Hi,

I'm glad to have finally registered here, after months of lurking. I've been baking bread for about 20 years, but only in the past few years have I discovered the joys of artisan breads. I grind many of my own grains; I'm lucky enough to live near Amish country where I can pick up a sack of Montana Prairie Gold wheat whenever the need arises. I'm currently loving the Bread Baker's Apprentice and am going to cook my way through the book. Should be fun. When I'm not baking, I'm working part-time (pharmacy tech) and being a busy mom of six kiddos ages 20-12 (5 boys, 1 girl). I look forward to learning a lot from all of you!

Ria

My neighbor has asked me if i could make "a bread or something" with pears from her tree. I offered to make some  tarts using a croissant dough but she is having guests Sunday and there's no time for that.

Has anyone ever made a bread with fresh pears? This woman has been a wonderful neighbor and I would really like to do this for her. Any ideas at all would be helpful. Something that would lend itself to individual servings might be nice.

Thanks so much.

Bob

Okay, so I've been a lurker on this site for a couple months now. I have appreciated the information and instructions here, they have truly helped me on my quest to make better bread. I came on here a while ago asking for help on trying to make potato bread with barm that has a chewy, open crumb and not too much crust...I received really good input and a formula for potato leek bread from breadcetera (thank you thank you thank you!!!) and have tweaked that formula here and there and well folks, I think I've got it- at least to my liking anyhow :-)

What do you think of the name: Sourdough Honey Rye?

it works really well as toast or for sandwiches. My family loves it. 

Please try not to laugh at the pictures, let me explain: I do not have a very equipped kitchen, I don't have a baking stone (yet), and I have to improvise with almost all bread making tools. I also have 3 boys under the age of 4, so making bread the "right" way is sometimes hard :-) So, this is my formula for my favorite bread, I hope you'll try it in spite of the pictures.

note: my other loaves where I used my barm the day after feeding rather than 2 days out, rose considerably higher than the loaves pictured here. Nonetheless, very good in taste.

380g KA Bread Flour

300g KA AP Flour

90g Rye Flour

300g Sourdough Starter (fed and refrigerated)

455g Water

16g Sea Salt

170g Honey

40g Dry Mashed Potato Flakes*

*I also make this bread with about 200g mashed potatoes instead of the dry potato flakes if I have them left over from dinner the night before. Turns out really tasty and a bit more moist.

Method:

1: Combine flours, set aside.

2: I use my Kitchen Aid and mix barm with the water and aerate for about a minute.

3: Slowly add in some of the flour, the honey and potatoes with the whisk attachment until it starts to make a batter. Then switch to the dough hook for the rest of the flour.

4: Autolyse for 30 minutes.

5: Add in salt and mix on speed 3 or 4 for 6 minutes.

6: Cover and let rise for 3 hours.

7: Fold and split into two. I put mine in 2 3 quart french white ceramic baking dishes. Let rise about 3 hours.

8: Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hello, I am new to the fresh loaf, but have baked professionally for years. I found this site by accident and have been reading it for a couple weeks. I hope to add to my Knowledge by reading what others have done, and also add what I can to others. Although I have baked for years there is a lot to learn and I feel like I am just beginning to learn the potential of bread.

I guess it's about time for me to introduce myself. I am Catherine, a grandmother of 9 --soon to be 10, a mother of 4, DH and I are both retired now so I am busier than ever.  I have so many hobbies that I can't seem to find time for them all but I seem to find time to bake.

I joined this forum a few weeks ago, looking for help when I was having trouble getting artisan breads to come out like the descriptions in the book. I've been so busy baking and asking questions that I haven't gotten around to introducing myself. I have gotten lots of helpful suggestions and answers and I think I'm well on my way to a new adventure in breads. I have a lively stiff sourdough starter living in my fridge. Before joining, I bought Local Breads by Daniel Leader and plunged right in...then the breads came our heavy. Since joining, I've bought The Breadbaker's Apprentice and I love all the color photos showing just how the breads should look. I'm using Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads and King Arthur's Baker's Companion from the library and I might have to buy them, too. I will get Rose Levy Berenbaum's Bread Bible from the library tomorrow. My cookbook shelves are full, so I don't know where I'll put these hefty volumes, but they are all so nice. 

