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

I can see that sourdough requires a certain amount of chemistry, which may be why I'm not doing well at it (I've never studied chemistry).

I made another attempt at it. My starter is doing quite well. It's USING the starter that's a problem. I used someone's basic dough recipe off this site and let it rise overnight. When it had risen, it was almost liquid, so I added more flour to it and kneaded it vigorously. It turned into a pretty fair-looking round, which I then left to rise again.

It rose again. It wasn't liquid, but it was far too sticky, or so it seemed. It wasn't a round of dough anymore, but a bowl of rising substance. I added more flour, made a loaf, and baked it.

It barely rose at all. It seems to be done, as far as I can tell, but it's a real disappointment. Is there an idiot-proof recipe out there? I should add that I'm using ONLY wheat flour. I refuse to use rye; I hate the stuff, and I stay as far away from it as I can.

I've been making baking powder biscuits and scones for nearly 20 years now, and using the same recipes. In the past four or five months I've been running into real trouble with my doughs. My biscuit dough and scone doughs are becoming nearly batters. I'm having to nearly double the amount of flour in relation to liquids in order to have dough that I can even remotely handle, and the resulting product is not producing great oven spring or rising properly like it used it. And using a bench knife to cut it is a pain; the doughs are sticking to the knife, which is not something I struggled with before. 

I can only assume that my problems with biscuits and scones are related somehow to a change in the moisture content of my water, but I didn't think that it would throw my recipes off this much. My cookies and breads don't seem to be affected much, if at all. Does anyone have any ideas about:

1. Whether or not this level of variance can be attributed to the flour (I can't think of anything else)

2. How I can assess the flour I buy in the future for moisture

3. How I can correct my recipes when working with this particular flour. 

4. Other ideas?

For the record, I'm using bulk-bin Giusto's organic unbleached AP flour. 

Any ideas are appreciated. This is ridiculous!

Hi,

I've seen a number of posts on this topic but the answers range from vague to contradictory. I'll try to be as specific as I can to allow for more precise answers.

I'm a fairly experienced homebaker although new at sourdough breads. I'm using Chad Robertson's (Tartine) Country Bread recipe and have baked about 8 loafs so far. They've been getting better and better as I bake but there is invariably a trait in all these loafs (which by the way, never saw in my yeasted breads) and which is the subject of this post. The crust separation's extent ranges from almost imperceptible to flat out obvious and although my most recent loaves showed less of this problem, my last loaf pictured here has noticeable separation.

This is a 90%/10% white/whole wheat dough hydrated at 75%. The dough weighs approx. 1.75 Kg

Bulk fermentation: ~ 12hrs @ 68-70 degrees

Shaping uses minimal flour addition

Proofing: 4hrs @ 75 degrees

Oven spring is ~ 100% of initial height ans oven is steamed for first 10min. approx. Gas oven starts at 500 F for 10min. then 450 F and down for 35min. Loaf is baked on stone at mid height. Steam is created with cast iron/lava rocks on bottom rack.

Taste and crumb texture is excellent (so I've heard :))

Any help is greatly appreciated and please try to be specific.

Thank you

Cachi

Apologies if this isn't the best corner of the forum to post in.

Dear Fresh Loaf-ers.

Can anyone help me out with my challah questions? Or point me in the right direction of some resources?

I'm a super-newbie bread baker, so I'm a little overwhelmed by the variables involved, and I need some advice as to what may be going on.

Here's the deal:

I've tried a handful of times to bake challah, and each time things work perfectly, until the shaping stage. My dough is proofed nicely (by this, I mean that it has risen to about double its size, and a dent made by my finger doesn't bounce back), but when I got to shape the braids, there is WAY too much elasticity in the dough, and it can't keep a simple shape. Am I out to lunch on what I'm supposed to be doing?

Could it be that I'm over- or under-proofing my dough? Does it need to rise ONCE or TWICE before shaping? Some recipes say once and some forum posts say twice. Is there any sort of golden rule?

I've been frantically reading posts, and from what I can understand, I don't think it's a hydration issue. I live in the prairies of Western Canada, where it's very dry, so I add a tiny bit more water to my dough in order for it to absorb all the required flour.

