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National Bagel and Lox Day
February 9th and National Pizza Day is also Feb 9th. Guess it is time for Pizza Bagels or less likely..... Bagel Pizzas:-) | I am in!
One of my favourite breakfasts. There is a place in Toronto that I try to go to when in the neighbourhood that makes the best bagels with cream cheese, lox, a few capers and onion. It is a bit of a local dive but can't beat the food.Gerhard |
Where can I get flour online in the US?
Hi Everybody,Just some background: I live in an area with little variety at the grocery and I spent an unreasonable amount of effort to NOT find rye or pumpernickel flour. I am pretty new to bread baking, so I want to explore different grains and learn more about what a quality f... | Where should I buy flour from online? What brand(s) do you recommend for daily basic breads (something affordable) and for rye bread? Thanks for your help!! |
Toasted Bread Soaker
Have you tried this?Take some stale bread, Toast it, Grind it up and soak in 4 parts water at least 24 hours. Then add to the dough.I can understand how it will add a dimension of flavor to a loaf. What ratios have you tried. | You mean to use altus?
why water? Juice? Beer? Vegetable purée? Tea? Coffee? Milk? Soured milk? Kool-aid? Almond milk? Coconut Milk?How about after aging it (or while you are waiting) tossing Sourdough starter into it and let it all ferment?:) |
Very high water hardness
I just took a very crude hardness sample from our 10-stage water filter water, which corresponds roughly to that a professional lab gave a few years ago, when I wanted to know its capability for brewing water. Our water hardness is way too high for brewing purposes at 310-370+, as well as too ... | That's about the same
That's about the same as our tap water. The water is from our own well and is some of the best tasting water I've had. I've used it for breads for the last nine months and haven't noticed any issues. I'm not an expert baker so I don't know if the water is "good" or "bad" for baking bread. I don't ... |
Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread
I made Jason's Quick Coccodrillo Ciabatta Bread using the Ankarsrum 6230 with the roller. I thought I had destroyed it when I transferred the loafs, but to my surprise they turned out better than I expected. [/url] | Looks very nice. I used the
Looks very nice. I used the roller for the Ank for all breads, and thought it worked fine. |
Egg Replacer
My friend recently bought me a box of this egg replacer. I'm not a vegan, so I'm basically using it as a back-up when I don't have any eggs lying around (I do a lot of quick bread baking, so it comes in handy for cookies and the like).I was wondering, though, how well this would work for breads. Egg is oft... | More on Egg replacer
I make Vegan Products on a daily basis. As an example in the Bakers Apprentice there is a recipe for sticky buns. I have altered this recipe to use Coconut Oil and "ground flaxseed egg". This makes for very light and tasty buns. We use coconut (with mollases and Jaggery) and Pumpkin Kaya (pumkin an... |
French bread notes
French bread-Non sourdough 2 lg. egg whites whipped to soft peaks1 cup water3 cups unbleached bread flour2 tsp sugar1 3/4 tsp salt2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast Adapted from Beth Hensperger: The bread lovers Bread Machine Cookbook 1)Mixed dough in bread machine on dough cycle. First kneading 20 min. F... | The crumb looks so airy and
The crumb looks so airy and feathery. Looks like good eating. Every loaf you make looks better and better Heidyth :) |
Ascorbic Acid and Apple Cider Vinegar
I understood that there'd be occasions to use ascorbic acid in whole grain breads. I've been searching for a reasonable local source, but have found it to be questionably dear. When I researched online sources, I found that a crushed 250mg vitamin C tablet will do in place of 1/8... | ascorbic acid is vitamin c whereas
apple cider vinegar may contain trace amounts of vit. c but mainly it contains vinegar. Vinegar or ascetic acid is formed by the oxidation of ethanol (exposing drinking alcohol, wine et al, to air for some time). I know the chemistry, but as yet don't have the baking experience to a... |
Still struggling to get the right results - help please
I've been baking bread for a year or so and have made some progress and had good results. However, I'm still struggling to get to where I want to be and get some consistent results (that the family will eat!)I'm trying various recipes from various books, mainly t... | Looks like dough
In certain places there are no air pockets at all. Are you sure the yeast is sufficiently distributed and the bulk ferment complete? |
Hydrating Active Dry Yeast
I was recently looking at the Julia Child/Danielle Forestier batard videos and was very taken with her use of fresh yeast, which has all but disappeared (if it ever did appear) from the shelves of Southern California groceries. Instead, I've been using Red Star active dry yeast, which I pick ... | I just activate..
the amount of yeast I need as I use it. It only takes a few minutes to activate it in warm water. |
Caloric content of sourdough vs other french breads
I know nothing about bread or baking, although I wish I did. I accidentally bought a sourdough loaf at the store for my mom's pizza burgers. She usually gets a french bread that is super airy and crumbly, a bread that's almost like a crispy crust with not much insid... | Calories aren't any higher in French Bread
than in Sourdough if you use the same ingredients and weigh out your portion. In terms of volume, there will be more of the French bread because it is lighter than the sourdough but that also depends on how it was made. I have made some Sourdough breads that were pretty light.... |
Spelt help
I grind my own flour and regularly make whole wheat breads at about 85-90% hydration to get an open crumb - not as open as with white flour, of course, but holey enough for me.
