January 18, 2020 - 7:18pm
Where is the Breadstorm App?
I use the Breadstorm app for working out formulas and scaling.
The IOS version for iPhone and iPad is no longer in the App store
Recently they posted on their website that they were on a break (and removed the download) and now their website appears to have been taken off the web altogether.
The app is really useful for bread bakers amateur and professional and a great way to exchange recipes, so it would be a shame if it has been killed (and no longer supported).
Does anyone know anything about what happened to the Breadstorm app?
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It appears they went out of business. Website is blank, nothing on Twitter since March 2019, nothing in the App store. Not sure if they had a Facebook page or not. Surprised they didn't notify their customers.....
Yes, they do appear to be out of business.
Very surprised they abandoned their customers.
This was pricey software, but so worth it considering I use it so heavily. I am also surprised there is so little mention of Breadstorm disappearing, it seems other users would be also surprised to learn Breadstorm is abandonware.
Good thing that Breadstorm was such a solidly built app that needed little updating. I hope it holds out
Yeah, they are gone. They never were great at support. (I kept asking for a way to print out a just the weights formula, to work from in the kitchen. That is, a way that doesn't take 7 unnecessary steps using the "snapshot" facility. And now, under Catlina, even that is broken. Fortunately the rest of it seems to still work. It was pretty rude of them to leave like that.
l was in contact with the folks at BreadStorm back in November, it was my distinct impression that the project was coming to a grinding halt, the website endorsements, mine included, hadn’t been updated for at least two years. There was no sign of life, period.
I purchased the Mac version a few months before the iOS app came out, it set me back 150 bones, I’ve been selling bread all alone though and the software made my life much easier.
I made a further inquiry, late in December, that went unanswered. The software is running on a Mac from 2009, I’ve just purchased a new computer and was hoping to bring the software along. (The old Mac is too buggy, and still running El Capitan , so I refrained from using the migration tool): oh well, I’ll just keep the old beast running so I can keep using it and will eventually face switching over to horrid excel sheets.
cheers from rainy Copenhagen
Contact me to help you move it over
Hi, has anyone upgraded their Mac to Catalina and were able to run their copy of Breadstorm? Sucks that they are gone, and have the activation keys to our software.
I am not familiar with this app but I find this too, very helpfool.
https://foodgeek.dk/en/bread-calculator
I especially like the feature that calculates the water in liquid ingredients. Thank you for sharing!
I also use it all the time for all recipes, very convenient. He's clearly working on it, just in the last few days added a feature for multiple stages, otherwise was impossible to describe complex recipes with levain builds or scalds etc.
I was using this app. for both pizza and bread. In the preferment/sourdough section, I could never get to work properly. I forced it to do what I wanted by manipulating the numbers without really know exactly what I was doing. The best feature of this app is the options or scaling, & the long list of additional ingredients. That being said the food geeks app, adjusts the hydration for liquids, which is a big plus!
Pizza Dough Calculator (pizza-dough-calculator.herokuapp.com)
If you would be willing to help me with the design, I am interested in making an app to help keep track of recipes. I've stumbled across the existence of breadstorm only after it has been shut down unfortunately, so I'm not entirely sure what features it had that were so great... But if you can help my understand them, I can build them :)
Let me know if you still want to do this. I can make screen recordings for you if that would help
a screen recording would be lovely. please post an attachment here!
Okay, starting off with the help "manual" from the waybackmachine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20181009050526/http://www.breadstorm.com/breadstorming.html
This will probably give you a better idea than a screen recording would
I can help you with understanding the Breadstorm app if you still want to pursue it.
Roger
that would be excellent! please send any info you can. as I said, I have never seen the app, so if you can describe your usual steps through the app, what data you keep in there, what you find most useful, that would be quite helpful, thanks!
It's not an app, but does a few nice things in a browser window.
https://breadbaker.noplaytime.com
I like the detail. Good for keeping a log of your bakes.
Thanks for sending the link, will definitely try working with this.
Roger
Hi,
I've managed to move my copy of breadstorm from my old Sierra machine to a new Catalina machine, registration and all. If any of you need help doing that just drop me a message and I will get back to you.
Thanks, but I still have the Breadstorm app, credentialed on my Mac with Catalina.
It works fine, for now.
I hope it holds out since it's no longer supported.
Best, Roger
@NeelsK, yes please.
Hi, I recovered my iMac and i have the key for the Breadstorm app, but always when I try to activate it, i become this: Could not unlock because of a technical problem. How did you do to activate this app? Thanks, Silviu
Since the breadstorm servers are down you cannot unlock in the normal way. You need your license file from the old directory on your old machine. The place to find this is : /Users/[yourname]/Library/Application Support/BreadStorm/.
There should be two files inside: BreadStorm3.xml and license.lplicense. These need to be copied to the same directory in your new machine.
