The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

newbie at baking

dpete38's picture
dpete38

newbie at baking

Hello and thank you for looking at my post, I live in CT some of the time and spend part time in NM. Where I would love to make an outdoor oven. I just received (for Christmas) the Book "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast" and am working at making the recipes work,

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Flour Water Salt Yeast is the book that got me really going on baking the bread that I bake today. The times and the flour in FWSY work for me but you need to be aware that a lot of people have difficulty with it. I would suggest that you go by the recommendations of doubling or tripling of the dough rather than the times stated in the book. As to flour, since you are in the US, use bread flour so you can get the necessary gluten development.  I'm in Canada  and our all purpose flour has quite a high protein content so we are OK to use all purpose flour but I know that US flour does not have as high a protein content so bread flour would be better for you.  Hope this helps! 

dpete38's picture
dpete38

Ken states in his book to use if possible, flours with a lower protein so I did buy some King Arthur organic flour that I think I will stop using, I have used Montana grown flour in the past for breads that seem to work well since the stress on it are much higher that King Arthur, causing a higher protein. Thank you for your advice.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

So his idea of a low protein flour is probably more like high-protein for us. To use up your organic flour, just put small amounts of it with your other flour and it should be fine. 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

FWS&Y is a tough book to start with.  Just remember all of his times are way off, his levain builds are just crazy large (just make what you need) and the hydration is a bit high for a newbie to start with. For old pros it is a great book that is inspiring,  insightful and challenging.

I would suggest that you start off with a 123 sourdough and when that gets easy, it won't be at first, then move on to Forkishishness.  Newbies have been known to slit their wrists and lay down in the gutter if they start with Forkish:-)  So have the old pros!

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

And I was a total newbie when I got my hands on that book! But Dab, you do have excellent points. The 1-2-3 sourdough recipes are a great place to start. 

I also forgot about his crazy Sourdough builds. Just make a quarter of what he says and you will have plenty of Sourdough starter. By the way, baking after 5 to 7 days with a new starter the way he goes about it is a pie in the sky thing. Look for the pineapple solution in here for starting a Sourdough culture. I baked with mine after 10 days And it worked but waiting a couple of weeks or more is more the norm.