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Suggestions for splitting a recipe, please
Hi all,I have a good traditional no knead recipe, and one I have altered to use with my sourdough starter. Both have given me very good consistent results over multiple bakes. I would like to make a batch, but bake it up into 2-4 smaller loaves rather than one large loaf. Her... | I bake in a Dutch oven, and I only own one Dutch oven. So, when do I split my dough so that the second, third and fourth loaves arent completely over risen by the time my pot is available again? Wait for it to do the overnight rise, and split when I dump it out of the bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes? Wait til afte... |
Barb's (gmabaking) Tartine Bread Saga!
My sister Barbra made Tartine bread... I am posting the pictures and she will come on as a reply with the "rest of the story." There you go... she says things went wrong and these pictures would be proof of that... I am not seeing much bad stuff here... looks pretty amazing... | If loving this is
wrong, i don't want to be right :-) |
General bread machine rising problem - puzzled
Hello!I'm new to bread making, new to bread machines, and generally very analytical, measuring accurately and recording everything I do, to improve the next time.Despite this, after making 20+ different breads, I am facing a general problem where I can't seem to begin to f... | Sweet doughs can take longer to rise
All I can think of is, in a sweet dough, sugar robs the yeast of some moisture, causing a longer rise. Is there a sweet bread cycle on your bread machine? A Sweet bread cycle adjusts for this by allowing longer rising times. Sweet doughs can take longer to rise. If the machine bakes... |
Sourdough success, second time around!
Hi all, Update: Second rise, sourdough did NOTHING, control doubled as usual. Got a little bit of rise in the oven but not much. Control loaf ended up wider, taller than sourdough. Both tasted good, but I was disappointed in the overall loaf of sourdough.So, made some changes...I... | One more pic...
Of the outside...are the tears in the crust good or bad? |
Replicating German Bauernbrot mix
Just got back from Germany where I picked up a mix for Bauernbrot. Made a lovely loaf with the typical, yearned-for, spongy, moist, non-crumbly crumb and dark chewy crust. Cuts perfectly for sandwiches. The mix had so few ingredients I thought I would try doing it by scratch. How much... | Can you share the ingredients
Can you share the ingredients for the recipe? I'd skip the ascorbic acid altogether, probably not needed. It's a dough conditioner that helps strengthen weak doughs so they can proof longer without collapsing. You can compensate for this by building more strength through autolyse, preferme... |
Sourdough question, and one other...
Hi all, Sourdough question first:I was given some sourdough starter, and am trying a loaf now. It will do a long slow rise overnight and I will bake it tomorrow afternoon. So, I have followed the instructions the baker (my dad) gave me, and saved back some dough to continue my start... | Nice loaf pic. Which one was
Nice loaf pic. Which one was that? Two tutorials on the how and why of sourdough: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10251/starting-starter-sourdough-101-tutorialhttp://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233/wild-yeast-sourdough-starterFeed frequency and amount for keeping your sourdough going relates... |
Bagels
I think i have read enough to know that the two day process of making bagels make the best bagels. However is it feasible to follow the same process for large scale production? | Yes
I would like to ask why you think it wouldn't work or what problems you think you would have doing it on a large scale. Cause retarding dough overnight(shaped and bulk) is a very common method in the baking world. |
Did too many experimental things on one load of dough.
I wanted to make my bread a little better. I had about one loaf worth of dough in the fridge for several days, waiting to be baked. It was a soft sandwich bread recipe, so it had honey and butter in it, in addition to the usual ingredients. I decided to take it out... | just bake it and see what
just bake it and see what happens. if it's collapsing it's probably overproofed. Worst case you might use it for croutons or breadcrumbs |
Exploding bread
I need some help please. I wanted to try and retard the proofing of my bread last night, so I mixed it up and put it into 1 gallon plastic bags and popped it into the refrigerator. I made three batches so when I checked it this morning one of the bags was missing. I had no idea where it went to. Then I ... | How much dough did you put in the bag?
You should allow for some expansion when putting dough in any sealed container. How much did you fill up each bag with the dough? I find that dough doesn't expand as much when retarded, but it does expand, probably during the first 30 minutes to an hour until it gets down to fridg... |
question to a recipe
A friend of mine has a challenge with the following recipe. she said the bread tasted good but started to crumble and was kind of gritty. I wondered if the spelt experts here have some advise for her.Spelt bread1/2 c. warm water 3/4 c. rice milk 1/2 c. olive oil 1 egg 1/4 c. splenda 1 tsp salt 4 1/... | Spelt
I have no experience with the properties of splenda in dough, so I can't say anything about the ingredients, only recommend a better method to prepare the bread.A 100% whole grain bread, whether spelt or whole wheat, will always taste gritty when it is made with such short fermentation time. I would advise her to... |
Ken Forkish Pain de Campagne Frustration
Hi All, I have attempted to make Ken Forkish's Pain de Campagne - a total of 8 loaves. Although some are better than others, I have encountered the same issue every time... after proofing overnight, the dough deflates when I remove it from the Banneton. Granted, the dough also s... | Welcome to TFL !
Welcome aboard.Forkish and his two cookbooks are popular here.Your dough sounds a little over-hydrated. Adjusting water amount is a common thing, because bakers can almost never get the exact same flour that cookbook authors use. Moisture content varies, and flour gains or loses moisture in storage.T... |
Pullman 5 Grain Loaf Tasty, But Not What I Expected
Today, I baked a 5 Grain Pullman loaf in my oven for the first time. My goal was to create a similar loaf the the Breadbar 5 Grain Pullman (picture included), a soft, delicate loaf with a medium fine crumb. While the result was a fantastic, similar tasting loaf, there... | cake flour stuck me as odd
from the recipe, potato flour would have made it softer. Substituting bread flour mean tweaking: adding moisture, kneading & baking minutes to the loaf and the heavier flour gives the crust a good crunch. After removing the loaf from the pan, the pale loaf can be placed back into the oven t... |
what am I doing wrong?