If you need extra help I suggest you send me a private message.
Regards,
Neels
Ahh seems there is no private message function. send mail to nkriek@me.com
I just came across this thread and while I'm really disappointed that the creators have called it quits, I can confirm that it is still working fine under Big Sur and syncing to IOS 14.4 on my iPad.
This was the best solution I ever found for easily adjusting recipes with pre-ferments and I hope it will continue to be compatible for a long time to come.
I’ve avoided upgrading to Big Sur for exactly this reason. Thanks for this report, I can install the upgrade now (after Apple sends my laptop back from replacing the battery...).
For those of us that still use this great app, I discovered that the current version of iOS renders the iPad unable to launch the app but it still work on the same 14.6 version on the iPhone. Strange, isn’t it? Still working fine on the Mac with Big Sur but I already miss the iPad. I refuse to squint at my phone for that long so now have to print a scaled recipe in order to use.
If anyone knows a way to contact the folks that created this, please reach out. There must be a way to get maintenance on firmer footing for the benefit of all. Annual license? Kickstarter?
BreadStorm still runs on my laptop but it disappeared on my tablet when I upgraded my iPad. What a bummer. So much easier to work from the iPad in the kitchen. I too hate squinting at my phone. Plus it is only a matter of time before the reader app disappears from the iphone App Store as well. I have emailed Jacqueline Colussi several times now but never heard back. I wonder what happened to her and Dado. They were so passionate about their software. For them to disappear like that without offering some kind of solution to their paying customers is very odd to say the least. I hope they are okay. Anyone who knows anything please let me know. Thank you.
MC
Just a quick update for the faithful users, It looks like the latest OS updates didn't break the Breadstorm functionality on the Mac or the iPhone. Whew!
MC, good to hear you have their contact info, hope you get a response someday. It would be sad for such great work to simply pass out of existence.
Hello Everyone,
To say I was stunned to find I can no longer access my saved bread formulas on my iPad- many original and my own- is an understatement. Formulas I used for my budding sourdough business which I intend to restart after a period of illness. I also, have tried to contact the creators to no avail. I can’t believe it, because I too paid a hefty price for both the PC version and iPad version. I have no clue how to now access my formulas just to be able to save them somewhere else.
Does anyone know how I can access my saved formulas in Breadstorm, which were saved through the iPad app (they were of course backed up through regular backups on my Mac, but via the app which I can no longer use as it is not compatible with the more recent iPad updates). I would be beyond grateful for any help as my heart is breaking trying to find out how to access my precious formulas, saved on what I thought was a fail safe, professional piece of software that made baking my bread easy and perfectly organized. Why in the world the creators would just walk away like this and leave people in a bind- people who paid for their creation is beyond me. Thank you!
Hi Falika,
I'm guessing that while you have both Mac and iPad versions off Breadstorm, you didn't sync the recipes to each one. That would have been the easiest way to ensure you had a backup copy. Fortunately, the Breadstorm app on the Mac still works under the latest Monterey OS (12.0.1) and the current iPhone OS (IOS 15.2) so I sync mine every time I update a recipe just in case the next OS breaks something.
If you have been making the general backups of your iPad to your Mac, that backup will have all non-apple apps and data there and you should be able to revert to a previous version of the IOS that did work with the Breadstorm app. There are few descriptions of the process on the web like this one (https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-downgrade-ios,review-6519.html) that might work if you have the backups on your mac to restore the data once you have the older IOS reinstated. Or if you're near an apple store, a genius bar appointment might be a safer way to go through the restore process.
Good Luck
…will be a possibility if I ever buy a new laptop. Then I would dedicate the old one to breadstorm. But isn’t it a pain in the butt to have to do that??? I have BS backed up, so at this point I am not too worried about losing data. But I am seriously annoyed at the lack of convenience. It was so good to be able to sync right away to iPad and iPhone. BTW I lost the BreadStorm app on my iPhone when I changed phones. As it is no longer available on the App Store, I couldn’t reinstall it…
I still haven’t heard anything from or about Jacqueline and Dado Colussi, the BreadStorm developers. Like everybody else I lost access to the app both in the iPad and on my phone. BS still works on the laptop but it is more cumbersome to have the laptop around when I bake and also I dread the day my laptop gives up the ghost. It isn’t recent by any stretch of the imagination…
I keep wondering what happened. People disappear for all kinds of reasons of course. But Jacqueline and Dado were so community-oriented and so good at networking it is really weird that they vanished without a trace. At least from the world of bread.
At this point I just hope they are safe.
I don't use this software and am not a programmer but for my own entertainment I decided to investigate the issue. I figured data must be saved in a simple file format. It seems recipes are saved in .bun file which are xml code that can easily be read by a free xml converter on the web.
