The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

First bake in my new home!

Skibum's picture
Skibum

First bake in my new home!

Well, I have neither baked much nor had time to visit this site for the last couple of months. Moved from Canmore AB to Golden, BC. Moving is a HUGE pain, but I am very satisfied with the result. I love my new home and town!!!

Check out my new kitchen. It is easily 4 times as large as my last kitchen. There is a full pantry unseen to the right of the fridge. Now, I have a well equipped kitchen, but so far have used a little more than half the cupboard space. LOADS of counter space for working dough! Lots of space for my new toys, a FoodSaver and a Sous Vide Supreme. Floyd, you have seen my old kitchen and boy is this a serious upgrade

The biggest change for me is going from a gas cook top, electric convection oven to a non convection electric oven with induction cook top. I love the induction top.  However my bake results for the oft pull apart dinner rolls were different. Certainly I didn't get the nice brown on the crust, I got with the same time and temperature with convection. So far, I figure I will need to bump up my baking temperatures a bit and I have had to add extra time to the first bake.  I have also moved from 4,420 feet above sea level to 2,580' and will have to make adjustments for this.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions on how to get a browner crust, I would most appreciate any suggestions.

Happy baking friends, from a happy old ski bum at home in Golden, BC!

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Congrats on your new home.  Moving sucks but looks like you will be happy Happy in that big kitchen!

i use a electric GE oven with no convection option.  I have 1 Baking stone on the high shelve and another  the bottom about 2 steps up.  I keep a heavy duty Baking pan on the bottom shelf for my steam pan.  I always warm my oven to the highest setting around 550 F And once I put the dough in the oven and add 1cup of hot water for steam and lower temp to 450-455.

Good luck!

Ian

Skibum's picture
Skibum

I also have top and bottom stones and this oven goes to 550F, so I will need to try a lean loaf.

Happy baking! Ski

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Congrats on your move, Skibum.  I bet you don't need to shift your grocery shopping to the weekdays anymore! 

I too have a convention-only electric oven and a two-stone setup identical to Ian's.  My breads have browned evenly so far which I believe has something to do with the stones I use.   I got them from bakingstone.com. 

Yippee 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

I can go grocery shopping any day. No lines, no waits, easy parking. Perfect! hat Canmore was like 20 years ago.

You are most perceptive!

Happy baking and cooking!  Ski

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Nice new kitchen, Brian!

Over the years I have gone from a Jennair to a Samsung to a Bosch, all electric with convection.

Every time I had to tweak my recipes. For the Samsung I always had to add 10 degrees to the baking temperature, my new oven seems to run a bit hotter, so that I have to shorten my baking times. The oven thermometer was no help with these differences since it always showed the correct temperature. I had to find out by trial and error.

The Samsung oven had the most even heat, no hot spots, but, alas, the range met its untimely death by mice that built a nest under the induction cook top. Therefore, back to non-induction (and mouse-deterring temperatures).

It always took quite a while before I figured out how to adjust my formulas.

Enjoy your new home,

Karin

 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Love my new home!!! I baked a pulla at 425 instead of the normal 400 and it browned up fine. Perhaps too brown, so I will have to tweak. A little hotter and a little longer seems to be the way to go. Love my new kitchen! For a guy who liks to cook and bake, it is dream!

Happy cooking and baking! Brian

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Yeah, wow, this kitchen is huge compared to what you were working in before.

Welcome to BC (he says while currently in Nova Scotia)! 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Still adjusting to the much larger space and it has been a pleasant adjustment!  Enjoy your time in Nova Scotia and eat a lobster for me.

 

Best regards, Brian

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Moving is no joke! That is a fine kitchen. I can't wait for the goodies that will be made in it!

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Loving the kitchen and all my cooking tools fit. I have a whole chicken on the smoker and some nice steak in a sous vide bath. Nice to have some home baked bread: soft, pull apart dinner rolls and of course pulla.

I didn't get the same rise or oven spring spring here at 2,480 feet above sea level as I was getting at 4,420 feet. I may have up up the amount of levain I have been using from 10% to 15% and see if that makes a difference. I also may have been a bit lazy on the refresh of my levain . . .

Happy baking and eating Job! Ski

Gail_NK's picture
Gail_NK

Brian,

I am looking for Dabrownman - do you know if he's still on TFL?

Thanks,

Gail Nickel-Kailing

GoodFood World

Skibum's picture
Skibum

This is my first post in 2 months. He was around 2 months ago and he normally replies to my posts. We will see. 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Glad to see that you are settling into your new place.  From the picture of the kitchen, you have plenty of elbow room for whatever cooking or baking fun you want to have.  You might even be able to park a small island in the middle of that dance floor. 

Since my kitchen is approximately 1080 feet above sea level, I can't offer much advice for your "high altitude" baking. ;-)   When we visit our daughter and her family in Colorado Springs, which is about 6000 feet above sea level, I haven't noticed a substantial difference in how fast dough expands.  Then again, I've only played with that a couple of times, so my data is limited. 

Your new oven will probably cause a bigger learning curve for you than the elevation.  And I'm sure that you'll have that figured out within a few bakes.  You can always use the test bakes as a way to get acquainted with your neighbors by sharing the bread.

Paul

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Yes it cold be a dance floor.  It is certainly the largest kitchen in any home I have ever owned. It is also one of the smaller homes I have owned.

You are correct about adjusting to the oven. BIG adjustment. First bake was under done. Second pulla bake turned out better at +25F higher and 5 minutes longer. It will take a few bakes to get it down.

Happy baking! Ski

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

on surviving the move, enjoying your new home town, and on finding a place with such a perfectly workable kitchen!  You'll have the timing / leavening tweaks sorted out in no time for the lower elevation and different oven.  You might need to modify sugar quantities, too, since I've found that those make a huge difference with baking at different elevations.

Hope you get more time to bake and cook and post now that you're settling in.

Keep baking happy!

Skibum's picture
Skibum

It is positive comments such as yours that keep me returning to this site! I have my starter on the counter ready for a refresh.

Happy baking! Ski