I'm really new to breadmaking and am getting frustrated. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and I have no one to show my loaves to. This one came out particularly bad. I appreciate you taking a look and helping me out. Most of my loaves come out like this, dense and no holes, very little color in... | I kneaded for 5 minutes, then
I kneaded for 5 minutes, then let it rest like the recipe said, and then kneaded for a few more minutes. I would love holes in my bread, like I get when I make no knead bread. This bread is just too dense to eat! |
Egg Drop Challenge
My daughter's class is challenged to fill a 1Qt. Ziplock bag with "anything" that willprotect and egg falling from the school balcony.Of course the best elastic and air pocketed subsatnace would be the perfect bread dough!I think that my Tartine dough after 4 hours of bulk at 80 Deg F should have the... | great idea!
I would be tempted to go with a plain commercial yeast dough to allow for stronger rise/faster recovery than sourdough in case it gets deflated a bit. And heck, if the egg breaks you can just make Sally Lunn bread ;-) |
tartine bread too sticky
I am really getting frustrated trying to make this excellent bread. Everytime (3) I try to transfer my dough to my baking device it sticks to my floured banneton. When it finally comes out my boule breaks apart leaving me with deflated dough and a horrible mess to clean up. I am obviously doing... | What flour?
I use rice flour on my bannetons, I find that it makes removing wetter dough a relative breeze. |
Blowing out sides of maple oatmeal bread
I've made Bernard Clayton's oatmeal maple bread a couple of times now and every time one side of each loaf blows out just at the top of the loaf pan. I've only had this happen once before with Peter Reinhart's potato, cheddar and chive loaf because I didn't score the top quite ... | It's either your shaping or
It's either your shaping or the loaf is underproofed. If you don't form enough tension when you shape the loaf this can happen and if you don't proof the dough long enough the same type of thing can happen.What is your shaping technique and how are you determining when it's time to bake? |
Trouble viewing the site and Bread question
Hi everyone,For the last couple days I have been able to see RSS feed posts, but when I select Read More there is a blank white page. I assumed it was because I was not officially logged in. But today I have a bread question (now I have two questions?!). Is anyone else havin... | No known issues like that at
No known issues like that at the moment. I just pulled the rss feed up in a Firefox install that I am not logged into and it worked as expected. All links that I could find clicked through OK too. |
Cool as a cucumber...
or all hot and bothered?Here in the UK we have just had our coldest spring for 50 years. There isn't really a spot in my house which has a consistent temperature, so I just go with the temperature that there is, and it works fine, except things take longer. Sometimes much longer. I notice with som... | Working with temperature
Hello Jeni, my commiserations for the cold spring. It may be of some assistance to you to read through the links I made in a comment a while ago:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9720/long-bulk-room-temperature-fermentation-compared-bigapoolish-or-fridge#comment-134313Realise that thread is on d... |
Armed with a spray bottle. Target advice?
A search on TFL on spraying the oven for steam generated plenty of results......seems most use the caking tray or pan + ice cup or hot water approach. Problem is, right now my oven only has two racks so I need both of them for trays...I thought I'd try the spray bottle to "get ... | dont do it unless you hate your oven
There are alot of really sad stories of ovens shorting out and glass door explosions from using this method. use the method by Sylvia http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20162/oven-steaming-my-new-favorite-way |
Dense Loaf (moist) & Crumb is not White
So I have been playing with recipes and modified a no knead to the following.3.5 cups flour1.5 warm water1tsp active yeast1 large tbsp sourdough starter1tsp saltcurls of marble cheeseprocess:Let sit for 4 hours, then refridge overnight.Turned it once and added cheese then back in... | I would say that
you need a bigger pot to proof in.so that the dough is not restricted and or make a smaller bread if you are going to use the cake tins. If you are using unbleached flour it won't be white but at least it hasn't been bleached.Happy baking |
crust with multiple personality disorder
Well this is interesting. I have struggled with my crusts ever since getting a gas oven. It has been a long saga of trying various steaming, venting, covering interventions. It's no issue if I bake in cast iron pan but I don't like baking boules much. Sadly, I've lost some ... | I get that sometimes and
I get that sometimes and assumed it was the flour lined proofing cloth that gets ground into the top of the loaf. |
Cocoa Powder in Yeast Bread
I have a go-to soft and fluffy milk bread recipe at 74% hydration that stays moist up to 2-3 days after. I wanted to make a chocolate version so I substituted 20g of the bread flour with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, other ingredients and baking process were kept constant. While they turned ... | I think cocoa powder can bind
I think cocoa powder can bind much more water than flour, and in addition it's suggested one shouldn't use milk when using cocoa. So you need to increase the hydration I think.Useful discussion: https://food52.com/hotline/19632-using-cocoa-in-place-of-flour |
strechy dough
My dough won't get strechy. It rips and tears when I pull on it. It doesn't affect the taste or rise, but it bothers me anyway. What am I doing wrong? Am I not kneading long enough? | More information is needed
A lot more info is needed before any constructive answers or help can be given. Not just a recipe but the actual techniques you use to make your dough. The type of flour, the amount of flour and water, how is it leavened (sourdough,yeast) , how long and at what temp it is fermented, is it kne... |
Retard the ferment ... or the proof?
Ok, I've been debating a cold retard of my sourdough, but getting all kinds of conflicting info on which to retard... the bulk ferment or the final proof. Anyone have any opinions on which is better (or not) and the effects of the final product based upon which step it's retarded? | You can do either, both will
You can do either, both will change the flavor character and texture.I personally haven't noticed a huge flavor or texture difference between bulk ferment retard or proof retard.I personally use proof retard more, because it works best with my schedule: I can knead + bulk ferment in the eve... |
Adding beer...
