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Bread weight, start first combine to oven.
I am curious as to whether or not others allow a percentage of wastage when calculating the end size of a loaf, or is it assumed that there is no wastage at all?For example, if I am to make three 825g panettone, would one assume an initial mix total of 2,475g - and then divide... | Food for thought?
Interesting thought experiment, but unless you have some strong reason--i.e., a competition with very strict finished weight criteria, like precisely 250g baguettes--I don't know why you would plan for waste.If you did have some strong reason for finished weight, I would probably prefer to keep standa... |
Need help identifying this bread
Fast forward to the 50 second mark. I want to use it for a dish I'm making
Chicago's Best Street Food: Haute Sausage
Video of Chicago's Best Street Food: Haute Sausage | It's a split top (top sliced) hot dog bun!
Most of the time, you need a special pan to make them. Here is how to make them. |
Babka in advance? Need advice.
I’m going out of town Wednesday night and not arriving home until late Friday night. Would like to have babka for breakfast Saturday morning. So, my question is how much prep can I do Wednesday?Could I make the entire loaf, filled, rolled, and tuck it in the back of the fridge to bake Sat... | I can't advise on 36-hr retardation, but...
...I've had decent results freezing a fully baked babka for a week or 2.However, there's nothing like fresh-baked babka! |
What is Better for Bread Flour?
From this sitehttp://natashaskitchen.com/2012/02/26/no-knead-artisan-bread-recipe/the ingredients call among other for "3 cups better for bread flour or all purpose flour"What is "better for bread flour"? | Guess
My guess is that it means "Bread Flour".Ford |
Finally i've learned how to score high hydration dough
I was hesitating too much. Has to be quick and sure. Know how you want to score then quickly (but safely) slash the dough with the tip of the blade. If there is any hesitation it'll drag and tear. | Confidence
Confidence is key. I'm not confident in my scoring yet but pretend to be when I'm doing it! |
Protein keto-bread
Hi, I'm trying to make a protein keto-bread in a machine breadmaker.Keto means less than 4g of carbs per slice of bread(assume that single slice is 50g).I was wondering if you could help with advice for this composition of ingredients: Yeast, active dry, 7gCoconut Flour 200gVital Wheat Gluten 200gFla... | A stab in the dark
Never even attempted a bread like this so this is pure guesswork. The vital wheat gluten is in there to enable a good rise. If you wish to do without gluten then you'd need to replace the 200g with some other non cereal flour of your choice but you're still going to need a gelling agent in there. I s... |
Do the twist - a good technique for rolled loaves
I tried a new-ish technique today for the Cinnamon Bread that I baked last week. I've found in the past that breads with stuff rolled up in the loaf (like cinnamon raisin bread) tends to end up with a spiral void in the loaf, and if you just add all the butter, sugar, c... | Wow . That is a load of cinnamon bread for sure,
The customers will be happy as pie. Your technique is great fro all kinds of festive bread. Bake half with garlic and sun dried tomato and half with pesto. After cutting and twisting the two together just roll up like a snail loaf for a beautiful red and green Italia... |
Can flour be grinded too fine for bread baking?
I recently purchased a country grain mill manual grinder and just getting into grinding my own flour for breads.From a baking stand point, is it possible to grind wheat into flour "too fine" for breads? | I am no expert, but I have
I am no expert, but I have used a number of mills, and have set them to grind as fine as possible and have not had any problems. |
Convert to Couche
I have just used couche for only the second time and am finding it a fantastic way to proof. The formula for this is:90% White Bread Flour10% Wholewheat flour69% Water0.65% Instant Dried Yeast2% Salt3.5% Eight Seed Mix. Process-I mixed in my Ankarsum Assistent using the paddle to get a shaggy mas... | Looks good!
Fine looking loaf and I'm sure it tastes good too!I started using a couche for speed mainly - scaling and shaping a dozen loaves - dusting the bannetons was taking too much time, but the couche is a breeze to use. I've also learned to flip the proved dough into my hand and then onto the loading sheet rather... |
Biga Fail...
So I decided last night I wanted bread for today, and didn't have "time" to start a levain from my NMNF starter. Biga! I thought, so I mixed it up with some dry yeast and went to bed. I got up this morning, and it's flat. Yeast expired in 2018...should have looked at that. Apparently I don't use yeast ... | If fermentation did not occur
If fermentation did not occur (dead yeast) to the dough then it would be like a long autolyze, which should work fine by adding a SD starter. |
What is wrong with this dough?
