Submitted by novicebaker on May 7, 2009 - 11:28am
Hello everybody, I am new to this forum. I am here to learn baking secrets and techniques because I am a bad baker, everytime I attempt to bake something it turns out really bad, absolutely inedible. Hope to
learn from you all.
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You'll learn.
Stick around long enough and you'll soon learn to make good bread. There's always lots of help from the people here.
bread recipies are more like guide-lines than how-to's
You are only a terrible baker if you keep making the exact same mistake over and over. Dough's are highly experimental (bread & pasta). Experiments are, by definition, open to failure. Look and feel are a lot more important than cups of this and grams of that.
Many things are out of your control: humidity, barometric pressure, and even micro-organism behavior. Many aspects of the process are extremely forgiving, others are not. This forum is pretty good at identifying which is which.
Read "high altitude bricks" for a good laugh.
Typically, making your own bread, pasta, beer, and sausages are not things you do to save money - though they are less costly. For me, the satisfaction is in the quality of the result. Even if I do have a failure, I enjoy the process.
For example: I am trying to make bread using pre-Fleishmann methods (pre 1860). I am working on culturing my own yeast, and in setting sponge (poolish) from the culture. So far, the failures outnumber the successes. I know that yeast culture is no better than "active dry" or "instant" for making bread. However, I am munching on a success right now (crumbs in the keyboard), Tillamook Vintage White, a home made pickle (garlic dill), and a pint of my own special bitter. Life is good.
Welcome!
Hi, novicebaker.
Welcome to TFL!
I agree. You've found the right place. Read the "Lessons" for a good introduction to the basics. If you are in it for the long haul, buy a good bread baking book that includes a good introduction to bread baking ingredients, methods and concepts. Peter Reinhart's "Bread Baker's Apprentice" is most often recommended.
Then, choose one or two recipes for the types of bread you want to make and make these breads repeatedly, until you feel you understand how to achieve excellent results consistently. That generally works better than just trying lots of different recipes when you are a beginner.
Do ask questions, but you will get more helpful answers if your questions are about a specific recipe or technique.
Happy baking!
David
Thanks for the warm welcome:)
Thanks for the warm welcome:)
Bvn, thanks for the guidance, I will definitely follow it. I feel really confident now.
Thanks David for your recommendation, in fact I was about to ask this question in a book review thread. I was not sure whether to buy "Bread Baker's Apprentice", "Kneadlessly Simple" or "Artisan bread in 5 minutes" but now I am definitely gonna buy the first one.