Hi,

I just found this site and am excited to try the lessons! I browsed through the site and now have some questions ( probably will have lots more after lesson 1). I am a very novice baker/cook so please bear with me.  I just purchased a gram scale and digital theometer. My  first question is there a place on you website that lists the gram weights per cup/tsp etc,  of the ingredients that you use for your recipes? It seems as if  a lot of people  had different weights for ingredients like AP flour or bread flour. Could you tell me what 1c of AP flour should weigh for your recipes on this site?   Also  was wondering if you  could include the gram weights in your lesson recipes  for us novice people so we can get in the ballpark?

My next questions how to tell which  kneading technique is best for what recipe.    Handbook mentions french fold is good for recipes with  a long bulk rise.What is definition of long bulk rise?   Can you use the strecth and fold technique and  the traditional for any recipe, or is there some that you should not use those techniques ? Can I use all the techniques you mentioned in handbook on each one of the recipes in the lesson plans and get good results?

Thanks very much!

Hi,

I'm trying to use my kitchen aid standmixer to kneed my dough.. however, it seems that no mater what I do the dough always primarilly sticks to the side and bottom of the bowl and only a small portion actually gets kneeded. Usually at this point, I take the dough out of the bowl and kneed it by hand; however, this is time consuming. I'd much prefer to leave it in the stand mixer to finish kneeding. Is there something I can do to stop this? is it normal? do I just add small amounts of more flour?

When a part of my life feels out of control, I turn my frustrations into baking bread . There is something so productive about turning those feelings whether they are self doubt, anger, frustration or sadness into loaves of bread.

Hello all

I've been baking quite while but one thing it always makes me ???? is when to stop kneading.

Let's assume I just knead without streach and fold, dough is low hydration (bagel, pretzel etc), and using KitchenAid mixer with dough hook.

When you start kneading, it's kinda shaggy

1) then, it starts to firm up

2) it clears the sid of the bowl but things are still stuck on the side of the bowl.

3) side of the bowls becomes clean.

4) it becomes firmer, starts to ride up the dough hook, you need more strength to pull apart a part of the dough

5) all of sudden, it loosens up. No more riding-up the hook, and starts slapping the side of the bowl.

Q1:

Is the stage 5 over kneading? It sure makes better window-pane at the stage 5 since it's easier to strech.

Q2:

Is there any way to tell when is the right time to stop other than window pane?

thanks bunches!

Recently I've been experimenting with hydration.  My normal sourdough recipe is 1part starter, 1water, 2flour by weight.  I always have only whole wheat flour in the starter part and the flour parts are plain old bread flour.  Usually I don't even need to get all the way to the 2parts flour for it to turn out nicely.

Normally, I use a whole wheat starter at 100% hydration.  During this experimentation I started going up to 128%.  Intially, I was excited by the milder and more yeasty starter.  However, when it comes to shaping the loaf part of baking I've had trouble.  I usually get it into the bread pan without issue but when I get up in the morning ready to bake it it has tears that look like little craters.  I'm not sure what's causing it. My guesses are: not enough flour or not enough kneading.  How can I fix this?

I'm a very new to bread baking, and am having issues with the consistency of the dough. I was attempting to make an Artisan Wheat Bread, and my dough turned into a complete crumbly disaster. After slowly mixing in the flour by hand, the doughbecame very dry and crumbly. So I tried adding water, which didn't help.I ended up adding about 1/2 c of water, then the dough started to stay together, but still cracked. I tried to keep mixing, but it became to tough and to even handle. I seem to have this problem fairly often. What am I missing? 

Thanks!

I am frustrated because I can't seem to figure out: Do I add flour or water to get the dough the way it's supposed to be? I hear the terms tacky and sticky but I can't seem to correct my dough. I am making the PR pizza nepoltana. I am putting the ingredients in the mixer, after weighing, and letting it mix where the dough sticks to the bottom but not the sides just like he says. BUT when I take it out to knead it a bit more (because it sticks to the dough hook) I end up with it all on my hands, whether I use flour or water or both. It's one big mess all over my hands. So I end up getting frustrated and putting it in a bowl in the frig.  This happens with all my breads by hand (I also make PR's master formula whole grain bread). I get to the point where I, after using the machine for initial kneading, take it out to knead by hand, it seems just perfect until about 3-5 minutes later after adding water to my hands to keep it from sticking to them, it gets super tacky and I can't seem to correct it, even by adding flour at that point. It almost becomes like a paste and trying to knead it more just makes it worse. Am I adding too much water but how do I keep my hands from sticking to the dough while kneading? What am I doing wrong?

Thank you and forgive my frustration.