http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMhQc8T7tqQ

No need (knead?) for withdrawal just because you're away from home  ;o)

I am having trouble getting my muffins to rise. I made sure my baking powder and baking soda were fresh.

I am wondering if it is my oven. all of the recipes say to bake at 375-400 degrees fpr 20 minutes. i have a convection oven and was told i should dial down the temp by 25 - 50 degress. i have tried numerous settings on other food and they cook to quickly and over cook. i have tried lwering the temp by 50 degrees and cooking longer. this has generally worked better.

I am just looking for any assistance available. i ould be crazy and the oven has nothing to do with it.

all assistance will be greatly appreciated.

For those of you who are in social media and twitter, you might like http://www.bakertweet.com

It kinda reminded me of how bakers in the past (let's say middeages) had a bell to ring, to tell customers there was fresh bread. Now you can use twitter, see the video http://vimeo.com/3972081 and enjoy!

Cheers,
Jw.

(no relation to the company, but I do use twitter...)

Just bought a 'pain de mei' baking pan, but haven't tried to make bread in it yet.  Is there a special recipe for baking bread in it? Or would my ol' white bread recipe do as well?  Appreciate any recipes I could try, to avoid getting discouraged from doing it wrong.  I've made bread in most other kinds of shapes and pans, but never in one that is covered.  Thanks in advance.            Bucumop

Hi,

How are we supposed to handle spam comments that might appear on our blog? Obviously we can just delete them, but if someone has created an account for the purpose of spamming, I assume someone should be notified. There is the "mark as offensive" link, which kind of sounds like it was intended for a different concern, but maybe it can serve this purpose too. Does anybody know?

Eric

I'm new here.  And I'm new to baking.

I have searched and I've seen a number of threads about refrigerating and freezing breads/doughs.

So many it got confusing in the end and I thought it might be acceptable if I raised the question again in a quite specific manner.

I am not talking about freezing.

I am not talking about sourdoughs.

I am talking about simple french bread.

Every day I bake but the problem is my children don't get fresh bread for their sandwiches in the morning. They get left over bread from yesterday. Which was baked at about midday. So by the time they eat their sandwiches the bread is about 24hours old.

What I want to know is if I can somehow refrigerate the dough at some stage or other so's I'll have enough time to bake in the morning before leaving for school?

I'm usually up at 6a.m.  We leave for school at 8.30, latest. Actually I'd like to have the lunches made well before that. Currently they're made by 7a.m.

I will practice. Tonight I'll prepare a dough and let it rise for an hour before refrigerating it.  Then 6.a.m. tomorrow I'll take it out and leave it (hopefully) rise for an hour and then I'll bake it.

I'll tell you what happens.

But I'm posting the question because my testing and trying may not return good results for the longest time. Posting the question may  bring me an answer in a day.

I realise that I probably should make a different bread - one with better keeping qualities than the simple french bread. And I will. But I'll start here.  I've started with french bread, we like it, I'll see what can be done with it and I'll slowly branch out in other directions.

regards,

 ab  :)

I tried Lesson 1: Your First loaf, and this is what I got.  Not too bad.  Very flat but made some good sandwiches.

Also did some baguettes this evening.  Once again, kinda flat.  I am going to try to use some parchment next time to shore up the loaves while they proof & keep them from spreading out so wide & flat.  For both these recipes, even tho I used a new razor blade, I had trouble scoring the loaves (obviously).  Increased kneading time has improved my breads, as has wetter dough, but I'm still looking to improve them.  Any comments/suggestions welcome.

This is what I'm really good at:

Hey bread bakers!

I'm in New York at the moment and am looking for a couche. Does anyone know where I can find one for a good price?

Thanks! Leah

ps- or in Toronto...

I have quite a few dehydrated home grown heirloom variety tomatoes that I would like to use in breads that call for sun dried tomatoes. I have seen dried tomatoes with no oil labeled sun dried and those packed in oil also labeled sun dried. So, can I take my home made dried tomatoes and rehydrated them in oil and use those in place of store bought? I have also seen recipes calling for sun dried tomatoes with no oil but I would imagine that they would have to be rehydrated first. Anyway, I would appreciate any input on this question. Thanks.

Some recipes say to spritz the inside of the oven a couple times during baking for better crust. I am afraid of breaking my stone if water hits it. 

I am also puzzled about pictures I've seen of the steam pan placed on the top rack of the oven with the bread on the lower rack. I thought the bottom of the oven was best for steam...steam rises, right?

I saw pictures in BBA, pages 92 and 93. They are showing baguettes going into an oven with the steam pan on the rack above the breads. Then it shows him spritzing the oven right over the stone. Isn't there a risk of breaking the stone when the water hits it?  I have a broken pizza stone because a pizza with too much saucy toppings dripped onto it and it broke in the oven with a loud and sudden crack sound. My son had one he had washed and the moisture left in it caused it, too, to break in the oven. I am afraid of getting my stone wet with direct water.

Another photo (page 86 in Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads), showed protecting the glass oven door with a towel, but sprtizing the oven without concern for the stone. That one, also had the water pan above the bread. 

So my questions are:

Do you all spritz without fear of breaking your stones?

Why would the steam pan be put on the top rack?

Catherine