula is correct? Maybe too much water.Does your dough use any add ins?Just a few thoughts that come to mind.Dan
Semolina problem Hi, Is 40% semolina too much for sourdough bread?I knew immediately after autolyse that I wasn’t getting any gluten activity. Bit by bit I added BF and ended up adding additional 150 grams of BF. It lowered semolina content to 30%. And I got delightful tiny 430g batards. Perfect size for a small fam...	I often do 100% "semolina flour" and get good gluten formation with oven spring. Many traditional Italian breads are 100% "semolina flour".Now I say "semolina flour" but I wish to confirm that we're talking about the same thing.Durum Flour and Semolina both come from the very same Durum Wheat.Semolina is coarse and Dur...
Cinnamon the troublemaker! Here is the crumb shot of cinnamon raisin sourdough...My husband said, “looks like cinnamon raisin bagel!”	Photo? Sorry, but I don't see one…Carole
challenge recipe mini breads hello to the freshloafian world , as i am working years now in restaurant i am very interested about making my own delicious and easy to shape mini breads.i tried with mini focaccia but it was a disaster becouse it was not possible to shape 150 pieces in such a short time period . They ...	Hi Marios, I can’t help you. Hi Marios, I can’t help you. But I’ll be watching to read the replies. I am interested in soft rolls also. I like Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (Portuguese style), but they are pretty sweet and probably takes a little too much work for that volume.Dan
rate my challah Hi everyone! I'm a newbie in the bread baking game-- I've only made challah so far and would like to improve upon it before trying other recipes. I'd love your feedback on how my challah looks, and maybe some help troubleshooting flavor issues. IMG_1138.JPG IMG_1101.JPG IMG_1100.JPG...	Certainly looks nice You've got a nice crumb and sheen. The recipe looks like a typical challah recipe. Not sure if I've ever heard of using olive oil though. Depending on how much used I couldn't say if that effected the flavour or not. I'm just saying it's not a typical oil for challah.The flour mix is to get the ben...
Crust cracking after scoring I made a wheat bread using half all purpose flour and half whole wheat. This was a high hydration dough. Didn't knead too much. Did a series of S/F and then left it to rise for an hour. All turned out well till the baking stage. I slashed the dough. Baked in a cast iron covered with steam f...	If available, please post If available, please post images. It would be a great help.Also, it would be helpful to know the recipe and procedures used.I am confident someone will be able to help.Dan
Sourdough Starter is TOO active My sourdough starter behaves more like fresh yeast starter and it was suggested that maybe it has been contaminated by yeast. For example: When fed, it will triple in 2 hours or less. When made into dough, it will rise at room temp. and be ready to bake within 2 hours. When a high hy...	Tell us about your starter. Tell us about your starter. How it is fed, type of flour, feeding schedule, refrigerated or not, temperature, feed ratio,etc.Please include images of your starter. I’d like to see what is looks like when risen for two hours.Are you feeding with steroids? If so, how would I get a supply for m...
Holey Moley....my bread is looking like this Disclaimer: it is the end of the school year (ish) and I have become an impatient person most of the time when I'm not with children. (I save my patience for the kids) Made my standard FWSY Overnight Country loaf and this is the result. Flavor is great, but it is flat,chew...	Insufficient Starter/Levain maturity or bulk ferment. Make sure your starter is firing on all cylinders by giving it a few good feeds and allowing it to fully mature each time. Just in case it's tired and the yeast activity is low.Same when you make a levain. Don't jump the gun and make sure it's fully mature. When bul...
Autolyse and disaster I’m new to baking bread. In the last three weeks of baking a loaf or two each day, I am happy with my loaf pan breads. However my 3 tries with Over Night White have been disasters. I measure by scale. I mix, pinch, I stretch I fold and wait 12 or more hours to proof. The dough will rise, but it is...	Bit more info please Recipe and method?