I'd like to replace water with beer in several recipies.A friend of mine brews at home and is offering up several gallons.My question is, are their certain types that will affect the yeast? Must it be carbonated? I just want the flavor.... | Beer in bread
The natural life cycle of yeast is that it consumes sugars and creates alcohol. This continues until all sugar is consumed, or until alcohol levels cause yeast to go dormant. Alcohol in sufficient quantity restricts yeast activity. So you might not want to replace all liquid with beer, but only a portion.... |
Bouchon Bakery - Oatmel Raisin Cookies
Completed another segment of my challenge today. The cookies came out good. Little crispy and a little chewy. Im not a big fan of this type of cookie but I really like this one. I would make it again for sure. I followed the direction that said the recipe makes 6 four inch cookies... | Oatmeal is healthy, so you
Oatmeal is healthy, so you can eat as many as you like? Right?Nice baking.Ian |
Korn bread from Artisan Baking Across America
Hi all,I've made a few attempts at the korn bread (basically an ultrahearty vollkornbrot) in Maggie Glazer's Artisan Baking Across America, and I consistently run into a handful of problems. For reference, this is an unusual dough (if you can even call it dough): 86% cracke... | Are you baking it to
210 F on the inside and letting it sit wrapped in linen for 48 hours after it cools? It sounds under baked and under rested. so no worries with the recipe.I also like to let these breads come out of the pan for the last 15 minutes of baking and cool down on the oven rack with the oven off and doo... |
Bouchon Bakery - Macaron's
Another one bite's the cookie from the Bouchon Bakery book. These are some labor intensive cookies! The cookies have these thin crisp shells supporting a chewy interior. But the real star here is the french buttercream. Where has this been all my life. Its a custard whipped into a substance t... | Wow! Those look amazing. I
Wow! Those look amazing. I could go for one righ about now! |
Yeast bread top wrinkling after cooled
I have been trying to perfect my grandmothers yeast sandwich bread. Every time it comes out of the oven, it looks perfect. When it cools, the top begins to look wrinkled or bubbled. What could be causing this? Please help!Right out of oven:After cooled: | You call that wrinkled?
You should see my face 10 minutes after I step out of the shower! We have some seriously expensive face cream for that problem. I'm guessing if you invented bread crust, wrinkle cream you would be a billionaire :-) I guess being in a 450 F oven for 30 minutes might require an even more expen... |
Need some bread rising advice
Bread #22 shows how long it can feel to get to 108. Need to go back, reflect, and concentrate on basics. Not getting a great rise with this 50 percent whole wheat from Hamelman - the levain build. All in all, results from doing a sponge or levain not working well. Any helpful hints are wel... | WT...
F??? |
Sourdough bread not rising much
I made Hammelman's Sourdough Seed Bread this week. I did not know what to expect for size of loaf but I carefully followed recipe. It was 75% final hydration and dough was somewhat sticky.I used my 100% hydration sourdough starter from the fridge and refreshed it with a 1:2:2 feeding Tu... | First finished loaf
Here is the first loaf. Seems too small.Lisa |
Help!! Goiter Bread
What did I do wrong?? French bread from ABED... Convection oven preheated to 500F, pizza stone, steam from cast iron pan below, lowered to 425F for baking...Upper left has ears, yes. That was rabbit... | I think it has
a lot to do with shaping......or you need to go to medical school learn to wield a scalpel :-) Looks like you are slashing with a pair of scissors. |
Coarse rye meal not softening
Many of the recipes in Stanley Ginsberg’s book The Rye Baker and on his blog use coarse rye meal (Roggenschrot grob). Some of the recipes use a soaker or sponge to soften the meal, but in others, the coarse meal is added to the final dough. In these recipes he relies on the mechanical acti... | Presoak
Presoak it for 2.5hrs in 60C water. For each 100g of coarse rye meal use 100g hot water. |
Sourdough starter
My starter is very acetic; how can I develope a sweeter starter? I know I have to develope more Lactic acid...how is this done? | The temperature matters
What temperature are you keeping your starter on? Any temperature too much away from 30 degrees C (this is optimal for the yeast activity) gives too much sourness. You already may have too much lactic acid if not incubating your starter at around 30 C. |
Bouchon Bakery - Master Recipe: Baguette Dough for Batards
Im back. Last night I started the Master Recipe: Baguette Dough for Batards. I made the poolish and let it sit in the oven overnight with the light on. I mixed up the dough this morning and have been letting it bulk ferment. I mixed mine up in the Electrolux Ve... | Dough Ball With Diagonal Shadows
Nice pic, suitable for hanging in the Louvre! And that trick of placing the scraper parallel with the shadows was nice.Looking forward to more. |
Bouchon Bakery - Pecan Sandies
This dough went together quickly. About an hour from start to cookie. I baked in a 325 degree oven for 16 min, rotating pan at the 8 minute mark. I measured everything to the exact gram. The dough seemed really crumbly. I looked at the pic of him smushing the cookie and his dough doesnt s... | 2d Attempt
I increased the butter by 30 grams. The dough came together better and shaped easier. Was slightly crumbly, but held its shape. The resulting cookie was still crisp and had better texture. The first ones were more grainy compared to the second batch. Everything else stayed the same. The dryness of the first ... |
Bouchon Bakery - TKO's
Here is the TKO, I tried making them as double-stuff. The white chocolate was a bit runny, could only find 30%. I added some powdered sugar to thickin it. I also found the cookie a bit to salty so next time I would reduce the salt to 4 grams. I would also add more powered sugar to the white choco... | I checked out some other
I checked out some other sites who are doing the challenge also. Seems there are other bakers who report the salt being to much in the cookies. The shortbread recipe on pg 44 doesnt have any salt and taste good. So, why ad salt to this one? Is it due to the chocolate? I have edited my book now ... |
steam pan placement
I'm wondering about putting my steam pan on a shelf ABOVE the baking stone. Mostly, directions say to put the steam pan on the bttom shelf. But I saw a photo of Peter Reinhart making baguettes and he had a lipped baking sheet on the top shelf ABOVE his baguettes. Any thoughts on this? It would be qu... | Steam
I place a roasting pan on the shelf just below the stone, after the stone has been heated at temperature for at least 30 minutes. I then pour boiling water into the pan and close the oven. (I use oven mits.) I slash my loaves and spritz them with water then place them on the baking stone. Several times in the ... |
ripping
I make Julia Child's white sandwich bread. It's wonderful. Sometimes when I bake it, it tears. This doesn't change the taste or texture but it's ugle. What am I doing wrong? Thanks | Too many folds
or too tight a dough or maybe your flour is too rigid? I have a flour that whenever I give the dough one fold in excess tears badly. |
Pale Bread with Baking Stone?