The texture of the dough is quite soft (and awesome). It can be a little bit sticky when I'm deflating the dough, but I just add a bit of flour to my hands and that takes care of it.

I guess my main question is: Can someone outline the steps in making challah?! I know it sounds really lame, but I have no idea if I'm on the right track at all.

Thanks guys.

:: ira

Tonight's dinner was homemade pizza. I put my regular dough recipe away in favor of trying an overnight, slow-fermented pizza dough. We ended up with a pizza dough that was crispy on the bottom, chewy and pillowy up top, but so unbelievably bland. This was even more surprising considering the long, cold ferentation (24 hours in the fridge). The recipe is as follows: 

20 oz KAF Bread flour

~ 2 cups water

4 t active dry yeast

2 T olive oil

3.5 t salt

The flour and 1.5 c water are mixed and autolyzed for 20 minutes while the yeast is dissolved in the rest of the water. After the autolyse, the yeast, oil and salt are mixed in and the dough is kneaded (KA mixer 2) for 5-6 minutes. The very wet, sticky dough is then put in a large oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and popped in the fridge for 24 hours. 

To make the pizza, the dough is set at room temp for an hour or so, then turned out, divided into two, and stretched into a 14" round. Topped, then baked at 450 for 15 minutes. 

The flavor of the crust was less bread-y than the quicker crusts I make on the same day, although the texture was better. Any ideas for boosting flavor in this type of dough? Thanks!

Every time I bake baguettes, a seeded torpedo, or a sandwich loaf, the loaves are nice and crusty when I take them out of the oven. However, within about thirty minutes, they're soft. I let them cool in their pans (where applicable) for five minutes before removing them to a wire rack.

My only guess is that I'm not baking them long enough and that the extra moisture is coming to the surface and causing the crusts to soften. Anyone else? This is really frustrating, so thanks in advance for your input!!

I'm at the end of my wits and am in need of help and ideas.

I bake two different kinds of rye bread, both with commercial yeast. Both the yeast content and the hydration levels in these breads are different. In the last few months both breads started splitting during baking (I start them at 450F for 10 minutes and finish them at 325F with convection -- and it is during the latter stage that they split). I have not changed the formulas or the baking temperatures in the last few months. Even though I HAVE started mixing the dough in my new 20 qt. mixer a couple of months ago, the splitting seems to have started before that.

I tend to attribute it to a change in ambient temperature/humidity due to the beginning of the heating season but can't figure out how to adjust for it or even if I can/should adjust.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Attached is the picture of today's batch. Every single one of my 4 loaves split in the same way. I apologize for the quality of the picture -- I'm a baker, not a photographer. ;)

Thank you,

Nika aka Breadnik

Hi all,

I'm a bit new to sourdough baking, and freeform baking in general.  So bear with my newbie questions!

I've tried a few loaves with the my sourdough starter, both wholemeal and a mix of whole and white flours.  The sourdough seems perfectly active and the dough always rises nicely (doubles in size) during the first rise.  The trouble starts between the second rise in the proofing basket and putting it into the oven.

When I turn the dough out of the basket, it flattens appreciably, and even more when I slash it.  It doesn't rise very much in the oven.

I tend to let it proof more than the recipe-recommended hour (I'm using this recipe as a guide) because it doesn't rise very much in the basket after only an hour - it seems to need at least 3 or 4. Could this be the problem? 

Another question - should I be letting it proof right-side-up or upside-down?  If the former, how do I get it right-side-up before putting it into the oven?

Sigh, current loaf in the oven is look more like a cow patty than a loaf of bread (I must confess - this one proofed in the basket overnight before baking it this morning).  Back to the drawing board!

Thanks in advance for your help,

Monica

Anyone have expertise in production baking? I am a chef with little natural leavening baking experience. I can make a mean loaf with commercial yeast, but alas, cannot seem to get the the "old fashioned" thing down. I am determined to do what ever it takes to make the absolute most natural and best loaf in las vegas and in my restaurant. My main complaint is that the loafs are too heavy. If I try proofing them for longer they are lighter but become "over-proofed". i.e. extra heavy crust that is extremely hard and crunchy. Please let me know if any of you can lend me a hand in troubleshooting my production.

Thank you,

Giovanni.