What in the world am I doing wrong? haha! I followed the recipe for lesson two for the sweet butter bread and it comes out looking like it has ears and its very dense on the outside and crunchy on the outside. This seems to happen with all my bread. It also has an off smell when I cut it, almost chemical-y. If someone could give me a couple pointers that would be wonderful! Please let me know if more information is needed! :)

Thanks!

Jackie

This is what I made for myself of all the things that I have learned so far.  I'm finding that there's a huge amount of information from various sources, all with spoon-fed amounts of usefulness.  So, here's my attempt to help others out there, whomever might actually find this.  Please note that my use of the word "yeast" means the brewer's instant yeast, and starter means the friendly creatures (or "the fish", as it is called in our home) that are cultivated from flour and water.  The numbered parts are all of the steps to actual bread making that I've found out.  I'm just now gleaning information about the preferment/poolish step (just learned a few weeks ago about the existence of such a step, and was relieved to find that "sponge" "poolish" "pate fermente" are all the same thing phew).  Here is basically what I've learned in the past four years:

EQUIPMENT    scale, oven peel/large spatula, unglazed quarry tiles or baking stone, measuring spoons/cups, bowls, wooden spoons, towels for bread, thin long stemmed thermometer to HIGH temperature

ABOUT STARTER

Not rigid method. Repeatedly successful recipes can fail.

Use variables to gain some control and predictability.

Variables include-- time, temperature, humidity, water quality, dough density/hydration

Use scientific method---only change one variable at a time

Starter bread characteristics:  large irregular holes, crumb, structure;  spreads, advantages (can make starter yourself, doesn't need extra food in the recipe, more room for creativity, ability to do more with texture and flavor, English Muffins, French bread), disadvantages (rise time less predictable, needs help to keep shape, needs to be tended and fed)

Starter eats flour, doesn’t eat sugar.  Any sugar in recipe you will end up eating yourself

Yeast bread characteristics—small crumb, regular small holes, less notable structure), tends to rise not spread, advantages (more predictable rise time, not need fed), disadvantages (cannot make yeast yourself, needs food added to recipe, flavor is entirely in the recipe--little creativity, has to be degassed)

MAKING STARTER

½ c whole grain flour with ¼ c water (equal weight).  Keep in glass or stainless steel with lid

Watch for life signs (bubbles) after 12 hours, if no signs for a few days, start over (check water quality)

Check the PH of your water---should be neutral or slightly acidic….basic is no good for starter. Add fruit juice or citric acid if needed

Feed when life signs, every 12 hours:  throw out ½ amount in there.  Put in exact same amount flour in there as in there already, plus ½ that in water (or equal weight of both)

*change container often*

Recommended stainless steel, glass, or glazed ceramic containers with lids (to keep bugs and children out, and moisture in)  starter reacts to most metals

After 3 days of consistent rising and falling, switch to white flour (to avoid bad critters)

Will smell like fish, should change to wheaty smell

After 1 week of consistent doubling, ok to use

Only use small amount of old starter to new starter (Tablespoon at most), keep discarding/baking—do not keep….ends up being a sponge not a starter

Note peak and fall times   starter:flour:water

Recommended 1:2:1 once a week feed fridge always, keeping Tablespoon amount or so

Once get good, can keep different teaspoon sized starters for each type of bread (CHEF)

More flavor=more time between feedings

1 PREPARE STARTER

Called preferment, sponge, poolish, bigas, levaine, pate fermentee (all the same)

Develops flavor, texture, lighter bigger air

More sour, more acid, longer shelf life

Note peak and fall times

Recommended 8-12 hours before dough mixing/kneading, 25% of total dough (so subtract from recipe flour and water used)

Add to bread at peak time

More starter % in bread, less proof time---acidity breaks down gluten

2 AUTOLYSE AND MIXING

Mix flour, water and poolish together, let rest five minutes or so (keeps from adding too much flour, and helps in kneading)

Most variable amounts are water and flour (coarse/fine ground flour, humidity, etc)