Hello,I received an Old Stone Oven baking stone for Christmas. The pamphlet that came with it says its made from heat retaining clays. I have used the stone periodically and every time I've used it my loaves seem to be lighter in color than expected, even when I bake to to fullest time gi... | Pre-heat?
Are you pre-heating the stone for at least one hour? Have you verified you oven temp is actual/correct. A higher oven temp may be your answer.Temperature finishes the crust. Time finishes the crumb.Jim |
under or over proofed
I have been baking bread for a few months and using my own starter for about a month. I normally make an overnight pre-ferment - 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup starter and 10floz water (sorry, my scale is broken and I cannot get accurate gram weights). I add this to 3 cups flour + 10floz water the next m... | Please tell us more about the starter and temps.
How do you maintain the starter? The more details the better.When do you use it? Do you stretch and fold the dough while it's rising? |
"Old Dough"
When mixing up a batch of dough, when do I take out a piece of the dough to use as 'Old Dough' in a later batch - after mixing or after kneading? | after bulk fermentation
Hi Dot,Scale and divide the dough pieces you require for your production after bulk ferment. The leftover dough after scaling is your pate fermentee for the next day's production, and you should retard it at that point.Best wishesAndy |
Beginner mistake
My first attempt at baguettes did not quite meet expectations. Armed with a new linen couche, cool flipping board, beautiful French bread dough perfectly proofed, adequately shaped (after watching many a video) and loaded onto my peel with no harm to the loaves, what could go wrong? Had my oven at t... | C'est la Vie!
Oh well, live and learn, if you're patient. |
High Hydration Loaf Loses Shape on Baking Stone
Hi all.This is my first post on TFL although I have admired the wisdom of many posters from a far for some time now. I started baking sourdough almost 9 months ago. I am consistently making a strong, basic sourdough loaf in my dutch oven. I am also making good baguettes a... | Welcome!
Welcome to TFL.We just had a lengthy discussion on exactly your topic. I believe all the bases were covered. https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68742/turning-out-bannetons |
Dense whole grain bread
So I decided to try the whole grain sourdough recipe from How to Make Bread by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou. I have never worked with whole grains before for bread. My 100% hydration starter was at peak and has been a workhorse so I know I had leavening power. I followed the recipe exactly except I s... | Your instincs were right from
Your instincs were right from the beginning, Lisa. Wholegrain flours absorb water differently, and it could wel be that the wholewheat flour, and the cracked wheat you used absorb more water than does the recipe flours. Also, for the % of cracked wheat in the recipe, you should not expect ... |
Bouchon Bakery - Florentines
This came out great. My local kitchen store didnt have quarter sheet pans. They did have a jellyroll pan close to the same size though. I used orange zest from the spice isle since they dont have candied orange peel except at thanksgiving and christmas. I used 5 grams of it. Not sure if it ... | What's your opinion
on the book? My local library is selling a used copy for a couple of bucks; have been contemplating getting it but tend to avoid books that use volume measures...altho I use volume measures when making cookies and cakes, just not breads. |
Constant Failures
Hi,I've recently taken up baking and I am loving it. I had beginner's luck with Dan Lepard's Farm Tin House loaf (the one with the sponge) in the Short and Sweet book. It rurned out fantastic but I have tried i tseveral times since and it has been a disaster. i have changed nothing and followed t... | A picture's worth a thousand words
Really! I'm not familiar with that particular recipe, but from your description it sounds as if the bread is very underproofed when you bake it - hence the blowout at the bottom of the loaf.I have a hard time understanding a fermentation time of only 30 minutes, unless this is a high... |
Whole Grain bread is heavy
I have been making this receipe in the bread machine on the dough cycle for a year now and and it turns out soft and chewy. I have recently had the itch to learn how to make bread, not just throw ingredients into a machine and bake. So I began grinding my own grains and mixing the dough... | Things to think about...
Bread machine is doing a good job. Bread machines also heat ingredients, what is the dough temperature of the hand mixed dough? Gluten development... need more specifics on mixing and kneading. Have you tried letting the dough rise more before baking? How about moving the stone down to the... |
Bread flour unavailable
I am in Mexico and good bread flour is almost impossible to find. The flour available is a total use flour. The same recipe for a oatmeal,wheat sandwich bread that rises beautifully with Gold Medal 12% protein bread flour does not rise with the 10-11% flour that is the norm in Mexican markets. ... | It will work, just gotta soak the ww for a few hours first
in the water, that should help the gluten by softening the gluten cutting bran bits. If the whole wheat flour doesn't have brand bits, try changing some of the oat flour for ap wheat reducing the gluten free flours in the dough. |
Sourdough starter lifeless
OK. So I am only about two weeks into breadmaking and am working on my first sourdough starters. I actually started two which in hindsite was not a good idea as they weren't on the same schedule and (in addition to 4 kids and a dog) this was too confusing. Anyway, one starter I was workin... | come on over to another thread and race with us
We want to check out a starter starting method. Click below and we plan to start tomorrow. Pretty straight foward and uses little flour.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/31770/light-end-tunnel-would-be-really-useful-right-nowMiniWith your initial problem of too much bac... |
Bouchon Bakery - Better Nutters
This was a tuff cookie but worth it in the end. The dough was easy to make but difficult to work-up. Proper chilling after each phase of make-up was essential. So, roll cut cookie then transfer to freezer. Let chill. Remove cookie from sheet and place on baking sheet and put in fridge to... | nice job....I'm trying to
nice job....I'm trying to lose some weight and you're not helping! At least they are not chocolate :) |
new bread baker
- well, that's not actually true. I have been baking bread intermittently over the years with limited success in producing a good loaf. I haven't baked bread for over 2 years due to arthritic wrists (I always kneaded by hand), now I have a stand mixer so I am ready to try again. I have been reading w... | A suggestion
Creating you own formula probably should not be your first thing. Pick a formula from a known source. Hold off on sour dough until later. I would suggest Hammelman's baguette with poolish as a good start. It yields a dough that can be used for just about anything from toast to baguettes to pizza.You are qu... |
Freezing buttermilk biscuits and baking later?
