I only joined this site yesterday so I'm still finding my way around.. I did find info and videos about stretch and fold very interesting.

I made some white bread today, just simple white bread flour, yeast, olive oil, a little salt, sugar and milk/water recipe. No measurements, just eyeballed everything.

I used the stretch and fold method of kneading for the first time to see what difference it would make. (by the way I usually have a wettish dough rather than a stiff dough, easier to work and softer bread which hubby and father in law like.)

I found the stretch and fold much easier and the bread rose beautifully, nice and steady...

I made two medium sized loaves and a french stick.

They both loved the bread, the texture was perfect. Nice and soft inside, no BIG holes, as I said, they loved it. So, success so far and only one small change done.

I plan on learning much more about the different types of bread, the different methods such as sourdough, and also we're building an earth oven this year so I'll be learning to bake bread and other baked goods in that oven too.

It's going to be very interesting learning here.

Aran

Hi, I'm Aran and I live in Ontario, Canada.

I've been baking bread for quite a while but am only recently getting into Sourdough breads. I also like to use flours other than Wheat.

We plan on building our own Earth Oven this year too and I'm looking forward to baking my breads in that..

Aran

http://vibranceingardening.blogspot.com/

Hello from the island of Funen. I've been trying to bake the perfect loaf for at least 50 years now.  I make all the bread for the family, and each new loaf is a little different from the others. At present the freezer is stocked with sour dough whole wheat with potato, and a sour dough spelt bread. Experimenting with spelt I learned that it also makes wonderful pancakes, as well as bread, try it!  Look forward to taking part in this group.

Douglas

Hello from S Florida. I am a Professional chef by trade who would like to open a bakery.Baking, however is not my strength. My only experience was in cullinary school at J&W years ago. I have been scouring the site for awhile nowand it's great. I look forward to discussing many topics in the near future. I did recently make the sticky buns from BBA and will discuss it in another post. 

Thanks

Tad

Hi to all,

It is amazing how we surf the net looking for everything from A to Z. Today it is "B" for bread!  This morning as I was reading an old magazine I jumped on line to find a link for rosemary flatbread well after going miles on line I found this wonderful site and could not leave for over an hour. I feel so at home here.

My baking experience is more with non yeasted breads, now it's time to get on with the show and use more yeast. I think many who have not used it are a little afraid until they learn the nature of yeast in relation to the water temperature etc. After being married for many years I've collected many recipes and continue to add more but to tell the truth I enjoy going back to the very old ones from my late mother who like me finds the kitchen a wonderful place to express creativity in everyday foods plus share the results with family, friends and neighbors to enjoy as well. I'm interested in many ethnic breads especially Italian since my grandparents came from Abruzzo at the turn of the century, would like to find recipes connected to their first home.  At this time "flatbreads" are my top  priority. They are so versitile and go with just about any dish or great all by themselves. I'm very anxious to try many of your recipes and join you talking about all we share around the table filled with such a variety of breads. Last I enjoy painting still life and bread fits right in to the picture. My best to all of you whether you are new or have lots of baking experience.

Hi folks,

Ran acrosss this site today for the first time and was so impressed with the content and layout I decided to join up. For those of you who have never heard of Vancouver Island (VI from here on) it's a large island off the west coast of British Columbia Canada. I've been a professional baker for twenty four years , the bulk of that time working for a large retail grocery store chain. I'm hoping to retire sometime in the next six years or so and have thought I might do some artisan baking for some of the local farmer's markets just to keep my hand in. This looks like an excellent site for picking up new ideas and info towards that end. I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas and techniques and helping out where I can.

been using bread machines for many years...current have a Zojirushi that I have had for 4-5 years. While it started by making pizza, I have increasingly been using the machine just to start the dough, and then subsequent kneading and shaping by hand. Have started using my pizza stone for loaves as well. Just started browsing this site recently.

jeff

Hi fellow bakers, im new to this site and find it to be helpful and filled with very skilled bakers. I just have a couple questions.

1. Does anyone knows anything about the bread bakers guild of america? would it benefit me to join?

2. Is there any more info about this site that would help me out?

3. Am i posting this write?

4. Any good artisan bakerys in houston or in texas that i should know about?

5. I have a pic of three breads i did the other day a mini baguette and a batard with baguette dough, and a lager batard with nine gran dough. tell me what you guy think about it and if you have any suggestions to make it better please tell me.

thanks

I'm new.  Learned to post today with yesterday's bake of a deli rye with caraway seeds.

Hi,

I am an enthusiastic breadmaker from Sweden. I have been making my own bread for nearly forty years, and I was thrilled to find this site!

I especially enjoy reading the Baker Blogs with all those gorgeous and inspiring pictures. I love experimenting with new bread ingredients. Any non-meat leftovers in my fridge run the risk of being baked into my next batch of bread. :)

so far I have tried among other things:

mashed potatoes

rice pudding

oatmeal porridge

semolina porridge

veg oil that has been used for frying mushrooms (turned out a great truffle flavour)

stewed fruit

apple sauce

and of course, seeds and nuts of all kinds

Looking forward to browsing this site more thouroughly when I find the time.

Greetings, Eva V., Stockholm