Anyway, I bought 6 pounds of spelt berries a couple of weeks ago and started up a spelt sourdough starter. I made a round loaf of 50... | Hello JMonkey
I did play with spelt flour after whole wheat flour experiments; I only use 76 ~ 77% hydration for my spelt bread. The spelt flour that I use was store bought so I can not give you any suggestion about home grind flour. The method that I use is the same old methods that I apply for my whole wheat sourdoug... |
Dense Bread Loaf
So i have switched to making bread for my house entirely this year instead of buying it from the store. i have been using this recipe http://www.iheartnaptime.net/homemade-bread/ and the bread tastes amazing, however every time i make it its very dense. the bread still tastes great but im not sure ... | The recipe is by volume
And there's an awful lot going on. A far cry from my un-enriched breads all done by weight. Is it the recipe or are you doing something incorrect? I couldn't venture a guess. How about trying your hand at another recipe then compare results? This is enriched but the method is different, allow do... |
Flour
I don't believe I am reading the bread books and this forum with enough background knowledge. On the one hand I see people saying that Bread flour is used for bagels and other high gluten baking. On the other hand I see most people here using AP flour for bread. My question is why do they call it Bread flour i... | Flour types
AP, Bread, and High-Gluten are categories of flour that are only vaguely defined. Basically:
AP flour has 10-11% proteinBread flour has 11-12% proteinHigh-gluten flour is 13-14% proteinThe type of flour you should use for any particular recipe depends on what you like from your bread. The higher the protein... |
Parbake soft pretzels?
For the super bowl this weekend, I want to make soft pretzels. I usually follow Alton Brown's recipe and love how they come out. However, I am going to a friend's house and I am trying to accompish as much as I can at home in advance. I have never tried to parbake anything and I'm not sure of ... | The latter. Just warm them
The latter. Just warm them when you get there. |
Gluten Flour
Is gluten flour not the same as gluten? I looked in the only store in my area I think might have gluten, and the closest I could find was "vital wheat gluten flour". I figure I'm going to need extra gluten from time to time if I'm grinding my own flour (especially since I LOVE rye bread with caraway seed... | Re: Gluten flour
You are going to have to dig in a bit on the supplier's web site to be sure. Gluten is the protein in wheat flour that creates the stretchiness in dough and the chewiness in bread. Sometimes you want more gluten, sometimes you want less."Gluten flour" is typically flour with a gluten percentage of 1... |
Oil
I've got a WW flour / bread flour recipe that works for me. It's got 50g vegetable oil per loaf, which works out to about 10%. After a few days on the counter, it's still relatively moist, I assume due to the oil.I've got another recipe for rye bread, which I really like. It's basic ingredients (flour/water/yeas... | I usually add..
... 1.5% olive oil to my bread - used to add 3% in the past. It makes the crumb softer and better in my opinion |
Flour - An open discussion about aging and enriching flour.
One of our forum members asked a question about aging home-milled flour on another thread. I had read several articles on milling your own grain. The concensus was that the home-milled flour should be used as soon as possible, preferably within a day or so. ... | Add one-quarter cup wheat germ to one and three-quarter cups of unbleached white flour." From the same book comes the following, "For many of us, of course, totally eliminating the white flour, while keeping a light and airy texture, becomes the goal. In the April 1978 edition of Organic Gardening and Farming magazin... |
Elasticity of Chinese pancake dough
Hello everyone! I've been trying to replicate Chinese pancake that can often be found in street corners in the Mainland. Its texture is similar to Malaysian rotis, but softer, chewier (and oilier too). This is what it looks like:Upon searching the web on how to make this, I stumbled ... | Amazing video!
Chinese pancake dough is almost always made with hot water. The theory is it will deactivate the gluten and pre-gelatinize the starch so you can easily roll the dough without it fighting back. |
Weight vs. Volume Measuring
I was using store-bought flour until I bought a Nutrimill approximately 2 weeks ago and started milling my flour at home. Immediately I noticed a difference in the characteristics of the various flours that I was milling at home vs. the store-bought flours. Last week I bought a scale. Tod... | This is why one should measure by weight
Rathan than by volume.When I usually just use the convertion mentioned somewhere else. But the error can be large, especially trying some recipes from home bakers. |
Dissolving sugar into water
Having been making sweet breads of late, is there any reason not to dissolve sugar into the water destined for the dough? Many recipes recommend adding sugar a little at a time, but a sugar solution seems simpler. | I don't think there is any
I don't think there is any problem in adding sugar in water. In fact, this makes it more simpler then adding sugar little at a time. |
Life Span of Yeast?
I have a question as to the life span of yeast. It arose as a result of reading the following recipe listed below. And my question is that if waiting 24 hours is good for starter whether or not taste is improved by waiting longer than that ? I would think that the yeast would be on the down side b... | Life span of compressed yeast
I think compressed yeast will survive in the above recipe conditions. When you consider that only half of the compressed yeast is actually yeast, the amount is much smaller . That looks like a 4 Kilo loaf! Stirring and waiting 24 hours sounds familiar. I think it would work and that th... |
Stormy Day bake
We have some serious winter weather today, no bread in the house, too late to start a bread to have with lunch so I thought Cherie made Mac 'n Cheese yesterday biscuits would go with the left overs.Gerhard | Those look delicious!
I wish I could reach through the screen and eat one. Well done! |
Trouble in Rye Flour City
I am having a VERY BAD MORNING! I make Peter Reinhart's Whole Wheat Bread all the time. For the soaker I like to use bulgar. Last night instead of going downstairs to my extra fridge to get my whole wheat flour I made my poolish with rye flour. Did EVERYTHING else the same. Used whole whe... | Rye
I make a whole wheat bread that's 40% Rye and the rye flour keeps it from windowpaning very well. I don't even try -- it's a big grey mess. Plus, the rye doesn't take well to lots of kneading -- if it's overkneaded it gets tremendously sticky.Rye does contain gluten, but it's a small amount and is not the type of ... |
I Microwave the Dough!!
Help!! I accidentaly Microwave my dough for 5 seconds in Highest temp, I was proofing my bread dough, as soon as I close its door I've turn on the knob until I realized Ive turned it on only after 5 secs. Will it hurt my dough? ------ | I doubt that too many water
molecules where excited enough to create enough heat to do anything negative to your dough.Gerhard |
Egg yolks only
I have been baking a brioche-type sweet roll for quite a few years. This recipe calls for ONLY egg yolks. I have been diligently cracking eggs and freezing the egg whites for some future use. But, I can only freeze so much, and eating the whites gets pretty old after a while.When I used to work at a hote... | economics
Because of the extra processing and handling, I suppose that commercially made yolks-only are going to cost at least about as much as the whole egg. If you have a dog or cat, you could mix some of the raw egg white in with their food. Double-check that with Dr. Google, DVM, to see if it's okay to do that.Bon... |
No bloom
I have tried every Baguette, French bread, Italian bread recipe I could find and my loaves still look horrible. Can't figure out what I am doing wrong. | Are you steaming the oven?
