Good morning everyone,

I hope you are well ... I hope you don't mind me posting an ad .... I am looking for an experienced Bread Baker in Ireland.

I really like this site, all the best.

Kildare Bread Baker

Our client is an established of Retailer with a number of established stores throughout Dublin. They are seeking to recruit an experienced Baker for their store in The West Dublin region:

You will be responsible for:

•  Ensuring the highest standard of food safety
• Working towards and achieving set targets
• To ensure excellence in customer service at all times

 The successful candidates will have a proven track record within a bakery environment, have excellent communication skills and be able to demonstrate a commitment to high standards. 

The successful person should be Flexible, Energetic & Ambitious with a passion for retail.

 For more information please contact Scott Balaam in Excel on 01 8148747 or email

 Excel Recruitment is Ireland's leading retail recruitment company. The company is recognised as the experts in the recruitment of management in to food, non food and fashion. For information concerning a broad range of opportunities contact Scott Balaam in Excel.

As many of you know, long-time community member Stan Ginsberg (Elagins) recently started an online business called The New York Bakers with the goal of selling hard to find baking ingredients and gear at reasonable prices.

Stan's move from community member to vendor raised issues we hadn't faced here.  Many folks who ask questions here are looking for unbiased opinions about the best gear or ingredients to buy.  It set off alarm bells for some when the feedback they got came from someone not only using the gear they recommend but selling it.  Much credit to Stan that when these concerns were brought to him a few weeks ago he reined in his responses, tending to avoid those where his answer would be "I think X is best and by the way I sell that over here".  

But obviously if your potential customers are serious amateur bakers, TFL is one of the best places to try to get your message out.  So Stan approached me with a couple of possibilities about how he could reach out to our community.  For the time-being we settled on Stan placing an ad on the homepage so he can get his message out while still clearly distinguishing it from the community discussions. 

As you can see from the ad, Stan also agreed to offer a promotion for TFL members who try out his service, since good word of mouth from TFL members is the best possible advertising he could hope for.  Any new customer who orders more than $20 of grains or gear from him will receive a free kilogram of either Italian Tipo 00 Pizza Flour or General Mills Durum Patent Flour.  Just mention "TFL" and the type of flour you want in the instructions for the seller when checking out.

I placed one order with Stan a couple of months ago and received my items promptly.  I've not baked enough with the ingredients I ordered from him to testify as to how much of a difference they make, but the banetton I ordered is very nice and was definitely a bargain.

I encourage community members to consider trying NY Bakers out.  And please, if you do, be sure to share your feedback on the service and the ingredients with others here.

When I was a child, my mother would make vinegar rolls for special (breakfast) occasions.  Over the years, I and at least one of my sisters have carried on the tradition.  But, whenever I have mentioned "vinegar rolls" to anyone outside our family, the concept is greeted with "yuck" (or some similar disgusted sounding response).  Is my family the only people who have tasted this lovely version of cinnamon rolls?  Here is a "recipe", in case anyone would like to try this fairly delicious concoction (I have never written a recipe before, and seldom follow one, so this is my best effort):

Recipe:

1 Can of biscuits (or, better yet, one batch of homemade biscuits, yeast rolls or similar bread dough)

1/4 LB. Butter at room temperature (homemade is best)

Mixture of cinnamon and sugar

A few tablespoons of flour

1 tsp. white or apple cider vinegar for each roll

Boiling hot wter

Roll out the dough into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.  Generously smear the butter all over the dough rectangle, and (again, generously) sprinlke the cinnamon/sugar mixture over the butter.  Starting at one end of the rectangle, roll the dough up, into a log.  Slice the log into pinwheel sections about 11/2 to 2 inches wide, and set the pinwheels in a cake pan that has been sprayed with oil - leave a bit of room between them, to allow them to rise and spread a bit.  atop each roll, place a dab of butter, and follow with the teaspoon of vinegar.  Mix the flour together with some cinnamon/sugar mixture, and sprinkle over and between the rolls. Follow with the hot water (over and between the rolls), stirring as well as you can, considering there's not much room between the rolls - this is going to.  The water and flour-cinnamon-sugar mixture are going to form a thick syrup in the bottom of the pan.  Bake the rolls in a 350 degree oven until browned.  Loosen the rolls from the sides, and turn the pan of rolls upside down onto a plate, so the "syrup" coats the rolls.  Serve hot.

The vinegar will have evaporated, leaving only a hint of tartness to the syrup.

How do you keep  the flour that you use most often. Do you have some thing special for it.  I keep my all purpose flour, the one I use most often in a Hungarian hand thrown sauerkraut  pot, it does have a place , draining hole in the bottom that I have a cork in.  It was given to me by a dear friend many many years ago.  It holds 10 kg  comfortably. I like to keep this pot on a folded tea towel or as like my mixers etc on a mouse pad, they then slide easy closer to me as I want to work with them and don't scratch the counter.  Plain pastry flour is in a stainlees steel container  smaller only holds about  1 kg and another small  stainless steel container for my hard wheat berries, also about 1 kg. qahtan

Hello,

I have been on a quest to make bagels.  I have tried many recipes with the exception of Peter Reinhart's.  The only problem with my bagels is that, although they taste delicious, they have been turning out a bit flat.  I have checked the recipes thoroughly and believe that I am measuring all ingredients perfectly.  Any thoughts on what could be causing this.  The recipes I have used are as follows:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/bagels-recipe

http://www.bakingbites.com/2007/06/homemade-bagels/

The recipes advise to let the dough rest before poking a hole in them.  The trouble is, that my shaped bagel balls seem to spread out a bit while they rest and seem to rise a bit.  When I go to enlarge the hole they defate just slightly.  Could my dough be to wet.  All of my measurements are correct.  Should I be using a flour with a higher protien content?  Currently I am using Gold Medal Bread Flour and King Arthur Bread Flour.

Thanks for your advice! 

Skylar

Made some enriched white bread today. qahtan
 11 cups flour
 3 1/2 cups water
 2 cups milk
 3 eggs
 2 tablespoons sugar
 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
 3 teaspoons yeast
 3 ounces soft butter.
           

Has anyone made Peter Reinhart's soft cheese bread from Artisan Breads Every Day?  How'd it come out?  Any pics??  Thanks!

My OCD is kicking in...I would love to get my hands on some Caputo flour. Does anyone in Texas know if it is available at Central Market? I called the one in Dallas but she transferred me to an eternal-ringing phone and I gave up. I have a friend from Dallas coming to visit Friday and he could possible bring me some.

TIA!

Amaz.

Hello,

I had my first go at making bagels today.  I used my KitchenAid stand mixer for the kneading.  When my dough was mixing, however, it seemed to be really very wet and sticky.  I decided to add more flour so the dough would clear the sides of the mixer bowl and only cling to the very base of the bowl as is customary of most doughs.  I used Gold Medal bread flour for the recipe and measured using the spoon and sweep method yielding just under 4.5 ounces weight per cup of flour.  Any thoughts as to why the recipe could produce a dough so wet?  It was a very wet day.  Should I have used a higher stregnth flour do you think, hence more absorbtion?  Or is this recipe just off the mark?  The recipe proportions are as follows.

1 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1 3/4 cups warm water

4 cups bread flour

Some advice would be great!  Thanks!

I forgot to add salt to a Barley Bread recipe that I made up.  I was worried about an oversized Yeasty bread, or a Bread that had not formed correctly.  My internet research led me to sites that advised on not cutting out salt, as it regulates the yeast activity and helps form the bread.

None of this advice was true.  I suspect that the advice served to sell salt.  Other than being a little bland tasting, nothing was wrong with the Bread.  It formed and rose normally.