My husband and I organize a not-for-profit group called the Chicago Amateur Bread Bakers. To-date, we are 28 home/hobby bakers, passionate about making yeasted, artisanal breads. We get together in-person twice a month, to share our experiences and learn from one another.

Hi Everyone!

Like many other posters, I'm exploring the possibility of professional baking, but I have some uncertainties about how to start.  I'm about to end my current position as an americorps volunteer at a farm/ residential community for disabled adults, and I'm looking for my next step.  The community has a small bakery where I have been one of the head bakers for over two years and the manager of the bakery and of work crews for about six months.  We bake bread only three days a week, producing about 80-100 loaves a week.  All of our loaves are sandwhich loaves, including whole wheat variations, sweet white breads, and sourdough, and we hand-mix all of our dough.  I love everything about the process of baking, and I want to learn more- especially about sourdough and artisan breads- with the dream of being a professional baker and one day having my own bakery.  My question, though, is whether my experience in this small bakery is enough to start looking for jobs in professional bakeries, or if it would be better to get more education first.  The variety of bread I've baked has been somewhat small, and I know that there are a lot of differences in size and scale between this bakery and many other professional bakeries, and I don't want to overestimate my experience.  I would love to hear from bakery owners and other professional bakers about how much and what kind of experience they look for in new employees.

Thank you.

Ann

'Just tried to do a sourdough loaf with presoak and had it end up /very/ doughy. I've been learning for a few weeks now because most commercially-available breads are absolute garbage health-wise, and the good stuff (from the farmers' market or frozen at the natural foods -stores) runs a good $6-per loaf. I'm determined to learn and not afraid of making mistakes (as you'll soon learn.)

Anyway, trial went something like:

(36-hour 65°F to 70°F) presoak :
3c Bob's Red Mill Unbromated unbleached white
1/2c Hungarian high-altitude whole-wheat
1/4c whole-wheat germ
1 3/4 c low-fat buttermilk
1/2c low-fat yogurt

(12-hour 75°F) poolish :
1/16t Rapunzel Rize active dry yeast
1 1/2 c of presoak taken at its 24-hour mark

(20-min) proof :
poolish
2 1/2 T white granulated sugar (kneaded in)

final dough :
1/2t salt
2T cornstarch
15-minute knead
45-minute warmed rise
1T cornstarch
10-minute knead and frissage
1-minute stretch and fold
50-minute warmed rise

actual loaf :
30-minute preheated bake at 375 degrees F

Obviously I did a ton of things wrong. Mostly factors of timing, I felt. The reason I didn't do at least two more rises and a rest-period was because I was trying to get this ready for someone so they could have a few slices before they headed overseas for a few weeks. The dough itself had turned out well with quite a sharpness to it. The slices from the loaf were alright after being toasted for a bit. The crust turned out brown and very thin on top, and a bit thicker and paler on the bottom (like "German light rye" if you've ever been so lucky to've had it) and completely gorgeous; the dough had been too wet to really slash as it was going in, but it browned and split just slightly on its own during the bake. I'm kicking myself presently for not having taken a few photos.

So, since I'm not an optimist, but a utilitarian, I figure I can use the experience, and pose a few of the questions I came up with as the process went on. Questions follow:

Afterwards (after having sliced off maybe 1/5 of the shallow dome-shaped loaf) I lowered the oven-temperature to 200°F or 250°F and tried putting the bread back in for an hour or so but to no avail as the next slice came off close-to-as-doughy as the previous. I ended up cutting the whole thing into slices after that and leaving them in for maybe an hour after upping again to 300°F.
Q - Is there a reason bread seems to utterly refuse to bake after it's been sliced once?

Next... I know I could do a poolish simultaneously with the soak, but it occured to me...
Q - Is there such a thing as bread that's made entirely from poolish, or would such a loaf fall, or otherwise fail during baking?

I used cornstarch instead of normal flour during knreading because I wanted to minimize phytates that I'd get from adding dry flour back into the soaked mix.
Q - Do folks just use white flour to minimize phytates (because AP-flour generally doesn't have tons), or is there another flour (like potato-flour, or cornflour) or thing (like cornmeal) that is used for that?

Generally I end up with /very/ hydrated flour starting into adding the final ingredients, and kneading and so-on because I want to make sure everything's properly damp so my culture or acidic base can do its thing properly. Like I said, as I worked with the dough it was /very/ wet.
Q - Is there a standard method for adjusting for dough-hydration on the fly (keeping the above concerns about phytic acid in-mind)?
    Q - Will most doughs rise properly if not kept covered in order to help lower their moisture-content?
    Q - Should I just try sprouting my grains instead if I'm so paranoid about this stuff?

