I made Kaiser Rolls using Peter Reinhart's formula in BBA.  They taste good but don' look good.  During proofing they spread out and were a bit flat looking.  Also, using a kaiser roll cutter didn't work.  During the proofing of the completed rolls the dough rose to the point of eliminating the tool cuts.  After baking the cuts pretty much disapeared.  Could the dough have been too wet?  Would it be better to use the tool after turning the rolls over for the second proofing?  Should you press the tool down as far as you can into the roll?

Jerry

I am building a starter from rye floour and I made it through day 5 without interruption.  Unfortunately, I was out of town and missed 3-4 days.  The starter seemed to be progressing nicely, it smelled and looked just like the book said it would.  Can I just pick up where I left off or should I abandoned it and start a new one?

Hello everyone!

I have a batch in the fridge of the USA Team sweet dough from Maggie Gleazer's Artisanal Baking.  Don't really want to make the monkey bread or the cinnamon pull-apart bread in the book.  May I ask for ideas on what to do with the dough?  I happened to add sultanas to it thinking maybe I'll make a loaf of raisin bread but I'm not sure it's the right base.  I'll be taking it out of the fridge first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks in advance.

I am using Dadio anodized pans and calphalon dark pans.  I am bouncing back and forthe between butter, smart balance oil, and olive oil for the pans.  I tried baking spray and won;t use it again.  Should sweeter breads be baked with butter, regular with oil, and foccacia type breads with live oil?

What do you use?

I've been out of town some lately, but really wanted to post the pictures of my Guinness Walnut Loaf which is a recipe that I got from Qahtan here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/1649/walnut-levain

It turned out to be delicious and perfectly timed since I just read a NY Times article touting the health benefits of walnuts here:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/walnuts-the-original-health-nut/?scp=1&sq=walnuts&st=cse

There are some yummy looking recipes in that article as well.

About the baking: One change that I made is that I retarded the dough overnight and should have reduced the yeast since the centers of the loaves dried out a little about a day after cutting into them.

I left the walnut halves on the top of the loaf whole.

Try this recipe for a simple but satisfying and healthy loaf!

Summer

My Grandmother's Yeast Rolls

Hi - I am new here but after reading so many comments from knowledgable bakers, I thought I would ask for your thoughts/opinions.  I remember my grandmother baking yeast rolls (with cake yeast) that were approximately 4" high, moist, and with an almost silky texture - not at all crumbly.  Does anyone know of a recipe and techniques that might help me replicate her rolls?  Any comments would be appreicated.

Hi,

This is Jackie from PhamFatale.com. Please do click on the link below and head on over to my bread contest to vote for your favorite bread recipe. You could win an awesome knife. One lucky voter will be picked and win a Petty Phoenix knife from New West KnifeWorks (a $99 value).

Bread Contest

Good luck!

The voting period will be open until 11.59 p.m. (Pacific Time), on October 7th, 2009.

Hi all,

 I have a half pound of blueberry stilton and I want to use it in either a bread or pastry recipe. Does anyone have recipe suggestions/recommendations.

Thanks.

BNB

Using the BBA Cinnamon Bun recipie I had a problem in that the dough never would rise to double and probably only rose about 25%.  When mixing the dough was very wet and sticky.  I added a least a half cup of flour and was able to work with the dough but it was still too sticky.  One other thing I did was substitute Splenda sweetener for granulated sugar.  I'm wondering if that substitution could be part of the problem?

Jerry

I am making some FarmStyle White Bread and the recipe calls for 10 cardamom pods.  I am going to use ground cardamom instead but I have no idea how much to use.  The recipe makes (4) 9 x 5 loaves.  ANy ideas on how much ground I should use?