I followed the instructions completely.  The result was a flat, wide loaf.  I havn't cut into it yet, but is smells wonderful.  What am I doint wron, not to end up with a nice loaf like in the photos?  I'm a bit discouraged, but I will keep trying.

 Maryd

To get a nice crown on the loaf requires a few elements.

First is the flours that you use. I always first look to what am I trying to achive. That image stuff may seem trite but I believe it helps in the long run. Some breads are supposed to by flat. Some should be so round that they roll of the bench. King Arther makes a good bread flour.

I am guessing that you are looking for something with a little more crown so the next thing to look at is mixing. If you are mixing by hand there are some things that you can do that can help. Mix it by hand till you are done and then ten minutes more.

What helps creates that nice crown in a loaf is the chains of glutan that are incircling your loaf.

Understand that these chains of protien(glutan) develop from a physical/chemical event in the body of your loaf not nessesaraly related to the yeast blowing out it's CO2. So I always try to slow breads down if I am having troubles getting the proteins to develop. Long fermentation works by give more time to this process.

So after you have mixed your bread well find a cool place and let it rest. If after I have mixed a batch of bread and the temp of the dough is greater than 78 degrees I start over. Then it goes to a nice spot to rest. So often I will hear "Let your bread rise in a warm place" Well that works if it is well developed in mixing. By hand this can be a problem. So simply giving it a little cooler water and then a cool place to rest/develope can really help.

What Floyd suggest is also true. Once it has been mixed/risen and is ready to shape some folks think that the fun is over and its almost ready to eat. Shaping bread is an elusive skill and even Goldelocks would have had a hard time making a good loaf not to soft or to hard but just right so that the tention of the proteins chains in the crown expand concurrently with the CO2 coming from the yeast. Practice practicepractice......

Don't be discoraged by flat loafs. We have all made plenty of them. Use a sharp cheese and say "I ment to do that"

Frank

 I'm 16 and I just baked my first loaf of bread (from lesson1). It tasted wonderful! I brushed it with a beaten egg and it came to a beautiful golden crust. It wasn't as round as the loaves shown on the screen but I believe that I may not have let the dough rise long enough. I very excited to try another and give it to my grandmother :)

I read through Lesson One, but decided to start baking with Lesson Two.

I started a little late in the day and our cabin was kind of chilly and it seemed that the risings took a pretty long time. I baked them both on the same cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 40 mins. I know they could have gone longer, but it was really late and I was tired, ha.

They didn't turn out perfect, but they were still good, and since I'm a novice baker I was very happy and excited with the results. The bread had a good flavor, my kids just gobbled it up the next day.

I'm looking forward to lesson 3. :)

Hello to all,

and thank you very much for the nice interesting information about preparing the dough and how to knead and fold it.

We have a special bread in the Middle East its called Mashatih Ramadan and then found that its called Turkish PideTurkish Panir - Mashatih Ramadan, and its very tasty bread, with sesame seeds and Fennel seeds.

I read very carefully the lessons of making bread, and apply the informaiton on making this dough, couple of changes i added 1 cup of bran to the recipes, and added one cup of starter to the dough as well i have 4 Months old starter in the fridge and every time i use some, i add on it, and its still alive and perfect.

I did soak the flour with the one ingredients and let it combine for 30-40 minutes and it didnt take me more than 5-7 minutes to knead the dough and turn it to a nice dough and let it rest for 2 hours, then i did the folding over 4 times and resting the dough one hour between each fold.  and turned perfect .

i even made from the dame dough Oregano Bread.  We call it in Lebanon Manakish Zaatar and here are the pictures I took last night after i baked the bread.  and I froze the big loaf.  also i did the hot water in a pan in the bottom of the oven, and baked the bread at 550F for 10 minutes then dropped the oven to 450F and continued baking till they are done.  Perfect crunchy crust with spongy flavor inside. 

TuTurkish Pide Bread or Mashatish Ramadanrkish Pide Bread or Mashatih Ramadan

I want to thank our friend who gave the full details about how to make a real good bread, I took the pide recipe from the site, and added to it 1 cup of bran, and I used 1 cup of starter and followed step by step the bread lesson, i soaked the flour with the wet ingredients for 30-40 minutes and then it didnt took me more than couple of minutes to end up with a nice smooth dough, i cover it and left it to rise around 1.30-2.00 hours, then i did the folding and again rest the dough for 1 hour , i did this technic for 4 times, and at the end i shaped the dough to one big pide, and 3 oregano bread medium size, and one medium size pide as well, and let them rest again, I did put a hot water in pan in the bottom of the oven and heat the oven to 550F and baked my bread for 10 minutes at this high temperature, then dropped the oven to 450F and continued baking, i didint bother to take off the pan, it was too hot to take it out of the oven, but i kept refilling it with hot water.

the bread came with nice golden crunchy crust and spongy inside, and tasted so good.  

