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

Hello everyone,

I found this site to be an excellent primer on making bread, and I followed some of the basic instructions. My first loaf was very small, as I only used two cups of flour, but it made a nice, bun? It wasn't really even a loaf, I don't think.

The next time I used 4 cups of flour and got a perfectly sized, if a bit squished on the ends, loaf, that my neighbour and her friend tore into with abandonment.

The third loaf I think was my downfall. I used about six cups of flour and two cups of yeasty water, but only one packet of yeast. I also added in the variable of a cinnamon sugar filling and cinnamon sugar over top of the loaf. It looked beautiful, but was doughy on the inside. Oh well, there's always going to be more yeast at the store, and plenty of flour. It's cheaper than buying premade bread at the store, anyway.

Greetings from the Buckeye state. I have been baking bread for a long time and this site is amazing in all the wonderful recipes it has! Truely inspiring.

I live in a small town, single, raising my grandson (7) on my own and have been selling baked goods at our local farmer's market. Bread seems to be a big hit and I am always looking for new tastes and takes on this staple of life to sell at my stand or share with friends.

chrissy

I've been lurking here for several weeks and finally decided to sign up officially. I must say, everyone is so very nice on this site, to judge from the many postings I've read. I look forward to both getting and maybe giving a little advice.

In fact, I may as well start by asking for advice. I've baked yeasted bread off and on for several years, finally settling on poolish-based baguettes and batards just within the last several months as my favorites. I teach at the local community college here in Twin Falls, Idaho, and we're on spring break this week. I left campus last Friday with two sets of essays to read and a desire to try making bread with a wild yeast starter.

I began with Reinhardt's BBA wild yeast starter and got it to the point of mixing up the barm. Thus far, it all looked and smelled and seemed as it should be, according to my reading. I dutifully let the barm sit out, put it in the fridge overnight, and mixed up the firm starter for the Basic Sourdough Bread recipe in BBA. I should note there that whenever I try a recipe for the first time, I follow the book directions to the letter (and numbers, too).

To make a long story short, the final dough never really did rise. Oh, it "grew" a bit, but after five hours I got a little impatient, perhaps, formed a couple of slab-like batards, and set them to rise on a couche. Three hours later they still resembled slabs: firm they were, and imposingly heavy. I mumbled under my breath, slashed them anyway, and brushed them with an egg white mixed with a bit of water (the glaze suggested by Joe Ortiz in The Village Baker).

I put them on a baking stone that had been heating at 500 degrees for 45 minutes before I assaulted them with the lumps of dough. I reduced the heat to 450, and after two minutes, switched on the oven light and peeked at them. They were beginning to brown, but they were still lump-like, very flat. At five minutes, they were browner still but still resembled mausoleum slabs. I decided I couldn't watch any longer and went upstairs for another five minutes.

When I next checked (at about 12 minutes), they had browned beautifully and, strangely enough, risen just as nicely. At 25 minutes, they registered 205 in their centers, so I took them out, cooled them, and tasted them. Nice holes, dense but moist crumb, light sour flavor.

The wife and son loved them, but somehow I think I got more lucky than I probably deserved to. Any thoughts on what the heck is going on? I've never really seen a "real" wild yeast or sourdough starter, so I'm thinking I have it mixed up too densely, even though, as I note above, it looks like the books say it ought to.

Sorry for the long story -- this is supposed to be an introduction. I look forward to a long and fruitful association with the site and its members.

Ken

Hi everyone, I've never posted before but love this site.  I tried the no-knead bread recipe for first time and here is a pic of my first attempt.  It's a rosemary and lemon loaf..got the lemons from the meyer lemon tree in the back yard  and rosemary from my herb pot.                                            

It's pretty tasty, especially witha nice, ripe runny cheese.

S. Dough

Hi everyone. Just signed up from San Antonio. My name is Shari and I'm a mother of 1 beautiful girl who's grown into a lovely young woman. I taught her to cook and she put me to shame by jumping straight into making her own pie crusts, breads, and even noodles! I've been baking bread for about a year with various levels of success and thought it was high time to get some help from the internets.

Hello from the Great Lakes State -

Though I live next to and work in Ann Arbor, home to Zingerman's, there $6-$10 bucks a loaf is a bit steep on the budget, but now I have an appreciation for good bread.  But with work, little ones, and a forgetfull brain - I am still trying to integrate into the "bread lifestyle".   I'll probaly be peppering you with questions on flour storage, buying bulk and adding baking to a full schedule.

Peace, 

n3rdchik

Hi everyone. Iam so glad that i stumbled upon this great website. My name is Francis and i'm 20 years old. All my life i loved sweets and pastries. And after watching Yakitate Japan an anime about bread making i decided to try something new and fun. I like cooking and baking it's just i'm not that great. But hopefully with enough practice and help from everyone here, I should be able to make some that I will be proud of. Thanks!