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Artisan Baking

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pattycakes's picture

King Arthur All-Purpose Flour Bafflement

July 19, 2009 - 10:30am -- pattycakes

I hope someone has an answer for this, because I'm baffled.

I've used KA all-purpose flour a lot, both with bread flour and alone. I haven't kept notes or done any experiments, but I've never noticed what I noticed in today's baking. I chose it instead of the Guisto bread flour I've been using because I was doing a number of things that I thought would benefit from a slightly softer flour. Fougasse, bread sticks, epi.

pmccool's picture

Question about Leader's Auvergne Dark Rye

July 18, 2009 - 7:00am -- pmccool

I've started Leader's Auvergne Dark Rye and run into some confusion.  Leader describes the first stage of the dough as a "thick, smooth batter".  That's using the starter, 350 grams of water and 500 grams of medium or light rye flour.  Right off the bat, a dough at 70% hydration is not going to be a batter.  In my case, the matter is compounded by the fact that I'm using a stone-ground whole rye flour, which is even more absorptive.  Batter?  No.  Play-Doh?  Yes.

xaipete's picture

Should I use steam or put a cloche on it?

July 13, 2009 - 10:03am -- xaipete

A while back I had a discussion with David about when he used steam and when he used a cloche (or something like that), and I think his reply was some like "I'm still working that out". I've been trying to work that out over the last 3 or 4 months now too, so I thought it might be a nice time to share my thoughts and get the opinions of other TFLers.

When is it better to use steam and when is it better to use a cloche (I'm using cloche here as a generic term for an inverted roaster, tin foil pan, Le Cloche, etc.)?

tananaBrian's picture

Scoring woes... whussup wi'dat?

July 12, 2009 - 2:32pm -- tananaBrian

Hey All,

 

  I seem to be having trouble with scoring loaves lately... I usually use a razor blade, but it's not working so well.  Even with a new blade, the slicing action kind of 'grabs' the dough rather than slicing cleanly through it.  The weather's been warm lately, so maybe my dough has risen more prior to slicing and that changed it, or maybe the skin of the dough is different in these conditions ...even though I cover dough with a damp towel and plastic while raising.

metropical's picture

help with top cracking loaf

July 10, 2009 - 6:34am -- metropical

I've been using the same basic recipe for years of a Silverton grape starter based multigrain loaf bread.

In the last year or so, the tops have been cracking before they rise sufficiently.  I can't figure out if the dough is too wet or what.

It's not the oven, it heats spot on.

I do steam bake for the first 10 mins.

 

Here's a link for some snaps.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24075712@N00/sets/72157621095129177/

summerbaker's picture

Recipe for Altamura?

July 9, 2009 - 7:37pm -- summerbaker

One of my favorite multi-purpose breads is the Italian bread, Altamura.  However, I have never made it myself and am now hoping that someone out there knows of a good recipe.  Quite a few recipes come up in a Google search, but I trust the folks here on TFL to be more likely to come up with a winner!  Don't feel obligated to write up the whole recipe; a source would be much appreciated.  Thanks!

Summer

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