Set aside CHEF

Starter eats flour, doesn’t eat sugar.  Any sugar in recipe you will end up eating

oil--lending or not lending its flavor depends on recipe

Do NOT add salt directly to starter—mix in flour as a buffer first to keep starter alive

Do NOT use iodized salt—iodine becomes a gas in the oven—messes up your bread

3 KNEADING

-helps prevent too much flour being added--easier to add flour than water

-Palm push quarter turn only good for FLAT breads like pie crust, crackers

*Stretch&Fold:  adds air and builds structure—gluten sheath.  Also called French Kneading, or Slap Happy, etc.  Take the dough; slap the furthest side away from you down on the counter and away, while drawing the nearer side towards you.  Taking the nearer side in your palms (do not break, draw evenly like drafting wool) draw up and over further side, stretching sideways under and around, making a heart shape almost.  Make sure while you are drawing the dough over the further side to incorporate a nice big air bubble.  Turn the dough over and a quarter turn around (flip and turn like clockwise/counterclockwise).  Repeat.  Should change in feel and look—it will begin to pull dough off the counter and fingers.  Only dust the counter with flour if large pieces of dough are sticking—you want it to be tacky.  Shoot for 20 minutes of kneading. 

-Windowpane test—dough stretches between fingers fine enough to let light through without breaking

4 BULK FERMENTATION

Do not let ferment on pan---acidity tarnishes pans

Use oil to keep from sticking (using flour at this stage creates flour dumplings inside your bread)

Use heat during winter to help, especially in the North—direct heat ok at this step  70-90 degrees F optimal

Stretch and fold at least every thirty minutes to keep gluten structure from relaxing, and to distribute temperature evenly (fermentation heats up dough) S&F twice minimum during this stage

For smaller crumb, deflate while S&F

Bigger holes, keep as much air as possible

5 SHAPING AND PROOFING

This is the stage to choose your shape:  boule, baguette, loaf, braid, rolls, etc.  A shape doesn’t define a recipe, a recipe enhances the shape.  (good recipe, good rolls, etc)

Do not let proof on pan---acidity tarnishes pans

Starter spreads---need to use something to help.  Linen towels with flour method, proofing trays/counters, baskets heavily floured, etc.

use flour to keep from sticking--lightly

Do NOT use direct heat source (like oven light) to keep warm --creates a second crust that will not fill

Harder crust---use towel and let dry out to create a rind

Softer crust—let proof in moist environment (covered with bowl, etc)

More starter % in bread, less proof time---acidity breaks down gluten

Overproofing---when bread collapses---gluten stretched too far and cannot recover (make toast!)

Ready for oven:  when you poke it, it fills back your fingerprint but not all of the way

6 BAKING

Use flour on baking pan to keep bread from sticking (oil fries the bread and usually sticks)

Oven spring—put in already hot oven.  Oven high temp for 5 minutes, then lower temperature for optimal oven spring (example 450 degrees F, lower to 425 or 415)

Baking stone acts as heat sink to increase oven spring, can use unglazed quarry tiles---ALWAYS put into cold oven and let heat up and cool down with the oven (or break)

Slashing loaves a way to make the oven spring more predictable.  If bulges out near tray---temperature different in pan and air, etc.

Harder crust—spray dough with water right before putting in oven.  Do NOT steam oven directly if electronic---it will destroy oven entirely

Internal temperature 204 degrees F and above best indicator of doneness.  Cutting open stops the cool pressure cooker effect of the inside.  Thump test does NOT work.

If bread fell or didn’t bake well, make toast immediately

7 STORING

Sourdough:  Store in paper bag and bread cabinet if have one.  Fridge hastens going stale, Plastic keeps too much moisture

If bread contains milk products (milk, lots of butter or sourcream), or has a lot of moisture and sugar (cornbread or banana bread prime example of both), keep in fridge.  They only last about 2 days before going bad : (

Sourdough: make toast if going stale or out too long.  Bread should last for about 4 days, unless quick pour sugary breads like banana bread.

Hello im a new user just started making bread. Im a student and as part of our project we have been asked by a company called kenwood to improve and re-design a bread machine i was wondering if anyone had ever had any problems with a bread machine or has any tips or anything to do with them tbh would help. Any problems you could share would be a huge help thank you.

