First, welcome to TFL.  Your new book on artisan baking looks quite interesting.  It's good to see a book about bread that includes a chapter on the history of bread making.  

I'm going to take advantage of your nice offer (and your considerable professional experience) to answer questions by asking one:  Hamelman's "Bread," the King Arthur Flour website, and The Artisan.net (just to name a few) all discuss the details of calculating desired dough temperature.  

However, no one seems to address including the temperature of a soaker.  I've not been able to find any reference to it, although some recipes include a soaker which uses a pound of water.  I should note that I first sent this question to the King Arthur Flour Baker's Hotline on March 1.  Three follow-up emails and nearly two months later, I still haven't gotten any response. 

I've played with the numbers by running a comparison using the examples in "Bread."  I've found that multiplying the DDT by five (the fifth item being the soaker) and including it in the calculation results in a water temperature that's in the same ballpark as the temp noted in the preferment examples given in the book, so it appears to be a factor that should be considered.

Is there any reason why soakers are not included in the published method of doing the calculation?  

Thanks for any light you can shine on my so far unanswered question.

When a proofed dough is removed from the refrigerator and allowed to rest until it reaches room temperature, what is this period of rest called?  I'm not really proofing it again, am I?

I have a question for everyone out there. How can you skip the punch in a bagueete process? In a large scale operation?

I simply have no context for this word. It only came into my vocabulary a couple of months ago when I found this site. As such, the usage has me stumped.

For instance, this sentence makes sense: The recipe uses the autolyse method.

However, take out the word "method" and the sentence falls apart.

Neither "an autolyse" or simply "autolyse" sound correct.

Using it as a verb is even trickier: ... let the dough autolyse for 20 minutes.

What is the correct usage?

Thanks,
Mark

Cioa from Italia,

I am an American girl living in Italy for a spell, and I miss baking dearly. I have chosen to post this in professional topics, as I woudl like soem expert advice...

Here, in Italy, baking powder, soda, adn cream of tartar simply dont exist. While I have managed to get my hands on a bootleg box of baking soda, I can not make many baked goods with only this... Or so I think not anyway. While the pastries of Italy are quite nice, I miss the simpler items... like homemade biscuts and the like.

All that is available here is a moist yeaest block type substance. Can anyone please offer advice? I will be here for sometime to come!

Thank you in advance!

Ok don't hate me, I work in a hotel kitchen, with commercial frozen proof and bake bread. Chef wants crispy crust on his rolls, I can't get it, I use steam, for 15 to 45 seconds but it is just soft and commercial. I suspect it is ingredients, could it be the oil, the datem, or other emulsifiers, or preservatives? I am going in early today to make real bread to show him I know how to make crusty bread. But if you have any ideas I could use the help.

Thanks,
Martha

Hi!  I've recently gotten into higher-hydration breads, and tried to make what I think is a 100% hydration ciabatta.

The crumb turned out nicely shiny and gelatinous, and the crust was very thin, papery even

Pictures and recipe on my bizarre baking blog:  http://www.violencebaguettesviolence.blogspot.com/

The point, though, is:

I'm wondering what the highest hydration is that would let a bread hold up to baking, and what gets lost as you start to get up there.

I'm guessing the crumb goes from shiny to gummy, and the air bubbles start escaping, but are there tricks and payoffs to these wet marvels?

thanks!

Eric

I spoke with the folks at Fleishmann's today and this is what I gleaned.

Heat kills yeast , not cold.

The problem with freezing yeast is water. It creates water crystals that either rupture or spear the yeast cells, killing them.

"fresh yeast"has such a high % or free water freezing is death.

 I told them I freeze yeast all the time, in a bag with air sucked out in a sturdy sealed container, they said, (unofficially)  if you evacute the bag put in the freezer that is great, but if I suck the air out of a container then fridge it, it keeps way longer then is marked, for many years, although I am sure comapny policy is , if expired , we aren't responsible.

 they also said if I had a vacumn  device and I pulled a real vacumn on the jar it in and kep it in dark at 70 years it would last as long as in the fridge.

They also said Instant and Rapid rise are same thing and there is almost no difference from them and active yeast.

 And that there is no big difference from any of the dried yeast as far as cell count of live or viable cells fer ml are concerned.

I will now make my self a jar sealer for vacumning the stuff in mason jars, and anyone who does, realize this IS NOT the same as boil vacumn sealing food. By pulling 29 inches of atmospere out we remove all the moisture. That plus heat degrade the yeasties, our buddies.

yum

this IS the tastiest spot on the web!

sprakie

My name is Hayley Mick and I'm a writer with the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. I write for the Life section, mostly about health issues but also about people's extracurricular pursuits.

Right now I'm researching a story about how rising food prices are affecting amateur bakers (particularly Canadian bakers!). Have you been forced to bake less? Or maybe you're getting more creative with your recipes -- Or discovered new places to buy ingredients at a discount. 

If you're able to chat, I'd need to speak to you this week, by Wednesday at the latest. Just send me your number and I'll give you a ring, or my numbers are below. 416-585-5118. email hmick@globeandmail.ca.

Thanks, hope to hear from you soon.

Hayley

Having just finished reading the chapters pertaining to bread in Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas, I have to say that this book has already become my favorite from among all the bread books in my collection. 

While those who bake by 'feel' might not appreciate the detail into which the book delves, I believe those who take a 'scientific' approach to bread baking will find the book invaluable.  The discussion of short, improved and intensive mixing protocols and their relationship to bulk fermentation times and yeast quantities is, in itself, worth the price of the book.  

The book is not so much a collection of recipes (although it does contain a large number of them) as it is a complete education in bread and pastry baking, thus providing a jumping-off point for the baker to create his/her own recipes.  It almost seems as if the book was written to serve as the text for the Bread and Pastry Professional Training Program taught at the SFBI, of which Suas is the founder.  Although the book seems to be written with the professional baker in mind, I think that home bakers, like myself, will find a wealth of information which will serve them well in the family kitchen.