Blog posts

Crust challenge

Profile picture for user Jim Burgin

New to artisan baking, I have been struggling with tough chewy crust that stresses my jaw.  .  Can someone recommend a recipe that uses only white unbleached All Purpose flour with a12-16 hour poolish and produces CRUST that is thin, crackly, and will not send me to my dentist.  I bake using a cloche.  Thanks much!  Jim Burgin

Wholemeal sourdough

Profile picture for user -'_-'

Beginner reporting in. I've been baking for a month now and I work with whole grains. Ideally, I'd like to see a sourdough whole wheat bread with a killer rise -- this (what you see above) is as close as I've gotten.

Daybreak Mill 12 Grain Sourdough

Profile picture for user Danni3ll3

My bread baking over the Easter weekend was a disaster! I baked the loaves I was making too soon; I panicked when I saw how quickly they were rising in the fridge so I baked them that evening instead of waiting till the next morning. They didn't have great oven spring at all.

Then I was making cornmeal buns for dinner and I managed to burn the bottoms of all of them. My daughter came to the rescue and made Prospector Buns which were awesome!

Multigrain sourdough with seeds

Profile picture for user IgorL

Well, Passover is over, and leavened bread is back, with the vengeance. :-) Today's creation: sourdough multi-grain bread with seeds. I wish Internet had the ability to transmit the emotion which crunchy crust elicits while one tastes a slice with good salted Irish butter. 

Finally A Solution to Lack of Solid Surface Counter Top

Profile picture for user BreadBabies

I recently posted looking for ideas on solving my problem of not having a solid surface counter top. This is not normally an issue except when working with high hydration doughs. Then, it's such a big issue that I find it very difficult to make a decent loaf.

What didn't work:

A pastry mat: I have a pastry mat but it can get damaged by the corners of the bench knife and since it's not on a solid surface to begin with, it tends to slide around. Also, they're difficult to clean.

Almost a Baguette...

Profile picture for user FrugalBaker

Hello, everyone! It's been ages since I posted something. Nothing much or new happening (in terms of baking) lately except that I am still learning to bake a lot and experimenting some recipes. I have had some fair share of success on baking my sourdough bread and pastries too of late. Though, the fact of not being able to make a decent looking piece of Baguette disturbs me a great deal.

Easter Bread & Sprouted Struan Bread using 90-100% Sprouted Flour

Profile picture for user Flour.ish.en

Happy Easter! I baked this Neapolitan Easter bread (Casatiello), published in the New York Times by Yotam Ottolenghi. Basically, it is a yeast bread dough wrapped up with meats, cheeses, herbs and eggs fillings, for the break fast picnic eaten the day after Easter. It was a fun bake since whatever leftovers you had on hand, you can roll them up tightly, like a cinnamon roll. It's easily adaptable to accommodate any filling ingredients. And you won't be getting your fingers all sticky and gooey. There is no glaze on the bread.