Are you steaming the oven? |
Flax Seed Bread
I have a recipe I want to try for a Flax Seed Bread. My question: The recipe calls for 100G whole flax seeds, can I use ground flax seed in place of the whole seeds. Koka2 | Flax
Yes, you may. |
Sides of loaf sucking in as loaf cools?
I bake WW sandwich bread in loaf pans. For years I've always just baked at 350 for 36 minutes and it's been great. But I've been reading about higher heat and steam and wanted to experiment. I just baked two loaves at about 400F for 15 minutes with oven full of steam, then I ... | shorten the proof
next time around. With fully proofed and steam all that action can be too much expansion. It might be the loaf required 5 to 10 more minutes in the oven to finish the inside crumb, naked sitting on the rack is nice. If not, a quick de-panning and good circulation around the cooling loaf helps preve... |
WHEAT MONTANA's Prairie Gold
Try as I may I wasn't able to locate a local source of hard, spring, golden wheat at a reasonable price. The freight cost made ordering direct prohibitive. So, I had my nearby health-food-store-pill-pusher try to find any hard, spring wheat for me. I'll give them credit. They will try t... | Wheat Montana
Strange coincidence, Cliff; on Monday I will be picking up 50 lbs of Prairie Gold and 50 lbs of Natural White. Flour, tho, not berries. I'm really looking forward to trying these flours, as I have heard only good things. Can't wait to hear what you have to say! Susan |
Stuffed pastry shaping
Hey guys - anyone have any idea how the edges of this pastry in the pucture was created? Its not the standard shape you get when you press down with a fork to close the pastry. | Maybe done with a chopstick?
The indentations are not regular so I think that they were done individually. Then the pastry was turned over and glazed with something to make it shiny and brown better. That's my best guess. |
Maple Syrup as a Bread Ingredient - Mixed Emotions
Today I used a new recipe. On one hand it was a failure, but on the other hand it had some redeeming qualities. There were three ingredients which I normally don't use in bread: egg, maple syrup and milk. The crust burned before the internal temperature of the brea... | I think your right on the high sugar content..burning thing!
We've all been there. I think your right on the high sugar content causing the crust to go south on you. I have had the same experience. It is sorta like how you don't put BBQ sauce on the meat until the meat is grilled because it will burn on there...but dif... |
Bread progression - is more mixing what I'm missing?
I'm trying to make naturally leavened bread and have been trying the Tartine recipe without much success. Today I tried Jeffrey Hamelman's Vermount Sourdough from "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" and I'm glad I did, because I finally got decent look... | Just my 2 cents
Your VSD looks great. A lot of people have trouble w Tartine I think b/c of the hydration. Imho, Hamelman is a master. I use a version of VSD , Norwich SD which is my go-to bread. http://www.wildyeastblog.com/my-new-favorite-sourdough/It's superb and easy to make.hester |
Hard Amber Durum
"Flour Power" by Basey recommends hard amber durum, not as a stand alone, but in moderation as a loaf enhancer. Have you used it and what are your findings? | Degrading Filler, Sales Pitch or Changing Times...
Durum wheat is commonly associated with pastas. I've never used it in making bread. I find Basey's comment and labeling of durum flour as an "enhancer" interesting. Louis Degouy in "The Bread Tray" (a deceased author and his classic book) writes this about durum. "D... |
No Knead Bread - Sticky in Middle
I've been baking Jim Lahey's no Knead bread in a Lodge cast iron oven with margins success. The crust and flavor is generally great and the crumb looks nice. My my problem is that the inside is a little sticky. I can't tell if that is from over hydration or not leaving it in the oven ... | No knead
Would be high hydration and would need more time in the oven than lower hydration breads.I'm not familiar when it comes to volume so can't work out the hydration for you but I think more time with the lid off would help. |
Which Salt and Which Sugar?
Yes I have read many of the books but I would like to know which kind of salt and sugar the experienced veterans use? Thanks. | Re: Which Salt and Which Sugar
> which kind of salt and sugar > the experienced veterans useWhat about those of us who are semi-experienced beginners? Of course Tom Kyte, Vice-President of Technology at Oracle Corporation, says "I learn something new about Oracle every day" and under that standard I imagine I will be... |
Tips and advice
Ingredients and Equipment- Tips and Advice. Ingredients: Flour and Dough: No need for expensive flours, as basic strong white or wholemeal flour will make good bread, although as you build confidence you can try malted, rye and spelt flours and experiment with flavours, techniques, shapes and d... | Knife for scoring bread dough
Can a ceramic knife be used to score the bread dough?Thanks, Claudia |
What is edelhefe?