I imagine the whole database of recipes for a user is in some similar format. See below for info.
1. you can access breadstorm website using archive.org snapshots for it
https://web.archive.org/web/20190101183521/http://www.breadstorm.com/faq.html
2. formula posted by people with links to breadstorm.com still work fine, just the main site is gone.
http://bunfiles.breadstorm.com/bunfiles/LQY4X9/HZRH8M/
3. formulas seem to be saved in .bun files (zipped bun file referenced in below TFL post). You might find bun files on an ipad using the files app and searching the On My Ipad location under the breadstorm app name. For a laptop you can search for .bun files. There may be a main database as well, dunno.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/61761/purple-cornpurple-sweet-potato-bread
4. if you rename a .bun file to .txt you can easily view it in a text editor.
5. the .bun file is xml. You can use an xml viewer to read and display the file as a table. Here is a free website you can paste the xml into. Paste your xml data in then just scroll down to see your data displayed as a table. And see options to save in Excel or .csv (for use in any spreadsheet).
https://www.convertcsv.com/xml-to-csv.htm
Sample screenshot for the purplecorn.bun file is below. See data pulled from the xml at the top of the image and the automatically rendered table of data in a prettier format below it.
68E8FAC4-DD7E-43C1-9FCA-35FF3474890E.png
Here is a sample bun file content for the purple corn bread made by someone here on TFL
The data is just pure xml code written as text. You can try pasting the below xml into the site I referenced to see it work.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<recipes xmlns="http://www.breadstorm.com/schemas/bun" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" version="1">
<breadformula>
<name>Purple Corn -Purple Sweet Potato Bread </name>
<instructions>Note: Total Seed Starter is 57 grams at 66% Hydration.
</instructions>
<ingredients>
<ingredient kind="flour">
<name>AP Flour (66% Hydration)</name>
<quantity></quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour">
<name>Durum Bran</name>
<quantity></quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient>
<name>Water</name>
<quantity>58.65272937%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour">
<name>Bread Flour (KAF)</name>
<quantity>20.32520325%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour">
<name>Freshly Ground Kamut</name>
<quantity>23.22880372%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour">
<name>Freshly Ground Whole Wheat</name>
<quantity>13.00813008%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour">
<name>Purple Corn Flour-freshly ground </name>
<quantity>13.1242741%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient>
<name>Salt</name>
<quantity>1.8583043%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient>
<name>Olive Oil</name>
<quantity>2.90360046%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient>
<name>Purple Sweet Potato Roasted</name>
<quantity>34.84320558%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient subformulatype="preferment">
<name>Levain</name>
<quantity>26.36469222%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour" totalingredientindex="0">
<name>AP Flour (66% Hydration)</name>
<quantity>91.18942731%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour" totalingredientindex="1">
<name>Durum Bran</name>
<quantity>8.81057269%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient totalingredientindex="2">
<name>Water</name>
<quantity>62.55506602%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient subformulatype="preferment">
<name>Seed starter</name>
<quantity>3.94889663%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient kind="flour" totalingredientindex="0">
<name>AP Flour (66% Hydration)</name>
<quantity>100%</quantity>
</ingredient>
<ingredient totalingredientindex="2">
<name>Water</name>
<quantity>67.6470588%</quantity>
</ingredient>
</ingredients>
<weight kind="total">1706.99999984</weight>
<checksum>6dfb5552074cbd9b9d236385d6baeed1aba78fb5</checksum>
</breadformula>
<!--Created with com.breadstorm.BreadStorm 30.2.12-->
</recipes>
Hello Happycat!
Thank you for your input. Not sure what I can do with it personally. A few months ago, I imported my fave BreadStorm formulas into Numbers (I am a Mac person) but it isn’t anywhere as easy or fun to use for a non-technically minded baker as BS was, alas.
I only ever had the reader app on the tablet and on the phone but it was so brilliantly easy to use in conjunction with the app I have on the Mac that I have become very spoiled that way. I really really miss the previous setup.
Spreadsheets do allow for customizing the interface
https://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2315379
and creating forms so you can make a simplified or attractive input interface for your device.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211668
You might design something that works much better for your specific context/approach/habits.
All data could be sync'd through icloud automatically as well
I never got to try Breadstorm, but found a great app on iOS called Rise. Even has timers and reminders built into the recipe. Can adjust parameters of the formula as well.
Thank you! I had never heard of it. Taking a look now.
Sorry the app is actually called Rise-Sourdough Baking. Just Rise brings up a lit of apps!
So interesting to read all the discussion surrounding the retired Breadstorm app.
The RIse app is an interesting alternative to Breadstorm. It only lives in IOS, there is no PC version which can be limiting for some, but it still accomplishes what Breadstorm did, and more; with a better UI.
