Hey! 

We've recently launched a free marketplace called Book of Cooks (currently on Beta) to help consumers find and hire local culinary professionals and foodies for cooking gigs, full-time and part-time jobs. 

I'd like to extend an invitation to all bakers and food artisans on The Fresh Loaf to get listed on the book and help us grow it. To explain what it is in a few words....at BookofCooks you can set up an online bakery or "storefront" to sell your cakes, bread, pastries with and link to your photos and recipes here at The Fresh Loaf :=) , your webpage or blog.  

Consumers on the other hand can search BookOfCooks by city for whatever meal or baked goods they're craving, or they can browse the site's online Google maps and archives for links to local cooks/bakers, including ratings and reviews. When they find one that sounds good, they can place an order with the cook for pickup, delivery or even in-home preparation. 

The site is advertising and sponsor supported - we don't charge commissions. Here are some recent press articles and mentions  further explaining how it works.

Please note that the website is in beta--we will greatly appreciate any feedback that helps us improve and make it more useful. Tell us what you like, what you hate, it'll all be super valuable to us as we prepare for our next site release in the fall. 

Finally feel free to visit our blog, our Facebook page, watch our video tour or email me directly: info [at] bookofcooks.com. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Julian

I made one of the white breads from the Bread Baker's Apprentice and removed it from the oven when the internal temp exceeded the recommended 190 degrees.  The crust was only a medium brown and rather soft.  Should I have let it bake longer to crisp the crust, even if the internal temperature exceeded the recommended?

Thanks

Hi guys.

I have Peter Reinhart's book BBA and I want to ask is there a big difference 

between him and the other  book: "Crust & crumb" ?

I mean, is there a big differences?

 'cause if it only one recipe here & there,  I don't think i need it.

What do you think?

Also I have Hamelman's book, is it cover all the side of whole wheat bread or

should I buy Peter Reinhart's book "Whole Grain..."

What do you think?

thanks. Ron

Hi all!  I'm new to the site, but I thought you all might be able to help me.

I've been doing a lot of bread baking, particularly out of Peter Reinhart's books (actually, primarily out of whole grain baking).  Lately, I've been interested in trying to add some more "unusual" ingredients to my breads, but I'm not sure how to compensate for them in the recipes.  I put unusual in quotes because they're only unusual in that the book doesn't really address them.  I want to add some cheeses and herbs primarily, though some things like spinach, etc. would also be nice. 

Like I said, though, I'm not sure how to compensate in the recipes for adding these ingredients.  Can anyone give me some direction?

Thanks!

Todd

Hello everyone!

I'm rather a novice at baking and I love experimenting, but I would like other people's opinions before I try out the following recipe. Truth be told, I made it up myself. I'm going for a white bread loaf with a relatively moist inside and a crispy outside. So please give me some advice and any critique is welcome!

500 grams white bread flour
80 ml milk
180 ml water (about)
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon instant yeast (please tell me whether this should be heaped or not)

So, we mix everything together, knead it and leave it to rise, until it has doubled in size. Then we take it out of the bowl,  form it and leave it to rise a second time (Do you think I should do this? I know that if I let the the bread over-ferment it will acquire a beery taste, but I want it to have the best flavour possible. Should I maybe put less sugar in?). We glaze the loaf/loaves/rolls and bake them for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Does this sound sane?

I've been baking for about 6 months, and can now turn out a predictably pretty Sourdough Boule', I'm thrilled and excited to bake, and like to do it nearly every day.  Naturally, this has resulted in an over-production for our empty-nester household.  The solution is to occasionally surprise someone with a loaf.  Pure pleasure.  But, now that the word is out, I have people asking to buy bread.  Here's the problem: My personal history with crafts/arts tells me that when I cross the line from hobby to business the fun drains out fast.  So, I've refused to take orders.  I'm wondering if I made a big mistake the other day by telling a little group that I had considered accepting donations for my flour fund.  You should have the seen the speed with which money came whipping out of wallets!  I am reassuring myself that a flour donation doesn't constitute pressure, that I can just continue to gift people with bread as I please, but I am worried.  So, do any of you with a similar frame of mind have any experience here?  I keep looking at that money hanging on my fridge and wondering if I wouldn't be better off just returning it.

I'm so excited! I love cinnamon raisin bread but wanted to experiment. My friend had just cut up four peaches that weren't very sweet and were turning brown in the refrigerator. What to do, what to do? I decided to try and simulate peach cobbler, which is what we originally considered doing with the peaches. I tweaked and added a few things to a basic cinnamon-raisin bread recipe. The bread came out wonderfully sweet and would have easily made delicious individual peach-cinnamon cobbler rolls. It made two loaves.

To the basic cinnamon-raisin bread dough, I added a little extra sugar because I knew the peaches were tart, otherwise proceed as the recipe dictates.

As the dough proofs, mix together brown sugar (2/3-1 c.), 4T. butter (soft) and flour (1/2-2/3 c.) and stir until you get crumbs. After rolling dough into rectangle sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. (Note: I divided my dough to make two loaves) Now distribute half the crumb mixture evenly over the cinnamon sugar layer. Dice your peaches and pat them dry. Don't smoosh them now, just a gentle pat and place them on top of the crumb mixture. Give it another shake of cinnamon sugar (really, this is according to taste). Roll the dough up as you would normally and sprinkle the rest of the crumbs over the top of the bread, or you can wait until after this final proof and sprinkle the crumbs right before the loaves go into the oven. From here you can follow the cook times for your cinnamon-raisin bread recipe. (The crumbs on top of the bread melt and bake into a nice, crunchy sweetness.) 

When the bread cooled, I made a glaze of cinnamon and 10x sugar mixed with 2-3 T. milk to make a nice drizzle and, well, drizzled it. :) 

If you love peaches and love sweet breads, this is a recipe to try!

I have three types of flour in my kitchen: all purpose, bread flour, and [recently] high gluten. I've not used the high gluten before, but at a price of five dollars for 50 pounds I couldn't resist! I am curious to know if anyone has baked the same bread recipe using the three different types of flour and, if so, how did the breads differ? I think all three recipes would have to be baked at the same time for an accurate comparison.

serifm

I am on a 9-day vacation and I am loving it.  The only downside of being away from home is that I don't get to bake properly. Obviously, the people who live here don't use their oven much. The first day I got here I noticed the oven a bit on the hot side, especially the top element.  I tried to bake two loaf of sourdough sesame bread using just 350F on the lower rack, thinking I would cover the loafs with tin foil by 10 minutes. In about 6 minutes I smelled burnt! I faced the dilemma of choosing between a burnt loaf or a flat loaf. I thought at least a flat loaf was edible so I opened to the oven and quickly threw a sheet of tin oil over the top. Just that brief moment I saw top crust and sesame seeds were almost black and my heart sunk. My heart sunk even further when I finally took the two loafs out, they had deflated and lost about 25% of their volume. They tasted fine but just looked a bit black top and a bit flat.  I never knew how much I would miss my oven until I had to leave home.  I don't think I can wait another week before baking again.  So I will give this oven another try.  Next time I will decrease the temperature by 25F and keep the food on the lower rack.  What do you think?

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie and was wondering if any of you had some recipes for peruvian breads?  Specifically andean/highland breads?

In my travels I have tasted some yummy stuff and one of the best breakfasts I have ever had was

pan taparaco con nata miel and cafe con leche

basically a really hard crunchy toast ( i think it is twice baked) loaded with the solids that form when you heat raw milk and honey and a cup of coffee with milk.

i dream about this bread and can't seem to find a recipe for it.

hopefully one of you can help and know what I am talking about.

thanks in advance