Wrapped Lievto Madre's linen wrap is very wet. Greetings: I keep my lievto madre wrapped and tied up in a linen wrap; and then in a plastic ziplock bag. I refresh it about every 4 days. 100 gram lievto madre, 100 gram filtered water and 200 gram bread flour (Guisto bread flour). She's kept in the refrigerator.Lastly,...	Michael is the one to ask I'll forward your question onto him.
wet dough sticks! HiThis being my second post, and what with y'all turning out to be very nice indeed, I feel I can now ask dumb questions.So this is it: I make baguettes with 74% moisture, and this makes for a sticky dough. It sticks everywhere: to my hands, to the work surface...And yet, when I watch instructional vi...	One of our baguette gurus doesn't use flour to do his final shaping, he uses water. I am hoping he (Alfanso) will pop in here and direct you to the videos he has made using that technique.As to me, I try not to touch the dough as much as possible and I used lots and lots of flour. I am finding that shaping on a granite...
Scoring troubleshooting Hi all,I'm wondering if anybody help me troubleshoot my scoring.My scores consistently stick to whatever blade I'm using. Sometimes I can manage a halfway decent score. Sometimes it drags the dough around in a bad way. Sometimes I just give up and let the darn thing crack where it wants.Here ...	80-92% hydration? lol. That's tough to score no matter how skilled you are. I read or heard on a video that it took a baker a full year working ft in a bakery (so presumably scoring dozens of loaves daily) a full year to learn how to do it reliably well. I wet my lame b/f scoring, but with loaves w such high hydrati...
How to deal with excessively Soft water in baking? Hello,I'm in NYC and the water from the tap here is very soft, cold water is at 25ppm and hot water at 55ppm. As I understand it, the optimal hardness of water is between 120 and 180ppm. I notice that my dough is very wet at only 50% hydration, and this is likely due...	Lucky you! NYC water is just plain crazy, straight from the catskill and not even filtered, lucky you!Anyway, protein does love their salt to be happy and be shaped properly (and yeast too!). I don't know what very wet is for you, but I would think that grain and flour type(protein and starch content) may have a greate...
Steam Baker - calling all innovators Just came across this steam baker. https://shop.tastemade.com/collections/new/products/the-glazed-spring-oven-blueI like the concept, but not the price...I’m thinking about using either an inverted clay flour pot saucer in the bottom of a Dutch Oven, or a round piece of 3/8” aluminu...	Just some questions Does the cone shape provide a certain benefit. I find the small hole in the top kind of curious. I will monitor this thread closely.Thanks,Tom
Loaf bursting I’ve been making this country loaf (with a sourdough starter) for almost a year now. In the past 6 months The loaves have been bursting in the oven and today...it burst just as I turned it out into the pan. I can’t figure out what causes this for the life of me!! Thoughts??	Are you using an overly acidic starter? Or the loaf is over proofed. I had an issue with my last bake where I either over fermented the dough or my starter had too much acid in it and it was splitting as I was shaping it. I wonder if you are experiencing the same thing.
No, the flatbread did not overproof My friend Matthew likes to throw beach bbq parties (possible year round here in Honolulu). He has a gas grill and a hospitable spirit. For yesterday's gathering, I promised to bring flatbread to grill. Made yogurt flatbread dough, rolled out the breads, piled them into a container (s...	So, flatbread is the road to beach party happiness! Your friends are lucky to have a baker in theor midst.Happy Beach Baking
Help My Ciabatta! - Shelf Life, Less Chewy Crust, Par Bake? Fresh Loaf-ers :),Thank you all so much. Over the last year or so my baking quality has gone through the roof, in large part due to all of your suggestions, experiences, comments, etc... You are all a big part of why I have the confidence to now open my first ...	Full disclosure, I don't have Full disclosure, I don't have much experience baking ciabatta. That crumb looks fantastic, but 40 minutes seems like a long time for a ciabatta. That would explain why the crust is too chewy.
help me make my baguettes look nicer! Normal 0 false false false EN-GB JA X-NONE ...	Welcome Lovely to have you here and everyone will treat you nicely, I promise :)Alan (alfanso) and Kendalm are the ones to ask. Hopefully they'll see your post and help you out.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/55676/abels-ziggy-sesame-semolina
what went wrong with my spelt/rye loaf? i landed on this one loaf recipe because i liked the ingredients, but i didn't read it through, just started on it. i used exactly half of these ingredients2½ cups all-purpose flour (i replaced this with white spelt)1½ cup rye flour1¼ teaspoons baking soda1½ teaspoons kosher sa...	btw... should soda bread sound hollow if you knock on it and it's properly cooked?thanks!
