I'm new...ish!!

Hi Everyone,

I must admit I've been lurking around for a few months now, soaking up bits and pieces of interesting info and salivating over the pictures. Today, I finally decided to take the plunge and register!

I've always been interested in baking but usually limited my efforts to Dunkin Heinz or the occasional homemade cake, cookies, or cupcakes/muffins. In terms of yeasted breads, I have lots of experience making challah for Jewish occasions, but usually relied on one go-to recipe without much concern for technique or betterment (just as an example, I took a direct fermentation AP challah recipe and thought it would be totally fine to substitute regular WW flour for ALL of the AP, without tweaking the hydration or anything else; tasted okay but was definitely pretty dense:))

I read The Bread Baker's Apprentice a few years back but couldn't seem to motivate myself to jump in and try any of the formulas (fear of failure perhaps?). This past December my wife and I attended a two part Artisan baking class and I saw just how easy it can be (sometimes) to put together a good, tasty loaf. So now I'm hooked! I bought a few more books and some basic equipment and hope to make some good use of them all:)

Sruly