February 25, 2009 - 8:50pm
Hello!
I found this forum after a lengthy search. I've been baking for more than a decade, but have never ventured into the realm of making my own recipes. I'm getting bored with following other's recipes and want to learn how to make my own. So far, I have learned quite a bit from lurking and hope to learn more.
It is really nice to see a forum dedicated to bread baking. You can only learn so much from a recipe book. It is going to be very nice to be able to ask other bakers questions and post ideas and recipes.
Mark
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....and make it your own. Make little substitutions here and there, and the more successful you are, the more creative you will become. I know someone on another site who took I recipe I posted and instead of using water as the liquid, he used water in which he'd boiled vegetables. He has since made so many variations of that recipe that the original has changed completely. Once you get the hang of how much yeast, liquid, salt, and flour you need for a loaf of bread, you won't ever look at a cookbook the same way again. I still collect books, especially the bread cookbooks, but I look at the recipes now more as ideas than of a set of instructions I have to follow.
That's an interesting thought and one I hadn't previously considered. Still, it is not good enough for me to just follow a recipe anymore, even if I make changes to it. I'm at a point now where I want to know more. The mechanics of a recipe are now important to me, where as before I would just be happy with the bread turning out.
Baker's percentages is a new concept for me and one I am thouroughly enjoying exploring.
Hi, Mark.
Welcome to TFL!
I found that really studying the bread books that go into the science in some depth provide a basis for productive experimentation. "Bread" by Hamelman is a very good source.
You might enjoy reading about "The great baguette quest" of last year (Search on "baguettes.") for an example of some TFL experimentation.
Keep us posted on your progress!
David