Trouble with % We're trying to make a pizza dough that is a 50lb bag of flour, has an end hydration of 61% that uses a poolish that is 25% of the end weight of the dough. The end weight of the original dough: 50lb flour, 61% hydration, no poolish is 81.65lbs. When I've tried to change to incorporate the poolish, the nu...	Before I even begin to try and unravel this puzzle In bakers percentages the flour is always 100% and everything is a percentage to the flour. Yet in your formula you have the flour at 39.8(?)And even if you are adding everything up to 100% your formula falls short. Something is not right.
Dry to Humid Climate Hi, there. I am moving from dry Colorado mountains to the upper Great Lakes region. Have been using Hungarian High Altitude Flour in Colorado due to the dry climate, but am wondering what brand is favored by those of you in more humid or damp environments. Thanks!	Any flour works in the upper Any flour works in the upper midwest. KA All Purpose white unbleached, also whole wheat. Whole rye from Breadtopia does well. No issues or restrictions with flour. You may find dough overhydrated on muggy days but that is a minor adjustment. Upper midwest resident here.
oven max temp is low... what should I do? my oven only heats up to 482f (250c) and loses lots of heat when I open the door.Some recipes I'd like to try requires 500f. What should I do to bring it up to 500f?I have a baking steel and thinking about placing it either under or over the combo cooker.Which side would be bet...	Welcome Lovely to have you on board.My oven only goes to max 230°C. I just crank it up to the max and bake till ready.It's far from being the best oven and quite possibly a contender for the worst. But we make do and the bread still comes out baked.
Is "yeast endurance" a thing? I have begun my path towards artisan bread nirvana through the purchase and adoption of techniques detailed in the Ken Forkish book "Flour Water Salt Yeast." I have been able to produce a couple of beautiful loaves with his method and tools. However, my last three attempts have yielded a...	Pretty loaves Could use a few more photos, one before and after shot of the dough rising in the proofing basket, perhaps it has risen too much? If that's the case, could try less rise in the final proof saving some of the rising for the oven to "take it to the next level." Usually if the oven heat isn't raising the l...
Bagels too spongy (but still delicious) Hello, I'm new here :)I have been baking bagels for a while, I've probably baked over a dozen batches by now. I've researched various recipes and ended up with a sort of amalgam of various recipes, trying to incorporate some of the variations I've seen into a "master recipe."Anyw...	Spongy bagels Hi Phil,You are probably not interested in another recipe, but this one is my go-to and I use it frequently. I would suggest that you look at the shaped bagels as resting and don't let them get puffy before you boil. Something else I have discovered is that the length of time you boil influences the degre...
Oat flour yeast bread (not gluten free) I recently made a quick bread with 50% oat flour, 25% barley flour, and 25% AP flour. I loved the flavor and I really want to bring that to the yeast breads I normally make.I tried 20% oat flour and 80% AP flour, but it tasted almost the same as my 100% AP flour doughs.I'd like t...	One idea might be To use oat and barley flakes, raw or toasted (two to one) and use them pre soaked (allow to swell in equal weights of water for at least an hour or overnight, drain well) into a wheat dough thinking of them like nuts. They will cling whole to the matrix, give up water during the bake and interfere le...
What do I do with 1 tbsp of leaven so glad I found this site as my journey with sourdough begins. I was given 1 tbsp of leaven to start my sourdough bread making. I just fed it enough for one loaf. I have saved a tblsp or so to go into the refrigerator until my next batch of bread. Do I have to feed it prior to ...	Please weigh your Tbs of dough (a kitchen scale in ounces or grams is essential). Then add that exact weight of water (not tap water unless you've left it out 24 hours to get rid of the chlorine). Stir and add that exact weight of flour, stir and let sit, all day. Lets say your TBS weighs 2 ounces.weigh out 2 ounces ...