Oregano Bread from the same doughthis is a tray of soft pretzels just out of the oven.

 in regard to bread making im sad that nobody wishes to use fresh yeast in bread making    Why is that

i dont use anything but fresh yeast and my bread is fine

I started a sponge and then realized I hadn't finished copying the recipe I was going to use.  I'm a novice so its kind of scary right now. 

So I made a sponge:

2 1/4 C.  & 2-1/2 T flour

1 3/4 water

2T & 1 t. Honey

3/4 t instant yeast

That is fermenting as we speak.

Then you add:

2 C Flour & 3 T.

1/4 C. Non-Fat Dry Milk

3/4 t. instant yeast

9 T. unsalted butter softened

2 1/4 t. salt

That's where the recipe ends.  Would anyone like to help me with the rest?

I'm assuming I put these ingredients in to the sponge, then knead it and let it rise, punch it down and form into loaves?

Rouxbe.com is, among other things, an online cooking school. Most of the site is available only by subscription, but they have, possibly for a limited time, a wonderful video tutorial about Wheat available for free:

 http://rouxbe.com/school/sections/81/objectives

 Understanding Wheat makes one a better baker.

Bill Ross

(Baking today: Bread, Pita Breat and Pizza dough! Gotta get back to the kitchen!)

I started my Sourdough Starter and on day four I measured 1/4 cup and added 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup flour.  On day 5, 6, and 7 I did the same.  I measured out 1/4 cup and added the same in water and flour.  I don't understand how I am supposed to increase the amount of dough if I keep throwing out all but 1/4 cup.  Am i missing something?  How do I get enough to make bread?  I hope this is not a silly question.  Please advise...

Every time I slash, my bread falls into a flat blob. I have purchased bread slashers and used razor blades and have a terrible time doing the proper slash. Now most of the time I just leave it alone & bake as is. Is there a secret to the slash? I do love the way it looks after it's baked (when properly done).

It is almost certainly over-proofed.

Try proofing it less (to less than doubling in volume) before scoring and baking.

David

Hello,

I am a amatuer baker and is really keen on making bread. But i face the same problem with my dough everytime...

My dough always become wet and sticky even when i reduced the amount of water stated in the recipe and made them on a warm day. Why is this so?

It seems that the more I knead the more sticky it becomes, and i have to add a lot more flour to make it less sticky. I have never managed to get the smooth consistency from 20mins of kneading, rather i took 40mins and a whole lot more flour to get that consistency :(

is that because i didnt add 'bread improver' or should i just invest in a bread maker instead?

please advise and thank you very much!

I have tried most every way to make bread, but they always come out fairly flat, only about 2-3 inches high, I have a great crumb, and it looks and tastes great, but I can never get it to raise up to what I see othe loaves look like. I live in Nashville, and am wondering if there could be a problem with the water, and should I try bottled water?

Thank you

I am preparing to start my first desem. I found a farm online that soaks and sprouts organic wheat berries. Then they are dried at a low temp. They grind them to order for max freshness. Can you tell me if this process would hinder starting a desem??

Thanks for all the help, real good results.

I have been making bread for about 40 years on and off, standard tin loves and bread rolls only, but twelve years ago ' bought a bread maker and quickly got fed up with that messing about, went back to the basic method and have not bought bread for 10 years.

  Trying to make a loaf without a tin mould produced a flat, unattractive shape.

Three thin steel U shape moulds were made so that "Baguette" and "Ciabatta" could be produced. OK I was pleased with the results but then a few weeks ago, 'came  across "the fresh loaf" site and  a whole new world opened up.

The  Preferment does improve the  "crumb" [ 'think this is the correct term} is great and so is the crust.

The making bread process is real fun, the neighbours and even the grand children say its good.

Thanks again

Jacko from St Albans England

I've recently been trying to make various rye breads without much success.  The last one I tried was the sourdough deli rye in BBA.  The problem is that the dough starts to split during the last rise and baking.  I thought is might have been caused by the caraway seeds, so on the second attempt I ground them in a spice mill.  The same thing happened.  Anyone have a suggestion?  I'd be greatful for input.  Thanks

When I make rye bread the loaf doesn't retain  it's height when I put it in the oven. Short of putting it in a breadpan, any suggestions?
Thanks

Can anyone point me to a recipe for a nice light rye? Please.

