I have been using a bread machine for several months now but have not been really happy with it untill this last loaf. I have had no oven spring and my loaves are heavy and dense. Yesterday I was reading about autolysis and really don't understand it. Here's what I did- Put all ingredients in bread maker and processed just til mixed-turned off bread maker for about 19 minutes(takes 15 min to reset). Then I started it for another cycle and let it rise in bread maker. Took out dough it was slightly sticky and shaped into a loaf and let rise for about 28 minutes(usually let it rise for about 45 min). Baked for 35 min in 350 oven. It about jumped out of the glass dish --rise was almost as high as bread pan tall, it is too tall for my toaster. Do you think it was the turning off of the bread machine or have I been letting it rise too long the second time? This is the best bread I have made.The recipe is very similar to what I've been using but I added 1/4 tsp crushed vit c tablet to it.

'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'm a library science grad in Chapel Hill, NC. I love making bread, especially when I have five projects due at the same time, but school kind of takes over my life.

I got a really silly sounding question: where is list or index of all the bread recipes? I see at the bottom of the home page that there's a favorite list, but I'm wondering where's a "complete" list.

Thanks!

hi from klmeat (49 yrs in the meat business hence the  name ) I have been baking about a year ,some hits & some misses . my rye bread always turns out small ,taste great .I'm using the secrets of a jewish baker as guide . any ideas . thank you

At first, I am sorry for my bad English.

I have seen the videos on this site and have no idea why the bread shown there is puffy, but the dough is so "hard"(i mean not liquid-like) that it can be easily cut into dry pieces. If I will do such dough, the baked bread would be ideal for glue.Usually I bake at 200-240 degrees(Celsium).

Gregory.

Hi, I'm new to the forum and to sourdough, though I've been making killer, crusty, yummy artisan breads for several years now. I've a couple, (probably oh, so obvious!), sourdough questions I hope you can help me with.