Cold Proofing Hello! I'm having some troubles with cold proofing! I've made a dough with 80% white flour and 20% whole wheat, about 70% hydration, stiff starter and 2% salt. The bulk fermentation was beautiful, my shaping was fine and I've waited 60 minutes so I could put it in the refrigerator/fridge ( I don't know th...	What is the temp in fridge? Straight into fridge? Hi Juno,I am by all means not an expert but I had at the start of making sourdough a similar experience:1. How much did your dough rise during bulk fermentation? I learnt to ignore the clock but watch the dough until it has risen 30-50% and has good strength and sign of...
Whole Wheat Bread - sticky dough I am fairly new to bread baking, and very new to whole wheat bread baking. I have been working with Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. I made the Loaf of Learning a few times. While it didn't rise as high as I hoped, the loaves came out well. This week I moved on to try making the Whole Wheat...	I'm sure there's someone here with suggestions I'm sure there's someone here with suggestions/solutions but I suspect they'll need more details to help you. Can you give the details of the recipe you used and outline the protocol you followed?
recipes Jennifer Katzinger book GF and Vegan Bread I have this new book. Made country batard and buckwheat round. Neither loaf made painstakingly by the directions were edible. Could not cut them with an axe so no way to taste. Inside was thin and gummy. No rise at all. Read and re-read book. Can anyone help ple...	Need more info GF bread is difficult to make well, for sure. I'm not familiar with that book so a bit more information would help (ingredients, timing, method).There will be differences in flours, binding agents (eggs, ground flax seeds, psyllium husk, xantham gum, guar gum, etc), yeast (dry, fresh or sourdough).I make...
crispy waffle bread (not fried)! Hello all. My name’s Roy and I am new to this site. I have an opportunity to open a stall in a food market this summer and am trying to perfect my food. I will be selling ‘pockets’, like a sandwich. I would like your help to make the perfect pocket bread. I’m thinking a cross between a...	Something like a croissant? To my taste, croissants are very bread-like yet also very pastry-like. There is also an Italian small bread called a cornetti, which is a brioche dough formed into a croissant shape. --Mike
No knead sandwich bread - Alcohol smell lingers in loaf after baking My no knead doughs for sandwich bread are baking up great, nice crumb, crust, etc... but with a foul, very noticeable bad alcohol smell. The smell is in the finished bread after for days and when we eat it.When I do traditional or fridge risen doughs,...	Too long, too warm Eeeek, 12 to 24 hours at room temperature with a teaspoon of instant yeast? No wonder it smells like alcohol - the yeast is probably starving by that point! Try letting it ferment at room temperature for 2 or 3 hours, then put it in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. I'm surprised you got that nice sprin...
Croissant tunneling Any ideas why I’m getting swirlies in my croissants?	Flour left during roll up You must get all the dusting flour off when you fold layers and also when you roll up and apply some gentle pressure ( don’t go crazy with that, though)
Flat Tartine Basic Country Bread Hi All,Looking for some pointers on my Tartine Basic Country Bread....I've made a few loaves using the Tartine recipe but getting the same flat result every time. If anyone has any pointers or can forward me to any other posts dealing with this problem I would appreciate it.I followed t...	Where are you based? And what flour are you using?
Red Bell Pepper Sourdough I'm trying to get the following formula to look as nice as one my plain sourdough loaves. I'm not opposed to adding yeast so I'm going to try it next. The problem I'm having is developing gluten.I try to stretch and fold but it's a no go. I also tried mixing for about 10 minutes and that did...	Maybe time for a different recipe? Walk us through your process, please. That will give some perspective. If I assume that the pepper purée and the rehydrated tomatoes are each about 80% water (they could be more than that), this bread has a lot of liquid in it. 400x0.8+350+200x0.5+200x0.8+15= 945g of "water". That'...
Frisbee bread Hi thereI've been baking bread for 3 or 4 years. I recently bought a nice banneton, but despite my enthusiasm I keep finding that things fall flat - literally. I turf the proved dough out of the banneton and it just spreads out into a puddle. It doesn't seem to rise much either, so I end up with frisbee b...	First of all, cut back on the water in your recipe. You might be working with dough that is too high a hydration for your amount of skill. Don't worry, I am not there yet either so I cut back on the amount of water I use. Less water makes the dough so much easier to handle. That's the one thing in a bread recipe that y...