Finally, and you won't be quoted on this...
Q - Would a loaf with this amount of hydration ever rise and bake correctly?

Hi, I am a new mom to a 2 week old sour dough starter!  I used a wheat flour/pineapple juice starter recipe from this site.  The starter is very active and "yeasty" smelling now.  I've not refrigerated it yet, but the last couple days didn't throw any out, just added flour and water to begin making more starter so I can make bread. 

I'd really like to be able to bake fresh bread for lunch.  Since sour dough bread takes longer to rise, could I let it raise overnight, form loaves in the morning and bake around 11:30 or so?  Would I need to put the dough in the fridge overnight?

We like a tall loaf with a light colored, soft crust and texture that is good for sandwiches.  I have lots of metal loaf pans that I purchased from a bread bakery when it closed. They are about 9 x 5, non-stick finish, and have  a few small holes in the bottom of the pan for steam escape. I would prefer using these pans for our loaves instead of the round or free form type loaf.  I'd also like to make 2 (maybe three) loaves at a time or maybe 2 loaves of bread and 1 pan of cinnimon rolls :)

Could you please give me information and recipes, or links to them, that would produce this type bread? J also have a Kitchen Aid Mixer if that is required for mixing (not sure whether it is good to use or not).   Just so you know I'm not a total bread baking newbie, I made sourdough bread years ago from a "Herman" recipe that I fed sugar, water, potato flakes (and maybe flour, can't remember).  I didn't buy any kind of bread for over a year, used this recipe for sandwich bread and rolls.  We loved it!  But...I have no idea what happened to the recipe so I'm starting over with this new type of starter.  However, I've forgotten most of what I knew about bread making since it's been about 20 years!

My starter and I are ready to begin...waiting for your input!

Terry

Hi,

I've newly discovered the concept of "crumb". I hope to be able to reliably create open crumb artisan breads (I think that's the right terminology). I'm at the beginning of this process. My current goal is to decide on a flour. I have two contenders, I prefer organically grown. I live in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Seeing as Canada is a big wheat producer I want to find a Canadian flour. (I'm a US ex-pat, so I'm ridiculously attached to this country)

I wanted to get this blog started and introduce my quest. I'm really happy to have stumbled across this site.

My name is Paul, by the way, but there's already a Paul here. Being something of a Mexican groupie from California I chose the Spanish version of Paul, which is "Pablo", for my username. FYI.

Paul

Hello!

I've just joined this group and have spent the past several hours reading through the forums - what an amazing bunch!  I'm excited that I've found you all, and I know you'll be able to help me get started.

First, a bit of history, then my questions:

I've been baking bread at home for the past several years.  Mostly "Betty Crocker" recipes, which have served me pretty well.  The bread is tasty, and my husband doesn't seem to think that I should change a thing.  However, in my quest to become a better baker, I've recently branched into sourdough - using a yeast-based starter.  After more research, I've started a wild-yeast starter - hoping to switch to that one fully once it's ready.

My goal is to produce 100% whole grain sourdough breads with few added ingredients.  From browsing the forums, I've gathered that this type of bread is more "dinner" style bread, and that sandwich bread needs ingredients like white flour and dairy to be light enough to stuff with sandwich goodies.  I'm ok with that.  I'll try that type too.

I've also just been reading up on stretch and fold (which is a bread-new concept to me!) 

So... here are my questions:

I need a good recipe to start with.   A basic, simple, preferably whole grain sourdough recipe that I can learn on.  I have read that WW breads are a bit tricky for beginners because of the sharp grains (is this right?) but I'd rather jump right in with a few flops.  It can't be worse than the sunken-topped bread with pores so open that honey leaks through that I've been feeding my poor husband for months now! (In my own defence, it does taste good and its moist... :-p)

After I get a handle on a basic loaf, I think I'll feel more confident in trying other, already posted recipes.  When my hands know how to stretch and fold, how tight WW bread needs to be formed - stuff like that.

Oh... I don't have scales.  I know, I know... I've just read the heated debate about them.  I'm now instantly aligned with half the members of this group, and the other half will tell me that scales should be my first purchase.  I can't make that purchase right now, so volume measurments would be appreciated. 

Am I totally off base here?  Am I asking the impossible?  Do I need to start with plain white bread with eggs, milk and honey to get a good idea of what bread should be??  I hope not...

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.  I look forward to your responses!! 

I've been learning how to bake breads the past month or so (without much luck with the artisan bread types). BUT, today I decided to try my hand at a Challah. Here is the pictures of the results. Needless to say I am extremely happy with this recipe! Great "crust and crumb" on this one! I LOVE Challah, and this one tops any I've had from the bakeries.

and cut: (excuse the darkness)