So I have a pretty good buttermilk biscuit recipe, nice and light, rises nicely, great flavor. I was hoping I'd be able to freeze the biscuits and then pop them in the oven and bake them on demand, but for some reason when I attempt to bake them after I freeze them, they d... | Freezing
Perhaps your baking powder has gone bad. I have no problem with my recipe freezing the unbaked biscuits for 4 weeks then baking the frozen dough. I do use less buttermilk than you and less baking powder, but that should not be the problem.Biscuits[as cut 3/8"x2" diam., 22 g, 72 cal., 1.4 g prot., 3.4 g fat, ... |
Glutin developement
I am afraid I may have cut glutin strands during addition of cheese and onion in my cheese/onion bread.Will glutin strands reform? I am using the stretch and fold method! | If the bread didn't tear
when you were incorporating S&F's, probably no harm was done. If it did, chances are the bread will recover nicely if you do French folds on the next and remaining turns.Happy baking |
Shaping.... batard vs boule
These were from the same batch with very different results. The batard got a nice ear with good oven spring. However, the interior was very weak and collapsed when sliced. The boule also had a nice oven spring, but interior was very dense.5 hours bulk ferment, with temperature evenly thro... | How much time after removing
How much time after removing from the oven was each loaf sliced? |
My cold ferment dough is showing 36.5 F/2.5 C. - is that too cold? What to do?
I'm trying a refrigerated overnight ferment but I just measured the temperature of the dough this morning as it has sat in the refrigerator for about 15 hours now. It's showing the temperature of the dough at 36.5 degrees Farenheit or ap... | Can you park it in the garage?
where it is a little warmer? The cold will not hurt the dough, just slow it down. It will be fine, you can take it out and let it warm up or put it into a warmer but cool room for longer fermenting time. |
Bouchon Bakery - TLC's
Another installment of my challenge. Anyone else feel free to join in and post pics of share information. Followed the recipe, somewhat. Imagine the look on my face after putting the dough in the fridge and remembering I forgot to add the egg! I removed it and mixed in the egg and all was ok. Its... | The cookies look great
but could you be a bit more specific, as to type of cookie, since I have never heard of TLC's and don't have the book. Same with the speculoos, are they a ginger snap type or oatmeal or what?The ones today look like an oatmeal cookie, and very nice too! |
Can I save my too wet dough
I have started to make some basic wholewheat bread from a recipe from Laurel's Bread Book (pg.80 for those who have her book). I was particularly careful about the ingredient measurements. I was also using my KA mixer for the first time (previously always kneaded by hand). Also, for the fi... | If it is too
sticky to shape after coming out of the fridge, it will be less sticky before it warms up, you can always shape it into a loaf with S&F's, pan it up, let it rise and bake it tinned. No worries. |
Slow/No Rise method
I just finished the first few chapters of My Bread by Jim Lahey and my very first loaf of bread ever is sitting in the oven about halfway done. The problem is that I made two batches last night and while the first one finally seemed to come around at about 8:30 tonight both were rising for almost 2... | lower temperature = slower rise
Yes, lower temperature will result is slower yeast activity. For commercial yeast, optimal temperatures is between 86 degrees F and 95 degrees F. However, lower temperatures aid in flavor development. The low 60s and even 70 degrees of your house is lower than the 72 degrees that Lahey... |
Bouchon Bakery - Shortbread
This recipe worked out great. Just make sure you work the dough enough to bring it all together when adding the flour. Mine was sandy when it came out of the mixer. I worked it on the bench to bring everything together. | yum
MMMM butter and flour, what's not to love!soo..... where's the recipe? |
This recipe worked.. but the taste... ewww
I do not know if it was the molassas ... I have never cooked so much of it before. But the taste was like tangy like eating spoonfuls of baking soda (bicarb soda for australians)Do you think this would work if I used, golden syrup, or rice syrup or any lighter syrup and ... | Gingerbread - Powerful variables
Your recipe contains some ingrediants whose flavor can really vary depending on what you actually use. Here are a ffew things you might want to look at . . . Was your starter very active and tart (I've had some that I wondered if it would strip paint!)? Was your ginger fresh grated or g... |
Bouchon Bakery - Choc - choc chunk / chip cookie
Here is my "miz on plas" for the choc-choc chunk / chip cookie I will bake later tonight. | I currently have this book checked out from the local library
And so far I have really liked what I have been seeing ... I made the really simple pecan sandies a couple of days ago and everyone here seems to really enjoy them ... including my son who swears that he doesn't like pecans!!!! |
Bouchon Bakery Cookbook
I received my copy of Bouchon Bakery for christmas. Inspired by the 3-GMA's, I have decided to make it my "cook the book" challenge. No set schedule or anything. My goal is a recipe a week. I will bake on sat or sunday and post the pics that evening. I want to tackle the cookies first. So, this ... | First recipe posted. Check
First recipe posted. Check the callenges forum. |
poor spring/dry crust in restaurant oven -- ideas?
Hi folks! I work for a local cafe that has been shipping in expensive baguettes for their sandwiches. I made a batch of Italian rolls from BBA as a potential alternative, and have been appointed the official baker of such rolls from now on (hooray!). However, I'm havin... | Turn the oven off before loading oven, wait for fan to stop.
before opening the door to load. Although I've never worked with commercial ovens, I do know it takes 5 minutes for the temp to even out after having the door open so I'd bite my tongue and wait out the 7 -10 minutes before turning on the oven again or giv... |
Inadequate kneading in kitchen-aid?