We have a German high school exchange student staying with us. He saw me doing my sourdough miche, and next thing you know, his grandmother had some recipes she emailed for me to try, including one with spelt in it. So, now our student is trying to translate the recipes to English. One of the ingredie... | Edelhefe
Bill, Babelfish renders edelhefe as "noble yeast". Dunno if that helps you at all. It didn't clear things up for me. Do any of the recipes look like they would be worth sharing? PMcCool |
Honey beurrage for croissants
I have envisioned a honey nut whole wheat croissant, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I'd like to add the honey and nuts to the beurrage, but the liquidity of the honey concerns me. Then I thought I might add some flour to balance the liquid of the honey, but how much? Any ideas? Th... | Easiest and safest way
is to bake regular croissants, cut them in half, brush them with syrup, fill them with a filling, close, top with the filling, then rebake, exactly like almond croissants. |
more questions about flours
Hi all,I'm a new member, writing from a small town in coastal Maine. Not much within a two hour drive by way of specialty stores, so we make do with what we have. Most of my flour comes from a co-op that orders monthly; quite a bit available that way, though. My question; I've been using org... | Re: more questions about flours
I have only encountered a few people who _don't_ like King Arthur flour; most who don't use it say it is because of the price[1]. If you can get KA at the same price as your usual flour, I would say there is no harm in trying some - you may decide it isn't as good as your usual brand, ... |
Belgian Waffle
I'm looking for a GREAT Belgian waffle recipe. Apprieciate any and all contributions. | Hearty whole wheat waffles
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbl. sugar, I use agave, honey would probably be great
1 large egg, separated
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil, I use extra light olive oil
1 tsp. vanilla
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, s... |
Home-MIlled Flour vs. Store-Bought Flour Rye Bread
My Nutrimill arrived this week as did my organic white wheat and rye grains. In addition our son decided to pay us an extended visit. The timing is perfect. I have an unbiased taste taster on site. I'll try to get some photos posted over the next several days to s... | Bread Photos
Let's see if I can post some photos...Here is a cross-section of the loaf. Notice that the edges of the loaf have been removed. I can't say that it was to make a better photo because it wasn't. My son just couldn't resist...lol...This is obviously the crust of the bread. For rye bread I rather liked th... |
Mediterranean diet breads
My doctor told me I'd benefit from going toward a Mediterranean diet. I don't have to be strict about it, but some changes would be a good idea. The bad thing was that my wife was there when the doctor said that, so now she's on a mission. She's also pretty convinced that non-whole-grain fl... | Sourdough brings out the best in grains
even if all white. What is a Mediterranean bread? Well I suppose any bread from any country around the Mediterranean. No one specific type of bread, I assume there are going to be hundreds. And I even bet many of them are non sourdough and made with white flour. Yes there are asp... |
"ultra-grain"
Hey, can anyone tell me about "ultra-grain?" At the Sam's here in Topeka, KS, they have unbleached flour - that excited me at first, and then I read further and it said something about new ultra-grain developed to make the same goodies, but with more nutritional value as a whole grain product - something ... | Ultragrain
Cecilia,
I recently purchased some of the same flour from Sams. It is made by ConAgra. The "Ultragrain" is their trade name for a whole wheat flour milled from a high-protein, hard white wheat. The flour, then, is a blend of regular unbleached AP flour (about 70%) and the whole-wheat Ultragrain flour (abo... |
Finally, after 20 years, I made Batards I can like and live with
Happy New Year, Fresh Loaf readers and contributors! This site has brought me quite a ways since I discovered it 30 days ago.I started trying to bake french bread in 1996, using the recipe in FROM JULIA CHILD'S KITCHEN. The three loaves (batards) came out... | Great looking loaves. the
Great looking loaves. the scoring is especially nice. |
Caraway & Poppy Seeds, Rye Flakes, & Nutrimill
I thought that a separate thread with a pertinant heading would help others, even though I've included some of this information elsewhere.I attribute a lot of my "success" with my rye bread to using rolled rye grain or "rye flakes" and caraway seeds. I get my rye flakes fr... | Hi Cliff. Thanks for the
Hi Cliff. Thanks for the timely information and link. I've been curious about a good source of seeds for bread toppings. Many are available organicly grown at in Albuquerque at a natural food store. But I am concerned with freshness especially with sesame seeds. Those go bad so quickly once the... |
Sourdough Fails
Alright, so I've been baking sourdough breads for the last year or so now, and I can't, for the life of me, get a good loaf of bread. Over the course of 2016, I tried various different sourdough starters and sourdough breads with those sourdough starters hoping to find a good recipe; however, I can't fi... | First of all get through making this starter
And then troubleshoot a recipe. The first bubbling up in a starter looks promising but it's from bacteria you don't want. Then you feed it again and all goes quiet. This is perfectly normal and things are happening even if you can't see it. The best thing to do at this stage... |
In praise of Durum flour, from Brar Mills.
I've gone through at least 30 pounds of this Sher brand high extraction durum flour, from Brar Mills, that I've purchased from a local Patel Brothers grocery store. It's called "Fiber Wala." ("Wala" is the Hindi word for "the one with ..." or "suppIier" or "provider.") I as... | Sher Brar Desi Style Durum @ Patel Brothers
Has less fiber. |
Degassing vs. Not degassing?
Has anyone tried an experiment with two doughs, one where you degas after rising, and one where you just let it rise once? Some styles of bread like ciabatta and alot of time also sourdough, is not degassed in order to preserve the big open bubbles. On the other hand, breads like sandwich b... | When I shape my baguettes, I
When I shape my baguettes, I press them down and roll them pretty hard, but I still get some random big wild looking crumb holes, so I am not sure if I am on board with your theory. :) |
Different kinds of sourness
Hi! I bake a lot of with a stiff starter (50-60% hydration) and have found that it works very well, reliably and without that typical sour component (tastewise). However, I've had had some inconsistencies when it comes to the last part, i.e. the sourness. It is not that my finished breads an... | Personally I have gotten better taste
Using a stiff starter. Perhaps this after taste only presents itself in your sweet enriched breads due to a wrong combination rather then a bad starter. There will be a number of variables with which you'll have to experiment from flour and hydration of your starter to the fermenta... |
Found the taste, now need help with the texture
I am semi-new to bread making. I made quite a bit when my children were little and I had a wonderful woodstove near which I was able to let it rise. Now, I have a machine and have been experimenting. My hands aren't up to kneading like they once were. Anyway...I've been l... | About lightness of crumb, my experience is...