Parchment sticking to baked loaves Hello! I am a new visitor. I love the ease of using parchment to transfer my sourdough boules to the hot Dutch oven for baking, but when they are done I find the paper has baked onto the surface of the loaves and is next to impossible to peel away. I see an old entry from 2009 where s...	Mine sticks a little Have you tried flouring the bottom of the loaf in the banneton before turning it out? That helps for me. I also like a little cornmeal baked onto the bottom of the bread, so I’ll add that on occasion.If nothing else works, maybe a little non-stick spray.I never tried the foil.Dan
Burnt Bottoms I am an amateur bread baker who recently moved from Minnesota to Beirut, Lebanon. As a result I left behind my trusty "American Camper" DO and electric oven in which my bread turned out perfectly every time. Here in Beirut, as you can imagine, I couldn't find a dutch oven for less than $300 (imported go...	I don’t have actual I don’t have actual experience solving this problem, but a few thoughts come to mind.Maybe putting a pan or some type of “heat guard” under the vessel.Place the vessel in a pan, but put something in between them to prevent conduction heat.Just a thoughtDan
Questions about making Southern yeast rolls Hi everyone! I'm a new baker, and I've got a few questions about this recipe I tried last night:1. why would it suggest mixing it with a mixer for 15 minutes? Being a new baker, that seems like an awful long time to me. I wasn't able to do it that long (my cheap mixer doesn't...	Enriched doughs take longer Enriched doughs take longer kneading to develop the gluten; five minutes is probably too short, but fifteen sounds like a lot. Insufficient kneading may result in a smaller, denser product. You can typically see if your dough is kneaded sufficiently by using a "window pane" test.
Collapsing english Muffins HELP Hi! I'm a bakery manager that specializes in English muffins. We are running into a strange challenge with our muffins and are in need of some resolution ideas. We have muffins that are sporadically collapsing upon themselves, almost as though they are undercooked. It's happening to mayb...	Not that I'm an expert but Not that I'm an expert but could it be that there is there a cold spot on your grill?
Sourdough Doughnuts. Hello Everyone!I have recently setup a Sourdough Doughnut business, selling to local cafes. It's small scale at the moment (home based), but steadily growing. I mix everything by hand at the moment, it's a little bit of a workout but it's manageable. And they are 100% Sourdough, so I don't use any ...	If you can't find an efficient way To proof them in a warmer place then why not tweak the recipe and use more starter?
Bread decoration hello fellow bakers! I think it is time now for me to experiment with some decorations:) from your experience what are the loaves most suitable for stencils/ art cuts? Smth that holds the shape and wont flatten on the board while i am practicing:) thanks!!!	Low Hydration? I would think a lower hydration dough would work better and if course a well developed gluten but that goes without saying.
Travelling to Mexico; need advice We're heading away from the grey wet February here on Canada's West Coast, and going to sunny Nuevo Vallarta for a couple of weeks. Last time I was there I found it difficult to get good bread (no, I don't count Walmart's bakery bread as 'good'), so would like to take a few supplies to...	Have a nice trip. I live in Have a nice trip. I live in Mexico. Sourdough in Mexico is not very popular. I am a bakery instructor and bakery advisor and there are few bakeries that make sourdough bread, just in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey. I don't know in Vallarta.See you
How much dry ingredients for a 20lt dough mixer? Good morningI've just purchased a 20lt dough mixer and I would like to know how much flour/water (in kg) it can take without straining the machine? On the machine it says 20pd for wholewheat flour, but I'm not sure if that includes the water. RegardsIlse	try this When in doubt, if the information's not clear in the machine-supplied instructions, call the maker's phone number. Ask them. Once someone's on the phone with you, you may even think of other questions.I'm assuming you've looked up the machine's specifics on the web.A warning: especially with a new device, c...