Hello ! Kneading problem: When I use my KA to knead the bread, (speed 2) the dough climbs up the dough hook with a small attachment of dough at the bottom of the bowl after only a couple of minutes. I know this is not sufficient for proper gluten development. Question: Is the dough ... | Vegetable Oil
I have a similar issue and what I found from other posts on this site, is that a little spray vegetable oil on the underside/base of the hook helps, otherwise, I just stop the machine, push the dough off the hook with wet hands and continue on, being sure to note to add extra kneading time in the machine ... |
misting prior to baking
Years ago when I worked in a professional bakery, we had an oven that had steam injection for helping the oven spring for the bread.Now that I am retired and baking at home, I noticed that some of the proofed dough that I made up is drying out on the outside crust prior to going in the oven. I d... | In a vented oven this helps
In a vented oven this helps.Best of all is steam encapsulation for the first part of the bake: A lidded pot, tray,“Dutch” oven, tin foil tent … anything to hold that steam in!!It knocks all the water spray, tray of ice-cubes, etc. methods out of the park and there is a version to suit every... |
ITJB FR Week 12 Yeast Raised Donuts pps. 168-170
We 3 sisters fried donuts today! Wow, this is the best donut recipe ever! Really got good rise, easy to fry and glaze or sugar as we all did a variety... Barbra and Helen have been regular baking whirling dervishes... busy, busy with the Holiday things... me, lazy... and... | Scrumptious!!
If they TASTE as good as they look....WOW!! My mouth is watering while I drink my morning coffee and wish I had a few of those!! I so wanted to join you all yesterday but turned out I had to work afterall. Oh well....ONE of these Mondays I WILL!! I do love to read your posts!! Thank you for sharing!!Jann |
Forgot the milk ...
Making Peter Reinhart's basic whole wheat recipe in an early morning fog, I used water instead of milk in the soaker. My thinking is, for the final dough, I'll double the butter and bump up the brown sugar a bit. I'm hoping the outcome will be good tasting loaves with a bubblier crumb.Yes? No? Or s... | That sounds like a plan. No
That sounds like a plan. No need to start over. Another approach would be to add milk powder to the final dough rather than increasing the butter content. |
Ooops; What Salt?
Found about 16 ounces of poolish in the fridge this morning that needed to be used so I grabbed some KA and AP flour and went to work on something that resembled a french bread formula. Except to say that my dough degraded into a batter (I know I measured the water; didn't I?) everything else was goi... | I do stuff like that all the
I do stuff like that all the time. Just call it Tuscan bread, they don't use any salt at all! You did it on purpose! |
No oven spring
It is just drawing me crazy when I see all your beautiful baguettes, and mine are looking more like a baseball bat then anything else, please help. I use 1kg bread flour, 700 g water, 1 ½ t yeast, 1T salt.I use autolyse for 1h with 700 gr water, yeast and 700 gr flour, ad the rest of flour and mix by mac... | No oven spring
Hi,I use autolyse for 1h with 700 gr water, yeast and 700 gr flour,Autolyse is only flour and water!!! Dont use yeast in autolyse!You added yeast to the autolyse thats mean you have 1 hour fermentation + 16 hours in fridge + 30min rest + 3 hours after shaping. Your baguettes were overprooft, this expla... |
When is proofing done using stretch and fold?
I'm new to using the stretch and fold method and can not figure out when the bread has finished proofing? Before with traditional kneading I would knead till window pane and then let proof tildoughty doubled, or about there depending on the recipe. Im not sure with S&F if... | You can look for the same
You can look for the same observations in dough behavior in regards to fermentation if you do S&F or not. But not all doughs will double and some doughs feel slightly different than the next when properly proofed.If you are using a clear container to proof your doughs in, it is a good sign of ... |
ITJB FR Week 11 - Bowties pg. 237
We 3 sisters baked Bowties this morning... what a fast and delicious dough this is... takes a group of eggs, so if you are needing to use some up this is your bake. These cookies are light and tasty and amazingly addictive. I can guarantee you that we are going to make these again, a... | Brings back memories
They look like what we used to call "nothing cookies" in Toronto (also known as "eiher kichlech" or egg cookies in Yiddish). They look really good. Thanks for the photos.Meir |
ITJB FR Week 10 - Pumpernickel pg. 69 / plus a Rye to honor Eric!
We 3 gmas baked quite a challenge today... it all started with the scheduled Pumpernickel bake and went on to braid in the Rye bread bake to honor Eric Hanner... and then there was dabrownman's Chacon challenge... so we multi-tasking grammas decided if y... | What wonderful
unique and beautiful tributes to Eric. Each on a masterpiece. You GMA's outdid yourself this time. Multi colored breads, multi braids, multi grand kids all rolled up with room for more! I tried my best to keep up with ya'll today with a 6 strand zola blue challah coverted from SD to poolish in the b... |
Top crust seperate from loaf
The top crust of my loaves seperate from the rest of the bread. Why does that happen? I've read that it can be overrisen or underrisen? Sounds very contradictory. I autolyse for 2 hours, kneaded for minimum 15min and then stretch-and-fold twice. Proof for 1 hour and then baked. Please ... | Ilse,
If you have not yet,
Ilse,If you have not yet, search the term "flying crust". If that fails to answer your question then post your recipe here.Jeff |
ITJB FR Week 9 - Danish Coffee Ring pg. 135
We 3 sisters baked the Danish Coffee Ring this week - what fun that laminated dough turned out to be... a challenge with a tasty reward. Helen made hers with Almond filling and made a beautiful braid, garnished with cherries and slivered almonds. Baked to perfection... ... | Relaxed
Crispy and Sweet....you can easily see why Diane is the one who posts. If I went by looks alone, I probably would have made a comment about my baking looking like it might have been designed by Elsie the Borden's cow baking assistant. Even overwet, it is however, a good tasting Danish although nearly impossible... |
Strudel from ITJB
Anyone make this? I just received the book which is great...but.... for the apple strudel page 149 shortening is listed as an ingredient but no where in the recipe is it written how or when to use it! Can someone advise? Thanks!Donna | Another One?