But before I add my two cents, it's important that you get pretty detailed with things like your recipe, timing, how you determine when to start your bulk rise, when your dough's ready to move to loaf formation, how you know when to start baking your loaf, and at what tempe... |
Milk in bread making
Hi guys. I am looking to start using milk in bread making, just as an alternative.Just wondering about the benefits (if any) and drawbacks (if any)Also do you replace all the water with milk, or parts of both?Know it would vary from recipe to recipe, but for basic bread is what I am looking at usin... | the effects of milk
Yes, you can replace milk 1:1 with water. You will end up with a softer, possibly fluffier, richer tasting bread with a slightly longer shelf life (depending on the fat quantity in your milk). If you want to manage the softening/enrichening effect, try going 50/50 with milk/water ratio. Or try using... |
Merry Christmas/Happy holidays to Floyd and all
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Floyd, our host, and to all on this wonderful forum. Baking bread, learning the ins and outs, celebrating not only my success but so many others here has been such a joyful experience. Thank you to all and continued enjoyment and succ... | and to you too!
looking forward to a great baking year in 2017Leslie |
Some almost-bread Christmas treats!
We went to the sister-in-law's for Christmas dinner yesterday. Tasked with bringing an appetizer, I went looking for some new recipes. I made the savory sablé-like crackers from Tartine 3 (Cheddar Cheese Sablés), substituting chopped almonds for the pine nuts and fresh sage for the s... | Wow, the cheese stick look great!
They look mighty tasty! You may have inspired my next baking project.Happy baking! Ski |
My breads look fine but compress really easily and turns into dough
I can't describe it...my breads all look fine structurally, but when they are touched they compress very easily and seem doughey. Why does this happen? I bake all my breads until they're at the correct internal temperature but it still happens. Thanks ... | While they are still warm?
Or after they reach room temperature? If the former, let them cool completely before slicing. If the latter, check your thermometer. It sounds as though the bread isn't completely baked. Paul |
Bread mixer equipment
Hello all,I recently bought a mixer machine for bread and cakes. My question is how do kneeding in the mixer alters my receipts?Usually, I mix flour and water and leave the for 30-60 minutes for autolysis. Then I kneed for 5-10 minutes and later on I make few S&F every 30-45 minutes. Now with the ... | Using a mixer
I usually use a mixer (either a KitchenAid or a large commercial mixer), and follow a method similar to what you do by hand (i.e. I mix the flour and water and let it sit for 30 minutes or so, then add the other stuff and mix for 4 to 8 minutes, then rest and stretch/fold). The timing and number of stretc... |
No Oven Challenge - Fry Bread
Was happy to see this challenge on TFL, as it prompted me to revisit a fry-bread recipe someone gave me years ago. Was pleased with the results, and will be making it when circumstances call for a fast bread (and soup, anyone?).Roughly as follows for four 8" breads:2 C. AP flour1 t. table... | looks absolutely delicious
I wish I could have some right now.... with butter and cheese and then butter and jam / honeynice jobhester |
Is "bread flour" bleached or not?
Is there any way tell if your flour is bleached/bromated? For example, I bought some Pillsbury "Bread Flour" that is labelled as enriched. It doesn't say anything on the label about bleached or unbleached. Pillsbury also offers "All Purpose" flour in two varieties - they are clearly la... | My assumption has always
My assumption has always been that flour is bleached unless it says "unbleached". My other assumption is that the effect of bleaching on the final bread product, aside from a whiter final crumb, is negligible. Paul KobulnickyBaking in Ohio |
Hydration Calculator
Hello everyone,I have made a hydration calculator that will tell you, given input ingredients, how much flour or water you need to add for your desired hydration. I've tested it with recipes that are under hydration (in which case it tells you how much water to add) and recipes that are over hydrat... | will bookmark and try
and then get back to this post. (may take awhile) Thank you. :)Mini |
Converting Diastatic Malt Powder
Is it possible to convert diastatic malt powder to non diastatic powder. | Diastatic malt powder is used
Diastatic malt powder is used in baking to help convert some of the starches in flour into sugars that the bread yeast can eat. In theory it can give you more a more active rise and better texture in the bread.If the flour is good , no need to add extra enzymes , use regular malt extract ... |
Walnut cranberry Artesian bread
AP flour, instant yeastMy loaf tastes just fine but the crumb is a little too dense. Would increasing the water % or decreasing the baking time in the Dutch Oven be a remedy? | Fully develop the dough
and fold the add-ins into the dough would help. I made both AP (only 61% hydration) and 100% whole-grain versions using this technique, and both loaves turned out fine.Yippee |
Bulk fermentation question
Hello, I started making my own bread after I read about the no-knead method and got very excited but also had a ton of questions. For the most of them I already found great answers on this site and from a book that I bought but of course there are still more :)I understand the merit in lettin... | Retardation
Fermentation is generally about flavor development and this process is dependent on yeast and/or bacteria doing their jobs efficiently. Like most organisms, yeast and bacteria have ideal temperatures in which they thrive. This flavor development has to work in concert with gluten development which has its o... |
Croissant Help
Hello!I have been making croissant for my local green market for the last few weeks. I am having trouble with the 2nd and 3rd folding, the butter cracks or breaks and does not roll out smoothly. The butter rolls out nice in the first fold, I let it rest for about 30 minutes then with the next fold it cra... | Too cold
Normally cracks mean that either your dough or your butter is too cold (usually the butter). It is extremely important that the butter be THE SAME CONSISTENCY (or slightly softer, though that depends on the weather) as the dough at the moment of incorporation. If the butter is colder, it will harden more quick... |
Testing the time it bakes covered
Hi guys.I tried to make a test to see the effect of different covered times as baking. The true is that I found little difference. Also true is that my test is flawed. And some of the differences I attributed to other factors. One thing I got: More time covered, more time uncovered to ... | BF 40%WW 60%Water 83% (including flax water (1,5))salt 2%flax 2%~12% of flour pre-fermented at 100% (1:6:6)The usual, mix / rest / salt and knead / bulk with S&F / pre / shape / proof / oven.If not all most of fermenting was at fridge.I think the "ear" difference was due to the scoring.Also the height difference i Thin... |
lack of degassing?