I usually make bread this way: mix flour, water, yeast, leave it overnight in a warm place, add the remaining flour , knead, leave for a few hours to rise, bake. It usually rose about 5 times the original volume and the bread was good. But recently, with a new brand of flour it started to... | First things first
Salt? |
Sprouted grains without drying and milling
I want to try sprouting wheat berries and adding them to bread, but I do not want to fool with drying and milling the flour. Any suggestions on taking freshly sprouted grains, grinding them up, and adding them to a recipe?I was thinking of doing the Tartine bread with 30% spro... | I often add sprouted grains to my breads
without drying or milling them. I don't worry about adjusting the water as I don't find that the sprouts add any water to the dough. You have a couple of options like you stated in terms of adding them whole or grind them up. I tend to add them whole. Basically, just go for it. ... |
Can over proofed loaf be saved?
Hi I'm brand new to making sourdough bread. I had been fermenting some dough in the refrigerator took it out this morning and set it out on the counter thinking it would be fine this time of year. I got home checked my dough and it won't hold any shape, sticks to everything and is very... | Make pancakes or english muffins with it
It is just like a starter discard now. Don't toss it - use it. |
Easy giftable nut breads?
Hi all, I'm looking for some recipe recommendations for a loaf I'd like to make later this month as a gift for a friend. I know that she often buys breads with nuts in them and I've been served a (very tasty) hazelnut bread from a local bakery a few times at her house. So I was thinking of som... | How about crackers instead?
I make these and they are to die for!http://www.dinnerwithjulie.com/2009/01/27/rosemary-raisin-pecan-crisps/Note that I replace the raisins with cranberries. I am trying another similar recipe today but I can't vouch for those yet. |
Terracotta bread loaf pan baker into a hot or cold oven?
HiI am getting quite confused by the information available from the two main terracotta bread form manufacturers! Neither are specific in regard to whether one can put a ready to bake bread baker with risen dough into a hot oven. Just been told by customer servic... | Heat up in oven
I've never tried to put my terracotta baker straight into a hot oven, but I would advise against it if you're working with a really hot oven, like you would be for an artisan-style loaf. I always heat up the baker, empty, in the oven for a half hour or more, as the oven gets up to 500. Then (carefully!)... |
Can someone give me insight!
I just posted a blog entry still new to posting things on TFL would like to know what everyone out there thinks about my bread tonight thanks a lot everyone ! | Looks good, but can you give
Looks good, but can you give us some more details? What is the formula or at least main ingredients? How about a crumb shot? What did it taste like? |
Belgium traditional Bread
I bought the other day a loaf of bread “traditional Belgium bread” and found it excellent. It had a soft crumb and a nice firm crust. Anyone has a traditional Belgium bread recipe? Searching the web I found nothing similar | Do you have a picture to share?
And, can you provide the listing of ingredients from the label? Both of those would help with the identification.Paul |
Noob with bricks
Hi all. I am fairly new to bread baking. First few loaves baked a while ago, took a long break, tried again. I get small dense bricks consistently. I've read a lot of advice here and elsewhere, and I'm going to try a bunch of things based on what I read. That said,I noticed a couple of things that mig... | Aram, welcome. FIrst, you
Aram, welcome. FIrst, you are right on the money to want to stick with one recipe, and keep making it till you master it. I suggest, however, you start with http://www.thefreshloaf.com/lessons/yourfirstloaf I have read a number of the Reinhart books, but don't recall that recipe. The ... |
Pub Brown Bread?
Anyone have a good recipe for the dark brown, nearly black, rich brown bread I seem to see mostly in brewpubs and taverns? I've tried a number of recipes from Beer bread through Pumpernickel but haven't found something that quite matches this bread. I'm assuming it has a bunch of molasses in it for... | Boston brown bread
Try Boston brown bread from Fanny Farmer's Cookbook, 1918. Delicious.gary |
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 |
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?:) |
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. |
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 :) |
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? |
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.... |
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... |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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. |
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! |
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 |
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? |
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... |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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... |
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... |
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. |
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... |
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 |
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... |
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... |
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. |
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... |
Is vital wheat gluten only useful for recipes with non-AP/bread flours? How much should I use?