I've been baking bread since childhood. First it was a special treat to have homemade bread, then, after I had children, it became our daily fare. I got my stone grinding flour mill in 1976 and am still using it. Our children grew up on whole wheat bread and they wondered how their friends could eat "wonder bread".  They would say it was called that because people would eat it and wonder what it could be made of. 

Although I still love my old standby Honey Oat and Wheat Bread, I have always wanted to be able to make crusty white breads with a tender crumb. I'm happy to learn that the trick is the stone and the steam. 

 I'm still not quite sure what I was doing wrong with the first white breads I tried, but I'm over it. I must have been underproofing because I sure kneaded enough. Now I am using the fold and rest with a plenty long fermenting and proofing whenever it seems feasible and the breads are coming out just heavenly. 

I made Norm's Onion Rolls today and they look beautiful!  We will eat a couple as soon as DH gets home from doing jury duty. They will be deliciousf illed with barbecued pulled pork and homemade applesauce. Thank you, Norm, for sharing your expertise and recipes from the past.

Thanks to Floyd for hosting this list and for all the members who so generously offer their helpful tips and suggestions.

Catherine

I've been reading here for several months, but never managed to introduce myself. I'm a professional chef and filmmaker, but my breadbaking is mostly from love and obsession. I have a wood-fired oven and teach classes on how to use them (fornorustico.com). I'm so impressed by the incredible breads that people make and I've learned a ton from everyone's comments and instruction. There are only 3 websites I go to on a daily basis: nytimes, ravelry (I'm a knitting fool), and TFL. Thank you so much for this amazing resource and amazing community!

Lea

Have lurked on this site for a little while, and already learned so much! I am very open to new ideas, and to improving my bread-making. I typically use KAF flour and recipes the most.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences!

(edited because I found a topic on this that I hadn't previously seen...)

Well, this is my very first forum of any kind, so I am completely new at this.  I am on a quest of sorts to bake the perfect loaf of "Bauernbrot" which is a robust, old world style bread made from white wheat and medium (I think) rye flour.

It all started when the small bakery here in town lost their baker and discontinued baking their own no-frills sourdough-rye bread.  I have not been able to find bread that is truly satisfying, at least not in my immediate area, so I have decided to take matters into my own two hands.  I grew up in Germany, and if there is one thing I must (however reluctantly) admit, it's my belief that we Germans have developed this deeply emotional bond with our bread!

So, I thought maybe there might be someone out there on a similar "quest", maybe another displaced European who may have already found the holy grail of old world style bread baking?

I enjoy many things, but spend most of my time cooking, baking, and reading, and of course shopping for things to cook, bake and read.

Lembas

 (bet you can't guess my favorite read)

I have been learning to bake bread for some time,

either by reading (Beranbaum's Bread Bible), or by visiting

baking sites or by asking.

So far, my disasters have been few, thanks to the clear

descriptions of TBB, but still, I can´t consider my bread

as succesess.

Anyway, I have a lot of questions to make, in regard, especially,

to ingredientes and *kneading*. Will I, some day, learn when

a dough has been well kneaded????

Anyway, receive my regards from Costa Rica.

Another costarican in the forum?

Silvia

Hello TFL!

I just got back from Paris yeterday. I miss the GREAT baguettes from Paris. I was baking baguettes before I went to Paris, but was never successful. I had made up a list of restaurants, patisseries, and boulangeries that I wanted to visit while in Paris, and Eric Kayser Boulangerie was one of them. In my little notebook/journal, I had noted that the baguettes were good, so my husband and I went to the closest Eric Kayser and bought the Baguette Monge at 7am. My husband couldn't wait till we get back to the apartment to eat the baguette, so he broke off a piece and ate it as we were walking back towards the apartment. He said is was very good, so I had to try it too. He was RIGHT! It was sooo good. It was one of the best baguette we've ever had. We continued to visit Eric Kayser every morning for our baguette. YUMMM!

Now that I'm back home, I miss the baguette. I would like to buy a bread cookbook but I don't know what to get. I know Eric Kayser has a few cookbooks out there but I'm not sure if the baguette recipe is in the book. Any suggestions on what to get?