Well I have been getting excited about making croissants this weekend and figured it would be nice to make something easy tonight to get me in the mood for the weekend. I've been trying some new things lately and purchased a bag of durum wheat flour to use to make some Italian breads...I bought GM ex... | I would agree with you that
I would agree with you that it was under proofed and has blown because of that. This can happen rather late. Especially because you were baking in a pan. Not long ago I was making a special kind of cake like Italian pannetone in a special model and I was surprised how late the dough broke. ... |
Linen versus flour cloth
Hi Everyone..I often use linen while I'm proofing my bread if no basket is required.. but i find it stiff, big and cumbersome even after maybe 30 uses.. i often use one part of it.. Part of me thinks I should have washed it when i first bought it (I know it's too late to do that now with all th... | I am using exclusively linen
for final proofing. I have one line like yours which I just got some time ago and was used only once for proofing ciabattas. I bought some flax fabric to make linen by myself. I had bad experience with cotton cloth because the dough can easily stick on it although you have dusted it with a... |
SD formula suggestions
I'm currently working on what is far and away the best all-wild sourdough starter I've ever made. All flours are Bob's Red Mill, and rising takes place in a microwave after I've boiled water a cup or so of water in it for 2 minutes. I leave the stoneware bowl and water in the mic for the rising. ... | You can't beat the 123 SD recipe
1 part starter (100 % hydration) 2 parts water and 3 parts flour with 2% salt.Happy SD baking ! |
Do I need to steam?
I use the wet towels in a pan method when I bake 2-3 loaves at a time. But when I bake one loaf at a time I just cover the loaf with a stainless steel bowl. It's easy, safe and cheap. Here's a picture of some sweet potato I made. No added steam, just a cover. | Do I Need More Steam?
Your method of baking provides steam, either with addition using the wet towels or through capture using a cover. If the crust meets your standards and there are no blow-outs beyond the score marks, I'd say your technique is working well. |
Question about water roux
I just made some plain white rolls using the water roux and they've lovely and soft but I have some questions I make bread 60% hydration, so 500g flour, 300ml liquid Using the water roux method I put 5% of the total flour (25g) and 125ml and heated it to make the paste I then added it to 4... | Looks right to me
I think you worked everything out just right. A Tangzhong (I think this term is more correct) is used for a softer crumb. There's no reworking out the hydration of the recipe as you've taken some of the flour (5%) and some of the water (5x the weight of the flour), made the Tangzhong and added it back... |
Equipment questions about Tartine and FWSY
I purchased both Tartine and FWSY and plan on working from both cover-to-cover. 1) Which book should I start with?2) FWSY recommends a 12 qt container, 2 6 qt containers for the levain and poolish, and 2 banneton baskets. Tartine doesn't have any equipment recommendations. W... | I have the FWSY book
So I'm going to recommend that one simply because I don't have the other.But what I wish to make you aware of, when you go down the sourdough route, is the seemingly confusing way Forkish explains on how to make a starter. He'll have you up to your neck in starter and discard. Scale down to a norma... |
Effects of Using Levain v. Poolish v. Biga v. CY
What are the consequences (mostly texture and taste) of choosing to use a sourdough starter for leavening, as opposed to a biga, a poolish or commercial yeast? In addition, how would substituting a levain for commercial yeast (or a poolish/biga) in a recipe affect the f... | Some advantages
Sourdough = Wild Yeast + LABTexture depends on hydration and length of fermentation. Characteristics can be a tangy and chewy crumb but these may be manipulated to varying degrees.Poolish, Biga and Old Dough are made from baker's yeast and used for better flavour that normally is lacking in yeasted brea... |
Rubaud Blend using green flours
As I understand it, Rubaud was very adamant on using freshly-milled flours. I don't recall seeing it but with 70% of the blend being straight BF, he must be talking about the other 30% (composed of 30% each of hard winter and spring wheat, spelt, and 10% rye).On re-reading Hamelman, I o... | ❓❓❓
I always use my flour immediately after grinding, but I am curious: why not use it when it is super fresh?Yippee |
Sourdough beer bread
I just made one of my most delicious loaves ever. 900 gram loaf using Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, very dark, instead of water. The loaf itself is ho-hum but the flavor is excellent.Questions: How should the beer be prepped before mixing? Heated, allowed to go flat? The fermentation and proofing w... | Loaf looks great!I’m not sure
Loaf looks great!I’m not sure, but I think the high alcohol content of an Imperial Stout will slow down yeast activity. Slow fermentation might be the nature of the beast with that beer for hydration. |
hi bakers!
i have just made my sourdough batard loaf and the inside texture is tasty but rubbery like a crumpet inside i made the dough did 2 s&f in the space of 2 hours 30 mins intervals and then divided bench rest and then shape in baskets and then left over night in the fridge then scored it then baked at 250 an... | mixing speed
The first portion of the video you are mixing on speed "200". With few exceptions when there is a very high hydration dough that need intensive mixing - like a ciabatta, speeds "1" and "2" are employed. |
mostly spelt and einkorn soft sourdough sandwich bread
I have posted a recipe as a comment to my old post, but then I thought it deserves its own thread, in case someone is trying to achieve the same thing I was after, namely the healthiest possible bread for my kids sandwiches that would also be soft and fluffy as clo... | How about
some pictures for us to examine? |
flour type advice
Hello,I would like some advice from the experts please.I am fairly new bread baker. I started baking bread driven by my digestive intolerance for American mass produced bread. After doing some research I decided, if I am going to bake, I will go all the way for the most original of all breads and star... | I make King Arthur's white
I make King Arthur's white sandwich bread recipe, and it is a stable recipe and tasty. The flavor and softness come from potato flour, dry nonfat milk, and butter in the recipe. It's probably available via a google search (the recipe). It calls for all purpose flour, which you could experi... |
A protocol request re: steaming
Much information has been generously shared on TFL about people's experiments with introducing steam into home ovens. However, more often than not, there is no mention of the type of oven (gas or electric) one is using in these experiments. The same holds true for books like BPA and B... | Shouldn't steaming be independent of oven type?