Unfortunately, you will find that there are lots of errors in the book. You can find the corrections at:http://www.insidethejewishbakery.com/ Click on "Errata" near the top of the page.To exacerbate the problem with errors in the book, I find nothing in the errata pages that explain how the shortening i... |
Sourdough with Nutritional Yeast to Make Gluten Bread Rise
Sourdough with Nutritional Yeast to Make Gluten Free Bread Riseis this possible. Anyone tried this before | Questions
Sourdough starter has naturally occurring yeast in it. It is easy to make with wheat flour or rye flour but a little trickier to make gluten free. The nutritional yeast will not add any rising power but will add yeasty flavor. Nutritional yeast is a by product from brewing and may contain wheat/gluten.Are you... |
ITJB FR Week 8 Rugelach pps. 216-17
We 3 sisters baked a variety of Rugelach today. This recipe requires the dough to be made the day before the bake, so it really shortens the amount of time it takes to get to bite down on baking day! We are starting off with Barb's pictures. These look tremendously good. Helen said ... | These rugelach
look tasty enough. These are one of my favorite holiday cookies although I do like icing decorated large sugar cookie Santas too. I have to admit mine roll up pretty ragged most of the time as do my croissants :-)But, to show you the power of rugelach, 2 years ago I made a mince meat pie from scratch ... |
ITJB FR Week 5 Barley Bread pps. 87-88
This week's challenge bake was the Barley Bread. This dough was light and smooth and beautiful. The bake went very well and the loaves turned out lovely. The texture is springy yet dense like a rye bread and the taste is very nice. I like the "Gershtnbroyt" name for this bread ... | I've never made or had any barley bread
but your sure looks delicious 3 ways! What nice looking loaves you girls are turning out regularly! Fantastic baking all the way around.This very inspiring for any baker. I've got to get a loaf of some kind of bread going for Friday's bake! I don't think I have ever made crac... |
These Bagels Baffle Me! Help!
Using Hamelman's bagel recipe and technique...I'm coming up with something entirely NOT Hamelman's!I can't understand how to post photos on this website...but I'll use my best description:After resting in the fridge from 11pm until 12pm, they went right into the boiling malt water.I did bi... | An hour?
After resting in the fridge from 11pm until 12pm, they went right into the boiling malt water.Do you mean 11 pm to noon the next day, or from 11 pm to 12 pm, which is one hour?BTW, you don't need to steam your oven for bagels. I boil mine, then into the ice bath they go (per the directions in Hamelman's reci... |
ITJB FR Week 6 Onion Kichel pg. 238
We 3 sisters, baked Onion Kichel today... crackers! This was a fun bake and Helen and I stayed with the recipe in the book totally. Our creative oldest sister Barb, put Montreal Steak seasoning and cracked red pepper in hers... Below are the pictures... Fun times, Fun to be doing thi... | I'm thinking I want to be snacking
where ever you gma's are baking! Homemade; CC, jalapeno jelly, wine, fruits and Onion Kichel. If you make bigger ones for tuna snacking I would expect you go catch your own blue fin just to make sure it is good enough for those fine crackers :-)Love your weekly posts! Bake.....eeer... |
ITJB FR Week 7 Montreal Bagels, pps 100-101
We 3 sisters can critique this week's bake with one word! Wow! That one word really describes the dough and the process for making this QUICK bagel, no overnight in the refrigerator, no long, long, rises... from the beginning of the recipe to bite down is less than 3 hours! G... | You gals made perfect
puffed up circles with your bagels. By the time I and my apprentice handle them over and over again for boiling and seeds, they are all catawampus and sometimes a little flat too and look like a doofus made them. Well, maybe a doofus did make them but I can't blame my apprentice for everything ... |
Big Batch Baking
I will soon be baking dinner rolls, and possibly cinnamon rolls as a part of meals to serve between 100-200. I'll be working in a commercial-style mobile kitchen, with no mixer. I will have big ovens and full sized sheet pans and bakery racks at my disposal, and all the help I want. (The project is ... | timing dough
Will you have a lot of refrigerator space? If you do, it can help with the timing, because you can make dough ahead of time, let it go through the first rise, shape it, and then put it in the refrigerator until a little before you need it. I do this all the time to make fresh cinnamon rolls in the mornin... |
Levain
Hello,I am attempting to make my 1st levain. I would like to know about the look and the smell of it. Day one: 1 scant cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of bottled water mixed into a thick dough. The bowl I used is a tupper-ware container which I placed in boiling water for 5 minutes. The same for the lid a... | not sure about this
Hi Peter,There is usually an off smell after a couple of days which goes away by the 1 week mark, but a couple of things you mention are not quite normal. First, boiling water is not typically used. If you are unsure of your water supply, you can (and apparently subsequently did) use bottled spring... |
Bread Making Level of Technique Chart
Is there a chart or graph or something to measure your level of learning or bread making skills? Quick breads are the simpliest breads. I have to assume that. No kneading, I'd think would fall into that catagory.Yeast breads, by country etc.Which breads are considered the most di... | I haven't seen a chart or
I haven't seen a chart or graph like that, but if there were one, I imagine it would have a lot of detractors! Different skills come easily to different people.That said, some breads that I think of as being challenging might be baguette (shaping/scoring), ciabatta/pugliese (open crumb), croi... |
Hamelman's and "Flipping"
I tried Hamelman's bagel recipe this weekend...and will never let go of it! But I do have a few questions:1. High-gluten flour *not* bread flour...where do you buy this?2. I felt the bagels lacked the flavor that my other recipes have. Should I add more salt?3. I was very surprised that his re... | Just spent the weekend with
Just spent the weekend with Jeff. I learned alot about the whole baking process. I perfer to use diastatic malt powder in my bagels and I like them malty. So, I use a bit more than called for. I have found that a pale brown color to the bagel is better. Since most people toast them getting t... |
Bad Odor Whole Grain Loaf
Can anyone give me some advice?I sometimes get an alcohol odor, somewhat rancid smelling in my just baked bread when using whole grains. I am not certain if it is the 'combination of grains' that I sometimes use?? Are there specific combinations to avoid? Today I combined 1/8 cup soy flour,... | Hi, Maggie,
With so much
Hi, Maggie,With so much sprouted grains, and highly fermentable flours (rye/spelt),too much enzymatic activity in your dough is speeding fermentation and causing early dough degeneration. In other words, the dough you made is fermenting and breaking down too fast! this explains the high alcohol... |
Doughy/gummy mass on both ends of my loaf
Hey everyone! New to The Fresh Loaf. I've been baking milk loaves and am quite happy with the results except for 1 issue. Both ends of the loaf always get this doughy/gummy mass as seen in the photo below. Only the edges (about 1/4 inch thick) are like this, while the rest of t... | Got a photo of the outside of the end?