I have a question about yeast rolls.

I followed this recipe, and ran into a problem with the dough being too wet (or so I think).

I'm a novice when it comes to baking, so I'm not sure what to expect.
I measured all the ingredients out perfectly, but the dough was so wet that it didn't even resemble dough. Kneading was impossible. I gradually added an additional cup of flour just to get it to a kneadable point. It was still extremely sticky & wet.

What did I do wrong?
Thank you :)

EDIT
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/reveur_mediter/bauplate.jpg
The finished product.

My thoughts: They bread doesn't taste sweet enough. Common sense tells me it's because I added so much additional flour, thus diminishing the amount of sugar. The texture seems perfect. Nice, soft yeast rolls. Just wish they were a bit more sweet. It's OK, next time I'll have a better grasp of what I'm doing thanks to all your helpful tips. :)

In Floyd's recent inquiry asking for the best post of 2009, I could not begin to choose only one. At best, I could narrow it down to 5 or 6 'posters' whose comments I ALWAYS look for. So I thought about what tip, technique or piece of equipment made the greatest impact on my baking?

For me, it was all of your pictures and information about slow ferments in brotforms coated with rice flour (I know that actually 4!). I read relevant posts carefully, finally purchased a few natural cane brotforms, and applied what I learned. Major improvement.

Thank you all for generously sharing your knowlege, experiance, quesrtions, and success. A BIG thanks to Floyd!

So, how did you benefit this year from The Fresh Loaf?

Phxdog (Scott)

I know there are a number of excellent mills for different applications, so I hope I get this detailed enough to really pinpoint which will work best for me. Thanks in advance for your advice!

I'm looking for a mill that can accomplish the following;

can mill coarse or very fine flours (dry grains) for baking, pasta, hot cereal, pastries, gravies, cakes, breads, etc.

does not heat the flour (over 120 farenheit)

can sift the milled flour to make white cake flours (meaning that it's capable of not crushing the outer layer into the flour making it too difficult to sift out to get a white flour)

can mill for a large family (meaning does not heat up or mess up with heavy use)

does not need to be cleaned

does not throw flour dust everywhere

has electrical and hand mill capability

lasts for 30 years+

does not need to be babysat (won't catch on fire or break with a distracted operator)

does not have quarks with getting odd sized or shaped grains stuck and cracks, or constantly needing to be taken apart to fix

low maintenance

less than $1000

can be purchased in or shipped to the U.S. without incredible waits, fees, or bribes, and with the knowledge that defective or damaged products will be fully replaced in a timely manner without uneccesary inconvenience

Any thoughts?

Hello Bakers,

Over the past year I have discovered that I love to bake bread, and not just because I have been baking out of necessity (sadly, good bread is hard to find where I live). Without the convenience of internet right in my kitchen, my single resource has been the "Fannie Farmer Cook Book" published in 1970 that a friend gave me. But as of a month ago, we finally have dial-up speed internet out here in the campo. One of my first searches lead me to The Fresh Loaf!

After reading through so many highly-knowledgeable posts, my list of questions is as long as my arm. But in general, I would greatly appreciate any tips on baking in this tropical climate and unique recipes that might be ideal for the limited amount of flours and grains available to me...Bollo Fino white flour, mid-grade wheat flour, corn meal, Oat bran, Oatmeal and a variety of add-ins (local cheese, nuts, fruits, veggies). My baking tools are very basic and my oven is propane rather than electric.

My desire is to get a few good recipes down so I can make bread regularly for friends and neighbors. I also know of several local women in the area who might enjoy learning about different breads they can bake in their adobe brick ovens.

Thanks Fresh Loaf community!

Linda

Hello:

 I wanted to briefly note that there is a new website dedicated to amateur bakers that is video-oriented.

The site is called www.uknead.com and will be dedicated solely to baking topics, using video as the primary learning/demonstration tool.

 Your visit to the site would be most welcome, and, if you post, feel free to link back to this site or your own.

Hello everyone,

I baked this bread yesterday and I would like some expert help on how to turn it next time into a more edible bread.