Water phase changes to a gas at 212 F / 100 C (STP). Any oven, gas or electric, would be well above that temperature, so steam should not be affected.Having never baked in a gas oven, I bet I'm missing something obvious. |
How does vital wheat gluten affect doughs/breads?
I have been experimenting with it but dont fully understand how its affecting my breads. It seems to make the dough much more elastic. Any thoughts would be appreciated! | Re: Vital Wheat Gluten
I used VWG at about 1%-1.5% of the flour weight in a whole-grain wheat and rye recipe (no white flour). My loaf rose noticeably better than the previous time without the VWG. Of course, in a home environment there could have been other factors affecting the rise but I would use it again the next ... |
Hydration Calculator
Hello everyone at TFL, and happy holidays! I got to thinking about hydration in breads and created a handy calculator to assist me. I would like to share it with you, so I made it shareable via a link to my Google drive:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bUjHt7ETXzzk70n0ehKOawJMp5Wn0X_fkTgI_... | Thank you
for doing this and sharing it.
Cheers, Ingrid |
Calculating Hydration Percentage
Hi everyone,I'm just trying to figure out how to calculate hydration percentages.I have two examples I'd like to get feedback on to see if I'm doing it right.First recipe is 1 c + 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 3.5 c flour, 1.5 tsp yeast.The problem is, I've seen estimates for t... | Hydration
Water/Flour x 100I'd make 227g water, 74g milk, 43g butter, 447g flour as...Liquid: 309.6 to be preciseFlour: 447g309.6/447 = 0.6926x 100 = 69.2%So I'd agree with you.How anyone would work out hydration in volume I don't know. And I'm never too sure when adding things in like butter and even milk (to some ext... |
Happy Thanksgiving!
Lunch lady rolls just came out of the oven and the turkey is about to go in. i hope that you have much to be thankful for and that you are thankful for what you have. Paul | Happy Thanksgiving, Paul!
Happy Thanksgiving, Paul! |
top crust is cracking as loaves cool?
Question related to plain old loaf bread (not SD)...the past few pan loaves I've made have had problems with the top cracking post-bake. It isn't captured very well in the pictures but as they cool I'm getting cracking in the crust which is fine imo with SD but not so much what I'm... | Hi Jimt I really cant see a
Hi Jimt I really cant see a lot wrong with either of your loaves, you will get a bit of a stretch mark tear where the loaf has moved up the side of the pan as in pic 3. you can still slash non s/d breads but usually best done at 3/4 proof well before going to the oven as with farmhouse styl... |
rolled french breads??
So I've been making french breads/baguettes for years. Just turn out the dough and squeeze and roll it to lengthen. Easy. Now I see people who INSIST that the RIGHT way to make these is to laboriously roll out the dough into a large rectangle, and then roll up the rectangle into a long loaf. Huh?... | Shaping
I guess it all depends on what you expect from your baguette. Here are a couple of shots of my first baguettes of which I was very, very proud:Here are a couple of shots of more recent bakes:Personally I like the more recent examples better than the first ones and the formula is just about the same. Shaping has... |
Potato flakes
Sometimes I add about a half a cup of instant mashed potato flakes to my roll dough. Does anyone know if I added potato starch would I get the same results?? I know I could try it and see, but was just wondering if anyone here has done it. To clarify, this is not a gluten-free recipe, just wondering if... | Oh I love potato bread! But
Oh I love potato bread! But to the question - starch would give similar textures, but different tastes. Personally, the allure of the bread is the taste, so i wouldn't want to change that. That said, try it and see what happens. I'll even keep an eye on this thread to see the results. And it... |
Silicone Baking Mats?
I have been using more parchment lately, and I have begun to think about using silicone mats as a way to save on costs and help the environment. I have some recipes that call for pouring oil on the work surface, but my spouse objects to pouring oil on our granite counter, no matter how well it is ... | Reusable parchment
Hi. I don't bake bread on my silicone mats, only occasional sticky cookies. Instead, I use Regency brand reusable cookie sheet liners like these. I find them absolutely great under hearth breads on a peel and I have cut them into narrower strips to use when I am lowering a loaf into a Dutch oven. Hig... |
Just posted: "Little Breads" of Pustertal
South Tyrolean (Italy) rye breads are unique because they use blue fenugreek, an aromatic mountain clover that reminds me of a cross between new-mown hay and a mild Indian curry. These "little breads" are 70% rye and offer an appealing combination of rye, sour, salty and fragra... | These are great looking loaves Stan.
I use fenugreek seeds and leaves in Indian cooking, had lamb curry last night. Haven't heard of the blue variety but wikipedia says it is milder in flavor than regular fenugreek.Now I have to put some in bread. At that hydration it wold be like a ciabata!Well done and happy baking... |
Tough High Hydration
As my loaf does its final rise before baking, I am somewhat downhearted. I thought I was making a nice High Hydration (85%) bread, but now, after closer to 100% hydration, and a 3 hour bulk ferment, I just preshaped a dough so tough I felt like it would knife me in the back if I gave it a chance...... | After the tears and baking...
Surprisingly, it came out pretty good! Dense crumb, thin, but chewy crust. But it rose nicely, baked evenly, and tastes wonderful. A wee bit moist interior (with all the water, I'm not surprised!), but for all the heartaches it gave me pre-baking, I am honestly surprised at how good it did... |
Salt Rising Bread
I have only very recently heard about this bread. Everyone who tastes it raves on about it and I wish to try my hand at it. However after reading up on it I'm not so sure anymore. It's basically a leuconostoc risen bread. Risen purely with bad bacteria which causes food poisoning and gas gangrene. The... | well, quite ...
it sounds vile to me - in the same category as marmite, celery and american 'chocolate' (which tastes like baby puke to most people right-side of the pond due to the way the milk is treated during manufacture)But I guess someone somewhere must have been desperate enough to try it ... I have thought abou... |
What is your most favorite recipe?
