Hey all.  I think I just found a good source for bob's Red Mill flour for those in the PDX, OR area.  I was just recently at my favorite produce place, Growers outlet (corner of NE 162nd and Glisan) and found out that they sell BRM flour.  No I'm not affiliated with them, just sharing a find.  They purcahse the whole wheat and unbleached white in 50# sacks and then package them in roughly 5# bulk-style bags.  The great thing is the price ($0.65/# for WW and $0.69/unbleached white if I remember correctly.  Now I haven't done an incredible price crunching for the area, but this is the lowest I've seen, including being lower than the website for BRM.  I can't wait until I run low on some flour so I can go buy some good flour.  Happy baking.

Hi all,

I have been using my bread machine for several years, very good results so far. Then I had the idea to buy a kichen scale and start using it for the recipes, my wife was against, I convinced her by saying that we would have even greater reliability when using the scale. I tried a simple french bread, less ingredients would be better, I thought. Here is the french bread recipe that is in my bread machine book ( I have used it with success for several times ):

Water-1 1/2 cups Sugar- 2 TBL Salt 2 tsp Flour 4 cups Yeast 2 1/4 tsp

Converting water from volume to weight is easy: 355 grams, for the flour, I went to my king arthur package that says: 1 serving is 1/4 cup or 30 grams, so 4 cups would be 4*30*4 or 480 grams.

The bread was obviously too wet and collapsed. What could be wrong ? My wife wants to step back from the scale now. After the fact I calculate the hydration rate: 355/480 = 74% which much higher than the 66% the "the fresh loaf hadbook" tells.

OK, would my bread machine's recipe book be considering people would pack the flour when measuring by volume ? Any other conjecture ?

Another related question about hydration: Other liquids like oil, molasses, honey, should I add their weight when calculating the hydration rate ?

Thanks all for getting this far on my post, I need to save my marriage ;)

Has anyone used the Conagra Bread Flour available from Costco.? It is  $14.00 for 50 pounds!.I have been using KA from my local supermarket ( $4.69 for 5 pounds) I would like to switch over if I can expect similar results. But I would hate to buy 50 pounds of inferior flour.

Any comments would be most welcome. Jim

I'm into experimenting with the Hokkaido milky bread,mainly in order to create some interesting products for the local market here.I opted for applying the recipe as recommended here ,in this forum 

http://schneiderchen.de/237Hokkaido-Milky-Loaf.html

For some reason,this recipe requires the use of both fresh milk and milk powder. Searching on this forum,I have found out that the only reason for using powder milk is the scalded milk issue (destroying the enzym the reacts with the gluten).In the case ,what is the reasoning for using both fresh milk and powdered milk at the same recipe?Can I replace the powdered milk with fresh milk and in waht ratio? (the original recipe calls for the use of 30 grams powdered milk).Thanks.

Well, I was making a Cook's Illustrated recipe for a dessert that called for low-protein AP flour with the protein content further reduced by the addition of 1/2 cup of cornstarch to 4 cups flour.  I accidently used KA bread flour instead of the weak AP flour, and now I have 4 cups of bread flour with 1/2 cup cornstarch mixed in.  Can I use this in bread?  Can I use it to feed my sourdough starters?  Will it substitute for AP flour now that the protein/gluten content has been diluted?  Any thoughts as to how best to use/dispose of this flour?  Thanks for any advice.

I am new to this baking my own bread thing.  I have been doing it by the seat of my pants for about three weeks and truly enjoy the time spent and enhanced flavors over store bought pastes.  I am also shifting to a vegan lifestyle.  That means no eggs or dairy.  I was wondering what substitutes can be used in baking bread to replace the eggs in some recipes. 

I am wondering if someone can provide an insight into what happened in my kitchen today.  I was baking the Sweet Portuguese bread from BBA.  The sponge did fine -- did not dome, but was all bubbly.  Once I mixed and kneaded the dough though, it would not rise.  I gave it 2.5 hours for bulk fermentation (2 hours are recommended), then shaped -- and it took 7 hours in stead of 2-3 hours, for the dough to rise.  I thought that I messed something up and started the second batch, using a different formula for the same bread, from James Beard's book.  I used this formula before with great success.  It is straight dough.  I mixed and kneaded, and it took long for bulk fermentation, and shaped loaves were not risen even a bit after an hour and a half.  Both bulk fermentation and shaped loaves were placed into an oven without a pilot, with a light on, and with a large measuring cup of hot water.  The yeast I used today I also used yesterday to bake another bread (mutigrain struan with biga) and it did beautifully.  I am really mystified.  I hate to throw out a pound of yeast...  I will try to proof it tomorrow, but meanwhile am puzzled by it performing perfectly yesterday and abismally today (except for the sponge).  Any insights?

For now, I put the shaped loaves in the fridge, and I am off to bed.  What will I find tomorrow?

Thanks so much!

Kroha

I was looking through some old recipes and they list "Dried Milk Solids" as an ingredient (usually about 2 tablespoons). Is this the same as dry milk powder? If not, what can I use to substitute for the Dried Milk Solids.

Thanks

David

I want to make some of those "crackle top" rolls with the rice flour topping.

I didn't expect our podunkville grocery store to have rice flour but I asked my wife to look for it today anyway since they do occasionally surprise us.

She came home with a box of rice baby cereal, because about the only ingredient in it is rice flour.

I poured some out in my hand and tasted it.  It kind of reminds me of Panko.

Any ideas what to do with it, bread baking wise?

I suppose we can eat it for breakfast (it being a sin to throw away food and all) but that idea is not too appealing.