Misc. Questions A few small questions probably not deserving of their own post:- How often does one replace a lame? I'm doing two to three loaves a week, fairly wet ones. - Does it matter if the shaped dough lands slightly off-center in the combo cooker when you tip it in? I've been trying to improve my aim so the doug...	I'll leave the lame question for those who know how to use it I'll leave the lame question for those who know how to use it. At this time I'm using an old fashioned straight razor. And I'm really liking it.I'd think that if the dough is not coming out of the pot distorted, then you're OK. But have you thought about a D...
Gluten Free Bread, Raises then colapses. Been making a few loaves using dove Farm Brown gluten Free Flour (UK) and there quick yeast. Have got something edablebut not great. The problem seems to be the bread rises well but then colapses. Thinking this may be the quick yeast (if it lives up to its name. I actualy wo...	Recipe,please Very hard to advise you if no recipe is provided.
Question about condensation while dough in the fridge If I put my dough in a container and seal it with cling film, when I come back to it several hours later, I see that moisture has condensed on the inside of the film and the walls of the container. That moisture came from my dough, effectively drying it out a bit, c...	That moisture most likely That moisture most likely came from the air inside the container. Cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air does, so if you have a closed system, the water vapor part of air will liquify or condense. In that sense it does not matter if you just pour that water out because the vast majo...
Laminating dough - rising too much while chilling Hey all, one of the (many) challenges I've had laminating dough for croissants is that after a turn, I'm told to wrap the plaque in cling film and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes to two hours (depending on the recipe). But while its in the fridge, it rises so much...	How much yeast are th using and what type and You may also like to give a bit of other detail,such as sugar quantities etc. Typically vienoisse dough has to fight all the sugar to get it on a good raise path and if the dough is cold you should not have any troubles with rising during chilled rest. Quick question - is...
Gluten Free Baead, tried several times but nothing edable OK, not quite. I have had quite good results with 'Helen's Gluten Free White Bread Mix' (https://www.foodbyhelen.com/product/helens-gluten-free-sandwich-bread-mix-white/) but not the brown one she does (this created horable bread). I have also tried Brown and ...	Really good one This one is from America's Test Kitchen's "How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook 2".I made it several times and it doesn't only taste very good, but, also, has the consistency of normal bread.They don't use a ready made gf-flour mixture, but came up with their own. The psyllium husk powder (usually sold as...
Questions related to gummy bread I've been having some trouble with gummy, underproved breads lately. I do a 45m autolyse, 4hr bulk ferment, shaping into a boule, and then a 12hr final proof in the fridge overnight. I have made some genuinely fantastic loaves this way, but lately they've been coming out dense and gummy...	How do you determine bulk ferment is done? A gummy crumb, especially in the bottom of the loaf, is usually an indication of overproofing rather than underproofing. Temperature of the dough during BF is a big factor. If you are following techniques of Robertson (Tartine) or Forkish, they often push their BF to the limi...
Ciabatta sticking I have made Jeff Hammelman's various ciabatta loaves and they're wonderful. However, with the last batch in particular, having used inverted baking pans for the final proof before putting them in the oven, they've stuck to the pans. I've put sifted bread flour on the pans but they still stuck. I've a...	Try parchment paper. Try parchment paper.
Seam side up not splitting Hi all. Been baking in cast iron pots for years now. I learned to put the boules in the pots with the seam side up and not score the loaves, instead look for that natural crust slash. I love that rustic look. Well, ever since I moved to baking in cookie sheets in a professional oven with pro...	Is it possible that the steam Is it possible that the steam is so efficient that the bread fully rises before the crust sets.If that is the case, maybe you could vent the steam a little earlier in the bake before the bread has finished it‘s rise. Hopefully the bread’s crust will separate and give you the look you want....
Challenge: Extra large loaves First attempt at baking an extra large sourdough fresh ground whole grains bread, about 8 lbs., met with some success -- but it would be nice to hear any tips from others that could help improve.Recipe was about 10% rye, 12% soft white wheat and 15% oat flour with the remainder of the flou...	I find that with large loaves I don't have to worry about trapping steam. The top crust looks like some of my early loaves when I over steamed them. Same kind of cracking and splitting with most of the crust feeling like I had fried it. Might not need covering at all, or perhaps later in the bake should the crust ge...

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