Hello everyone!  I'm DeeDee from Idaho.  I love baking breads and have fallen in love with this site!  In fact, I've got a whole wheat loaf in the oven as I type this.  My family loves to come home to homemade bread and will hardly eat that store bought stuff anymore.  Even my 6-year-old has started getting in on the bread-making action.  He loves to help. 

I'm always looking for new ideas, recipes, and ways to improve my baking...bring it on!

DeeDee

Hi folks -

having lived in Germany for extended periods, I've been 'on the rampage' to bake some good broetchen here in USA.

recently acquired some Backmalz (diastatic malt powder) and that seems to convey the flavor, exterior crunch and softer interior of a good breakfast broetchen.

any experience / known/tried recipes / tips on Backmalz & broetchen?

hey. found this site few minutes ago but havent searched it. was reading aobut benefits of a bakeing stone. just bought one and never used one before. ima beginer so please be patient with my questions haha. i really like cooking but i hate cooking for just me...what fun is in that? haha even if its bad im gona eat it but i enjoy getting good reviews from friends that i have shared cooking with. so far noone has died..haha. yet!! just starting with the idea of cooking breads so any hints id appriciate. im planning to build a pie safe cabinet soon as i can just for the heck of haveing one and useing it.

I came across this wonderful idea at YeastSpotting. I will definitely be trying this.

http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/search/label/painted%20breads

The instructions for the paint are in the text just over the picture of the wheatberries.  

My name is Will I am 50yrs. old & live and work in Manhattan with my lovely bride Doreen. Between us we have four great kids, two each a boy & a girl each. they range from 23 To 16. and all get along like we were the Brady bunch. I started cooking after I was divorced from my first wife about fourteen years ago. As a way to keep close with my daughter & son. Something we could share together. well it was a hard time at first you know teen age girl i was well hated. But thank god we all made it! few weeks ago my daughter wanted to come over to bake with me. I was so happy. I made two batches of jason's chebatta bread today the second batch is not 1/2 bad I posted pics in the artisan bread forum. Tell me what you think I can use some feed back. P,S, If you need a taste to give me a true review Ill be glad to send you a slice or a loaf. LOL. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing home made bread with family & friends. I hope to make some new friends here.

Ok, so, i'll try to keep this brief, although I tend to wander a bit with my writing.  So...

First of all, greetings from Philadelphia.  Been bread baking for about eight months, and been lurking somewhat on this site, mainly just to see if I'm doing things fairly correctly.  Based on how long the bread lasts (not long), I'm fairly certain I'm doing ok, but certainly would like to get better.  I keep a 1.2.2 firm starter that I use to create other starters specific to each batch, and tend to bake at least once a week.  Love nuts, seeds, and specialty flours, as well as enriched breads.  So that's the introductory part.  Now...

Before I pose my two questions, let me say that I have spent the better part of several days now researching mixers, reading user reviews, watching videos, travelling to examine them, and basically feeling like my brain is spinning in one every time I see the word Bosch, Electrolux, Viking, KitchenAid  I know there is a ton of information on this site, and I perused most of it, as well as many other sites.  I started out kneading by hand, still do to some extend, but at this point I'm often asked to make bread for whatever occasion, and it's easier to do in the mixer.  I have been using a KitchenAid 5qt Heavy Duty one, which has accorded me just fine, but it's not mine, and now I need one.  So.  I've seen good and bad about most brands, a few horror stories about KitchenAid and Viking, and for the most part almost nothing negative about the Electrolux.  I've been leaning toward buying one, but wanted to pose two questions regarding it's use: 

1.  From all that I've read, the DLX is clearly amazing at mixing large batches of dough.  Now, I'm a single guy, and I can only eat so much, and my freezer is already overflowing with bread.  For the most part, at least right now, I'm mixing primarily single batches of about 500g flour, which work just fine in the kitchenaid.  I've seen a few posts noting the fact that the DLX is not so great at small batches of dough, which might render it's purchase, at least for me, pointless.  So, anyone mixing smaller amounts in the DLX, and if so, how's it working for you? 

2,  While I primarily mix bread doughs, I do also have a sweet tooth, and find myself making cakes, sweets, chocolates, and pies, so the ability of the mixer to cream butter and whip eggs is an important part of my decision.  Clearly the DLX is amazing at mixing bread doughs, but how does it work when you need to whip a half dozen eggs?  I know it comes with a smaller bowl and a double wisk, but wanted to hear about it's abilities in that regard. 

Like I said, I'm certainly leaning towards getting one, and certainly intrigues by this learing curve I've been reading about.  So hope this wasn't too much for a first post...

Cheers and thanks. 

I guess it's time to stop lurking and start participating.

My name is Tom and I like to cook, with smoking and baking being my favorite parts of the hobby.

I guess I'd consider myself a novice when it comes to bread. I've done things like challah, bagels, English muffins and other sourdough breads.

We make all of our bread products. Hot dog and hamburger buns, dinner rolls, etc, etc, and most all of it is sourdough.

I've earned some things here, and hope to continue to do so.

Good Morning!

I just discovered this site and wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Scott, and I am a Tax Accountant by trade, and an amateur (very!)  bread baker by passion! I generally bake very small batches (3-4 lbs), mostly for my family and very close friends. 

At the moment I am working on getting more consistant in my batches, listening, and learning from the more experienced folks here.

Last night I baked 3 Quinoa boules, and used my new brotforms for the first time - Hopefully they will taste as good as they looked and smelled!

Tonight I am going to try a no-knead cabernet and asiago cheese dough - either for rolls or possibly grissini!

Wish me luck!

S

Hi everyone,

My name is Bryan and I just started to learn how to bake breads. Don't get me wrong, I've baked Betty Crocker Bread type recipes but want to take my baking up to the next level.

Currently I am reading Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book which is my very first introduction to bread baking techniques. I must say I am completley overwelmed and confused with chapter 3 and I am not sure where to post my beginner questions. My questions pertain to Bigas and Poolishes for whole wheat and Itailian types of breads. (not into sourdoughs). I don't want to start off my membership to this site with a question in the wrong forum.

Hello Floyd,

I'm from Hong Kong and have only just disovered this wonderful and very resourceful site today.

I'm new to bread-baking, I started out with a bread machine and have been disappointed with the outcome most of the time.   However, since I learnt to make bread by hand, I have been more successful but I still have a long way to go.  I'm absolutely thrilled with your website and I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time browing your site,  learning the basics and trying out the recipes.  It would be good if the recipes can come in metric measurements or even in lbs and ounces which is more accurate as opposed to using the measuring cup which can be diffcult for certain ingredients.

Judy