Got some VWG and attempted to use it in my regular roll recipe. The results were interesting. It rose more and seemed fluffier but seemed like it needed to be baked at a lower temperature. The dough seemed more elastic. I use... | A lot of times VWG is used in
A lot of times VWG is used in conjunction with flours such as whole wheat or rye where you don't get the same strength in your dough as you would using AP/bread. It is also used heavily in industrial bakeries as a way to increase volume and dough tolerance. There's nothing "wrong" with u... |
Pain de champpagne round bread
I don't where to begin, so here goes. About a month ago, I decided to try homemade bread. So, I purchased a bread machine for my wife (Panasonic sd-yd250). She baked a couple loaves of white bread with mixed results. Now she wishes to try a loaf of the above subject title. Neither of us ... | Pain de champange round bread
My original post was deleted for some reason, so I'll re-submit later. |
Dough sticks and tears...so frustrated.
Hi, I am so frustrated. I've been baking for several months, so I'm new at this...I've been progressively working wetter doughs, longer fermentations, but there is something I just can't seem to solve:Whenever I take the bulk fermented dough from the container to the table for pr... | Sticky Dough
Yes, this can be exasperating but there are things you can try.First I recommend a plastic scraper to assist you in working with sticky dough. If you employ long fermentation times and a series of stretch and fold procedures, the dough should go from sticky/hard to handle (scraper is handy at this stage) t... |
look at my oven
hi bakers my name is George rudd I want to show you my oven highest setting is 260 c it us convection used for kitchens do.I need to use a baking stone or can I use the racks and pans for baking pizza etc and artisan bread that require direct heat baking like deck oven etc any tips of any one used in b... | Go for it...
Start baking bread. You'll need some sheets to put the dough onto to load it in though. Also put a shallow tray on the bottom so you can throw in a cup of water just before closing the door to generate a bit of steam.-Gordon |
Vegan pretzel
Hi. I have a vegan in my family and would like to learn to cook pretzels. The recipe I have in Richard Bertinet's Crust has milk and an egg wash too. Does anyone have a pretzel recipe that is vegan? If it is sourdough too so much the better. Thanks. | http://cooking.nytimes.com
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013159-bavarian-style-soft-pretzelsUse shortening instead of butter. |
Type of bread for braiding?
I've been seeing ibor's braids and think they are wonderful. However I think the recipe for Blueberry Cream Cheese braid on here looks yummy too. What type of bread is best for both of those? I was thinking braiding would be a challah and the blueberry cream cheese one might be a pastry doug... | Ibor is the best person for this
I too have been admiring Ibor's braiding. Marvellous. I think traditionally enriched sweet breads are braided and I would think it'd have to be low hydration.Challah isn't normally filled but for special occasions they're sometimes made sweeter with sweet toppings or glazing and might h... |
A Great Video..
There's something so relaxing about watching this video.. I found it in my mailbox this morning.. it's from some mailing list I must have signed up for at some point.. I don't think I'd every make this, but I loved watching it.. enjoy.. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/kouign-amann--2?utm_source=Che... | Nice video. The one thing that was possibly missing
was enough salt and sugar.......:-) |
Baking Stone Placement ... and How Many to Use?
I have three baking stones that I picked up over the years. Two are round, thin pizza stones. One is an old Pampered Chef rectangular flat baking stone. It is thicker than the pizza stones, but not by much. It is my primary baking stone. I have used it for decades.Right n... | Baking stone
Hi!I do not have any useful advice, so I can only share my experience with it. My oven is electric, LG brand.I have several: a baking stone and baking steel(s). I very rarely use them, for I learned to bake great hearth breads without them, basically, in my eyes they are useful only for pizzas or extra lo... |
Bouchon bakery recipe instructions. are they right?
hi all,i am just beginning my bread making journey and whilst waiting for my starters to grow and develop. i tried the batard recipe in the bouchon bakery book. it mentions the use of all purpose flour as well as mixing in the machine for 20 mins. i am assuming both o... | I suspect you have not gone wrong but have...
...learnt that despite their general designations being the same, all-purpose flours from different mills behave, well, very differently. I've found it often takes several attempts to match something from a bakery book.I've not read it, but one huge problem that possibly ap... |
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