If you are going to make a basic sourdough bread, what is your most favorite recipe? I have looked at so many, my head is spinning!I've made one, very sad, very poor loaf of bread. It ended up that way because I didn't follow a single recipe, rather tried to combine ideas and techniq... | Try the basic 1:2:3 bread
it works very well - 1 part starter: 2 parts water:3 parts flour with 2% (of the flour weight) salt. there are many posts here on this website for this bread so read up and follow the simple methodology and all should be well.If you have access to Hamelman's book "Bread" his Pain au Levain is ... |
Soft puddle of dough...
I've removed my sourdough "puddle of dough" from the refrigerator. It proofed on the counter yesterday for a solid 9 hours and seemed to be doing well, although was very, very soft. When I went to divide and shape it, the dough had to actually be peeled from the linen (floured) towels that were ... | A bit of background please
Recipe and method? The way how you describe it "a soft puddle of dough" leads me to think over fermentation. |
Bread turns gummy after a few days?
Hi great folks of sourdough land. I have been baking sourdough for a year now. It has been a great learning experience and I have learnt alot especially from this forum.Recently something very weird started happening to my sourdough. Everything was as normal but suddenly I started ge... | Some factors to consider
Has the weather changed recently (temperature; humidity)? Have you started a new bag of flour (sometimes a not-so-fresh bag of flour will make significant changes in how the bread rises)? |
Bulk fermenting temperature
There are a couple of recipes I'm interested in that look good. However, the time from the beginning of the process until dinner time is about 12+ hours, including the room temperature bulk ferment. I was thinking I'd like to bake a loaf and eat it for dinner, immediately after it cools do... | How long is the bulk ferment?
Perhaps we could rearrange it? Can you give us the recipe and a simple breakdown of method with timings? |
Does anyone use bakers percentages?
I'm new to bread baking, but I've been making pizza for quite a while and have participated in the discussions on pizzamaking.com for a dozen years. With rare exceptions, when a recipe is given there, they use bakers percentages - 100% bread flour, 62% water, 2% suger, 0.4% yeast, e... | Volume
Such as cups... is the North American way. More often than not we Europeans (and I include the UK in this) go by weight - grams. Bakers Percentages are quite common here as obviously its easier for those who think in weight to convert from bakers percentages. |
Refrigerating dough first rise
I started a whole wheat/barley flour with a bit of rice flour bread this evening and the process took longer than expected. I find myself having to refrigerate the dough with the first rise not done. I punched it down and covered the bowl with saran wrap. I won't be able to get back to... | I find retarding during the bulk ferment more
Difficult to judge than during the final proof. However I would think it depends on a few factors...1. How much starter is in the recipe?2. At what stage did it go into the fridge? If you have used a good percentage of starter and you retarded the dough half way through the... |
Miniature Sourdough Boule with Sculpey (Clay Polymer)
Just thought I'd share :) Made with sculpey. Used a toothpick for rings, knife for scoring. Baked and then based with a mix of Americana Honey Brown & Americana Cocoa. Washed with Burnt Umber and then dry brushed with Americana Snow White. | It's pretty tiny.. DnD /
It's pretty tiny.. DnD / Fantasy Wargaming scale. |
Red Fife?
I've never worked with Red Fife before. Can anyone who knows the wheat tell me something of its baking aspects and sensory qualities? | Be mindful of hydration
Gadjowheaty,I recently purchased whole grain Red Fife (and Yecora Rojo) flours from Breadtopia. I first used the Red Fife flour in Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich recipe. In case you are not familiar with the method, the instructions are creating an overnight biga w... |
Hollow croissants.
Second attempt at making croissants. What did I do wrong this time? To give some context:Recipe:280g bread flour (I used 12% protein)100g plain flour (I used 10% protein)40g sugar 6g salt30g fresh yeast 30g egg 75 ml milk95-110 ml water40g room temperature unsalted butter 185g cold unsalted butter (... | So, proofing is probably part of the answer
Kat,Your pics show that longer proofing increases the total dough mass. I have proofed as long as 2.5 hours, though at 24 dC (75 dF). I include a bowl of very hot water in the proofing oven to mitigate drying out the dough.FWIW, I have also stopped baking at such high temps. ... |
Banneton Size HELP!
I need to buy a banneton, I use a lot of recipes from Ken Forkish's Book, FWSL. He says to buy a 9inch banneton, can I buy a 8.5inch or 10inch, the 9 inch don't seem as common? Also real bakers talk about bannetons by weigh. Which is the best multipurposed used size? | Banneton
Buy the smaller one. High hydration breads tend to spread out and flatten so a narrower banneton has a greater ability to control the spread. Also, if the height of the rise in the banneton does not reach the rim then the dough tends to drop out of the banneton when flipping it over onto the baking stone which... |
Spiced Pumpkin Bread for Thanksgiving
What with it being autumn and the pumpkin-spice marketing blitz in full hue and cry, I had mixed feelings about baking and blogging this north German beauty. On one hand, I’m not a bandwagon-jumper, and the sheer volume and ubiquity of the pumpkin-spice hype aroused a strong reluct... | Oooh, that sounds so good!
Wow, that's a lot of pumpkin! I know some folks have tried pumpkin bread and found the taste didn't come through very well; I bet this one is different. :) Thanks for sharing.And I also bet it tastes better than bread made with moss or the ground bark of pine trees! |
Large quantity using a small mixer
Happy Halloween TFL-ers! If you get a moment away from the ghoulishness, I'd welcome advice on bulk doughs. My mixer will only handle a maximum of 2kg of dough so until now I've only made a couple of loaves at a time. I'd like to be able to double this so would welcome advice on ho... | Get a bigger mixer ...
... is the easy solution!However, just make up 2 batches and split your levian between them. You could then ferment them in separate tubs or mix them together.When I was getting to that stage, (before I got my first big mixer) I was mixing (by hand) 2 (or 3) separate lots and fermenting them sepa... |
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