Does anyone know a good video site to view "shaping" the stollen loafs other than a batard?  Looking for a visual of page 255 in THE BREAD BAKERS APPRENTICE?

Hey everyone,

This was my attempt at making the Lesson 2 recipe. I think the bread turned out quite tasty even though I forgot to add the 2 tablespoons of butter.

I am not sure exactly how the crumb should be.

Also instead of just cooking the loaf on a stone i put it in a loaf pan. One of the sides dosen't look pretty, any thoughts why that could have happened? My guess is it was to do with my poor folding/ shaping technique. Perhaps because of this the seams opened up?

I did not slash the bread because I haven't seen loaf style breads being slashed.

Hope to get some good suggestions :)

Going to re make it tomorrow because I am very annoyed about that 1 side. Bleh

I seem to have a problem with kneading; whenever I need, the dough sticks A LOT to the benchtop. I ensure it's dry before I start, and i've done it both lightly floured and not floured at all, but every time I always have to add a lot of all-purpose flour to get the dough to a good consistency i.e. a half cup at least, throughout the ten minutes of kneading.

Am I just doing it wrong?

hello, i just made the lesson 1 bread and the crust was so hard we almost broke our teeth eating it. our oven tends to burn things so i cooked only 40 mins instead of the full 45. i'm thinking i may have over cooked it. the inside was kinda soft... a little tough maybe. I know it's not really supposed to get golden brown because there is no sugar in the mix but it stayed chalk white. i thought it was supposed to get a little bit of color. i also may have added too much yeat. the little packets of yeast we have comes in 2 1/4 teaspoon and i figured what's a 1/4 teaspoon going to hurt. Just need help figuring out if I over cooked it or added a little too much yeast. please help me out. :)

Okay, I am trying make Robertson's the country loaf. I am having

a problem transferring the bread to the dutch oven, it deflates.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA 

So glad I found this site, I'm a devoted home chef, but bread had always been my bane due to a habit of improvisation and avoidance of weights and measures.  I recently decited to give bread another try and in preparation found this site.  I got a couple of sourdough starters going, and made some delicious frisbee like things (I meant to do that, have some cheese!)  But the forums and the explanations of baking by weight led me to try an approach other than eyeball (thank you mr diet scale).  That helped, but eventually what got me tonight's two perfect baguettes (poolish recipie, 68% hydration, but being in dubai the humidity means this is equivalent to a somewhat wetter dough) was the constant emphasis on using a wet dough.  I did an initial 6 minute knead with wet hands on a wet counter, then strech and fold every half hour during the rise of the dough, again with wet hands and on a wet counter.

This process gave me a supple air filled dough that I probably would have needed a steamroller to degas.  When I was ready to shape and proof it was panic time, couldn't figure out how to get the seam to stay closed, then another check in the forums let me know not to use wet counter and hands at this stage and to go with a floured surface.  After shaping anf proofing my bagguettes I thought I was in for another batch of flat tasty tounge depressor shaped bread.  Instead I found out what oven spring really means!  wow, just wow- family was amazed, neighbors enjoyed their loaf and I've got a half loaf for lunch tomorrow.

Big thanks to everyone on the site and I will let you know if I can manage the same with the sourdough.

Unless you throw a 10 kg bag flour in there, dont use a mixer. get a big bowl

rule 1, add flour too liquid! no the other way round , unless your pro and start slowly and build up.ie water first, lay flour on top.(not pour)

rule 2 . speedly , evenly.

rule 3. hands on the bottom flat on bowl, and bring it up from the bottom.

make sure your in a 38 c 50% humidty or close too it or have a area at close to it, or a proofer.

atmospheric pressure affects it.

rule 4. practice

when mixing , should form bits , no wet lumps, and you have it.

hehehehehe

I got a KitchenAid for Christmas and really want to make bread as I make several trips to the bakery each week. The loaf I made today came out pretty well except for 2 issues. 1. It was only about 2-3 inches high. I was making Italian bread and when proofing, the dough spread out instead of rising up. 2. The crus was very thick and hard. I wiped the bread with egg white, sprayed the bread with water, baked for 3 minutes, sprayed with water again, baked for 3 minutes and sprayed one last time. I then baked for 45 minutes. Does anyone know which of these steps caused the crust to be so thick and why my bread spread wide instead of up? Thanks for your help. This is a great site!!