It's nice to know others appreciated Breadstorm, it was a great app.
Thanks for pointing out Rise. I like the ability to journal and keep a photo record, something I’d suggested to Jacqueline before. Setting up timing is a nice feature as well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will do what I want for pre-ferments like poolish or biga. BreadStorm really works for those and all my SFBI recipes were easily set up in BS.
I think the Rise folks are on the right path, though. Hope they continue to improve it.
Like Dutchman, I really hope they continuer to improve the Rise app. For instance I could see importing into it my fave BS formulas. I don’t mind entering the ingredient list by hand but I would appreciate being able to do it with % instead of weight (which I don’t think you can unless I overlooked it) and also being able to cut and paste the method when it is spelled out, Right now while there is a Notes field, you have to enter text by hand for each step,
Also does anyone know the developer(s)? It’d be great to be able to communicate with them.
Hi Farine,
Here’s a link to the developers, a couple of ex-apple guys. It would be nice to share with them what BreadStorm did, they clearly have the skills to bring those capabilities into Rise. You are more experienced in BreadStorm to describe what is needed but I’d be happy to make contact as well.
https://www.madebywindmill.com/
That is very helpful. I will indeed contact them. I noticed there is also a way to do it directly from the app when you select as a possible option that you have an issue to report.
It’d be super helpful if several of us made contact as well.
s
If anyone is wondering:
The last version of Breadstorm (3.2.0) still works on Mac OS Monterey (13.6) and the last iOS version (1.3.1) still works and syncs on an iPhone under iOS 16.0.2
Correction: Previous Monterey version was 12.6. Now confirmed to also work under Ventura (13.0) and iOS 16.1.
Mac 13.1 and iOS 16.2 for iPhone still work for the last version of Breadstorm.
Has anyone used this app before? Is there a better Android alternative?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.winogradapps.sourdough
Let me know if anyone gets the app going that can easily be used either with iPhone or Mac. I haven't used Breadstorm, but the way it's laid out is just what I want. Which is the total dough weight & starter weight to begin a recipe. That's how I start all my sourdough bread baking. I hate calculators that start with the flour amount. I know I need 4 loaves that weigh about 640g and from there I can change all sorts of values. Why is it so hard to find calculators that do that?
Yes, Breadstorm is able to scale a recipe based on yield or any ingredient, something I find especially useful for enriched doughs where the weight of eggs can be used to scale. If you only want to scale based on desired yield, you might want to sign up at The Perfect Loaf and try the spreadsheets that Maurizio makes available to his members. You can plug in the total and the quantities for ingredients adjust accordingly.
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/membership/
For any that are still continuing to use Breadstorm, I found that transferring to a new iPhone now prevents a user from transferring the app to a new iPhone since it is no longer referenced on the app store. I recently went from an 11pro to a 15pro and the transfer failed.
Fortunately, I found a great program called iMazing that allows you to download a copy from one device and install it on another on the same account. It isn't jailbreaking or side loading, it just acts as iTunes used to when you were able to save iPhone backups to that program and reinstall.
So as of today, I am happy to report that the Breadstorm app continues to work under MacOS 14.4.1, Breadstorm Reader under iPhone OS 17.4.1, and Breadstorm Reader under iPad OS 17.4.1.
I’ll give iMazing a try as I still have the reader on an old iphone and I wouldn’t mind having it again on my tablet.
BTW I just changed laptop and was delighted to see that BreadStorm program transferred seamlessly from the old to the new without asking for a transfer of license (as it used to when the programmers were still around.
You should be able to make the transfer with the unlicensed version and a couple of USB cables connecting the two devices to your Mac. There are a lot of training videos for iMazing but the one below gives the specific steps needed for installing an app that is no longer on the App Store.
https://youtu.be/bP5kXX7AIu4?si=f3mf7FrOrtrk4fjf
BTW, if you ever need to move your existing BreadStorm to a new Mac and it doesn’t migrate over, the information above from NeelsK is worth archiving somewhere.
When I tried that last year it wouldn’t work. I will have to see if I can do it. I’m afraid my old Mac is kaput so may not be an option.
…in my new laptop after I transferred all the data from the old one. I was extremely surprised and very pleased as I didn’t expect it. I thought BS was gone from me forever… I wonder if the developers finally did something so that all of us who own a license can continue to use the program.
I just spent a couple of hours getting my old desktop to open and copied the program to a newer laptop. The program opened up fine but it won't unlock using the key. How did you get around this?
Any help would be appreciated. I really can't use my old computer and want to be able to edit and modify recipes.
Thank you.
ian
Scroll up in this topic for the post from NeelsK that describes where to find the original license files on you old mac. Copy those and put them in the same location on your new mac and you should be able to use the application as before.
I’m having trouble finding the same location on my new Mac. Any suggestions ?