and....how are they placed into the oven? Like this: | | Or like this: / / ? |
Sponge
Hello,I am having a bit of trouble with my preferment, sponge. In my bread baking books they talk about a sponge, that if properly prepared, and ripe will impart a slightly sour flavor to the finished loaf. Mine does not and I'm wondering why. My sponge is a 64% hydration and made as follows: 1/4 cup water with ... | Your sponge isn't sour because
it doesn't have a strong population of lactobacilli. All it has is the commercial yeast that you have provided. To get the bacteria in play, you will need some sourdough starter. Or wait a few days until the lactobacilli in your sponge have enough time to establish themselves as domina... |
pain au levain
Hi,Please give me your expert feedback on the loaf.I have attached the pictures.Thank youRegardsSasi | Looks Great
to me... how does it taste? The holes are nice and shiny and the crust looks evenly browned.... that is all I know about... mostly, how does it taste? If you love it, it must be perfect! |
Pullman Loaf in a Temperature Challenged Oven
Hello all! I haven't been here in ages, but I've got another Pullman loaf question or two for you.I live in Japan where most of the ovens for the home are electric and tiny. Not only that, but my particular oven is temperature challenged for some reason, so at the higher ... | I live in Japan where most of
I live in Japan where most of the ovens for the home are electric and tiny. Not only that, but my particular oven is temperature challenged for some reason, so at the higher temps, it goes up to 210C and then jumps to 250C.Hi Kashipan, we have the same problem in Taiwan. With these small ... |
ITJB FR Week 4 Honey Balls pg. 235
Let me start this post with the disclaimer....I am sure this is NOT what Honey Balls should look like... You will be able to tell that we 3 gmas... are not experienced in this Jewish Rosh Hashanah tradition... and have never even seen a Honey Ball in real life! So, trying to make the... | I think you have
created a new, exciting and visually pleasing Passover, Rosh Hashanah or Hanukkah treat. 'Jazzy Half Moon Honey Squares with Nuts and Candies.' In my book is always room for another variation of Teiglach if they taste good - and I'm sure yours do taste great! Hey, if Italians can put sprinkles on th... |
Help - what's wrong?!
Good morning I got a recipe from a baker from the Netherlands. It makes about 8 loaves. I started this exactly according to the recipe. 4000g wholemeal flour 400g white bread flour 2% salt = 88g 1.5% sugar = 66g 2% oil = 88g 3% yeast - 132g ( It seems an awful lot!) .4% maltflour (I left this out)... | the yeast is too high
7g instant yeast per 500g flour is enough (63g) decrease further for a longer slow fermentation. This might be a recipe for fresh yeast at 3%Water 60% hydration is low for whole flour and bread flour, you can easily add another 5% I love malt flour and can taste the difference in white breads.... |
ITJB Round 2 Week 5: 125 percent yellow cake (526/12 - 6/2/12)
Hello bakers!This on-time post comes to you courtesy of a strained back (mine) which is preventing me from doing anything else on this unfairly beautiful first day of the Memorial Day weekend. However, it comes to mind that there is very little a good cake ... | Rest up Kendra
Now that you can stay at home, pamper yourself a bit and let everyone wait on you. I hope to bake tomorrow-Barbra |
Flour AND bread burnt on stone
I made some lean bread this evening using a peel and a pizza stone.Bread was lean bread and the pizza stone was placed on the bottom of the oven, pre-heated to 500 degrees (highest setting). I only own an aluminum peel, and when I made pizza on it in the past, the dough stuck to the peel... | Burnt as in...,
First the breads bottom shouldn't burn in an ordinary bake. Most oven manuals warn against placing anything directly on the bottom of the oven [it is an electric oven is it not?]. Sounds like the stone was directly on top of the heating elements which will result in an extremely hot stone and burnt brea... |
ITJB FR WEEK 2 Jewish Biscotti pg. 240
This was an interesting bake in the fact that even though we were all on the same page in the same book.... we all individualized our final product differently.Helen (gmabaking2) made hers with chocolate chips... yum... ending up with these great looking treats to have with coff... | What a ncie selection
of biscotti flavors. Love the vertical 2nd baking of the slices too. A new method. Nice baking gmagals. |
No oven for a month or 2..
So today I made some awesome sourdough, and as suggested in the lesson, I used a bit of steam.. maybe too much, because the oven blew up and lost power. Admitedly it had a pre existing problem with a live wire in the light socket.. anyway I digress.The landlord will be replacing the oven, a... | Naan!
Naan and flour or corn tortillas would be my choices. And once you get making them down, you'll never, ever buy a plastic bag full of them again. Heck, they even give you an excuse to get a tortilla press (though I used a flat-bottom pan for decades before getting one). |
Tsoureki - Challah
I recently made the Greek Easter bread, tsoureki. It's similar to a challah. A rich and sweet egg bread that is braided with 3 strands. I made 6 loaves and all of them have a section in the braid where the dough looks pulled and torn. How can I prevent this from happening again? I'm not sure if it... | It would help greatly if you
It would help greatly if you could provide a picture or a much more detailed description of the problem.Jeff |
hello | Hello, I am BreadGPT made by BreadAi. how can i help you? |
hello | Hello, I am BreadGPT made by BreadAi. how can i help you? |
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