Hello,

How to make an organic bread with a long shelf life (like a month or more)?  I would life to be able to pack my bread in a plastic bag and travel with it at room tempature?

I know i have bought dense rye breads that have a very long shelf life and stay quite moist.  Any suggestions (or better yet any recepies).

Thank you.

I have a question that I hope someone can answer... The one thing that bugs me about weighing flour is that it seems counter to producing a consistent hydration.  I live north of Fairbanks, Alaska and the range of relative humidities in the house from one season to the next is extreme ...a direct result of the house being ventilated with air that ranges from 80-something and 90% humidity during summer rain, down to 50-below and 10% humidity during an arctic cold snap in winter.  Flour kept in paper bags varies in how much moisture is absorbed in the flour.  Making bread during the winter requires using up to 20% less flour than the same recipe would require in the summer.

Here's a simple example that is not even a bread recipe:  If I weigh 1 pound of "more humid summer flour" and add it to 1 pound of water, you would say that I've achieved a 100% hydration mix ...but it's actually wetter than that due to the additional water that has absorbed into the flour during the summer.  The 1 pound of 'flour' contains less flour and more water than 1 pound of flour in dry winter conditions.  If I then weigh 1 pound of "very dry winter flour" and add it to 1 pound of water, then I very likely have produced something that is very close to 100% hydration ...but not equal to "100% hydration" out of someone's cookbook since they are likely measuring in an environment more humid than our winter environment.  Obviously summer versus winter baking produces entirely different results.

So shall I assume that all these baker's percentages that you see running around are not used exactly?  Even by a professional bread making company?  I can imagine using experience and intuition to adjust recipes at home, but do professionals also judge and vary the flour or water?  Or do they just weight everything and off they go ...accept the variance in outcome as normal?  For us, that can't work ...bread fails miserably if you don't tune your ingredients as the seasons pass.  For us, I see nearly no value in weighing anything other than the non-flour ingredients and then just "put the right amount of" flour in, using your own judgment as you proceed.  Flour measurements have never seemed any better than a rough estimate, at best, to me.  My wife even as little tables of adjustments for each season for how much to change water or flour in a recipe to make it succeed in her bread machine during different seasons (especially challenging in the dry winter months.)

Brian

Ciabatta is nothing more than an dough that is extremely high in hydration.  Anyone can make a ciabatta if just a little more water is added to the dough.

So my mom has a fancy new oven and it has the option to use convection baking. Does anyone have experience with this? Should I adjust the baking time or anything? Please give me LOTS of advice!!!! (i'm excited about using it but would prefer to not burn down my mom's kitchen :))

Andrea

I made a mix of 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup rye flour dough last night. I wouldnt know the exact hydration since the used a cup of sourdough starter rather than yeast. However the dough was sticky, and felt normal when kneading.

I let it rise overnight - it doubled, perhaps a bit more, nicely.

This morning I wanted to try folding it, like I've seen in in several of the videos in the Lesson section. However, when I did this, the dough didnt spread out nicely, but instead ripped apart in places.

What might I be doing wrong here? In the videos it looked like the dough pulled nicely apart.

Thanks!

I had one recipe call for Malt Extract. I finally tracked some down from a local brewery - they filled up an ice cream container of this sticky, yeasty smelling mixture for me for 5 bucks.

What is the general consensous from people on using this? Ive used it in lieu of sugar in several breads and have not had a bad result.

Is it used soley as a sugar to air the yeast development in doughs? Will it add any (signifigant) flavour? Are there any breads it should be avoided in? (im trying it this morning in my sourdough, and excited ot see how it will turn out).

Thanks

Okay, I've got a real open ended question to ask, and I'm open to any and all thoughts, advice, warnings etc.  I plan on selling my bread at a local farm-market (Sundays only). I have struck a bargain with a local pizza shop to use their facilities  (maybe Fri-Sat for pre-ferments Then Sun @2-10 AM to produce the loaves).  I am formally trained on the culinary side, but I've never baked professionally, It is simply something that I've always loved to do at home.  I am reasonably comfortable with the process, but I have only ever produced batches of about 4-5 pounds of dough at a time, and for this venture, I'd like to show up with 100 loaves or more. I am concerned about how to devise a production schedule....

My resources are: a good 60 Qt Hobart, two pizza ovens (Stacked 300-650degrees) questionable scales and a few good tables.  I'd like to make about 15 ea. 2# wheat loaves, 30 baguettes, 20 ciabatta (pain a l'ancienne) and still deciding on one or two others.  I can be ready to go in a few weeks, need some supplies and a lot of planning.

So the best way to ask my question is: Could you do this/ would you do this? and if so, what would you need to make it happen.  How much time would I have to be in the facility to produce this much bread, and should I be concerned about conflicting production times with the pizza shop? Please just hit me with any thoughts and advice, specific or not that will help me get my head out of my home kitchen and into a professional Bakeshop. Plus any recommendations for sourcing couches, bannetons/wicker baskets, etc at a good price.  Thank you all in advance, I am really looking forward to this experience and am eager to learn through this process, but I want to make a good first impression, too.

Hi,

I'm a member of Daring Bakers and I am looking for a bread baking group that has challenges each month.  Does anyone know where I might be able to find one?

Thanks!

I have been learning about the practice of pre-gelatinization (scalding) of rye in the preparation of high-percentage rye breads.  One thing confuses me, however, with regards to the intended effect this has on the final dough. As I understand it, pre-gelatinization is a process typically used to make starches, in a given grain, MORE accessible to amylase (for example in brewing) In a wheat flour & water mixture the amylase starts to denature at temperatures above about 150Fl. In brewing (where diastatic malt is ADDED) careful control of this temperature during the mash can determine the ratio of alpha to beta amylase and thus fermentable vs. unfermentable sugars (for brewer's yeast). 

However in the case of rye, I understand that rye amylase is more heat-stable. I would think gelatinization is precisely the OPPOSITE of what one should be striving for  since the integrity of the pentosans in the rye is the major factor in preserving structure and preventing gumminess. Making them MORE vulnerable to amylase, earlier on in the 'production' process should surely be avoided? While the acidity of the rye sour should control the effects of amylase somewhat, one is still left with the question as to why scalding is done at all? A sweeter end result perhaps? 

All of which leads me to think that scalding the rye, in order to be effective, must be carried out at a fairly high temperature in order to denature the rye amylase...but what temperature might that be?  What proportion of the total rye flour (say in a 100% rye bread) should/could be scalded? Are there additional benefits from scalding rye that I am missing here?

If anyone has knowledge in this area, I'd be most appreciative of your input.

Thanks

FP

I'm having trouble with my rye breads ion the DXL. The loaves seem fine but after putting themm on parchment paper they start to flatten out. I've been following George Greensteins recipes. The dough doesn't seem to be worked in the machine unless I move the scraper around and/or the roller or constaqntly push the dough off the hook. Should I go to folding the dough every 30 minutes to develope the gluten more? I'm thinking of putting some vital gluten in the mix. This may not have anythinbg to do with the mixer itself but the mixer himself.