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I started making bread about six months ago, I've been enjoying making bread so much that I've started TAFE to become a baker. My goal when I started was to produce a soft white sandwich bread in as short a time as possible. Now that I can do that I'll share what I've learnt. The first thing that I think is important is to use percentages and weight I do not measure by cups etc, I also keep an eye on time and temperature. Since approaching breadmaking with an engineers hat on so to speak my bread has improved considerably. So here is how I make a rapid bread from start to finish in about two hours. First I work out how much dough I need, today I'm going to do two baguettes at 450g and a lunch loaf at 550g which is about the maximum capacity of my oven, using two oven shelves never seems to work. So I need a dough of 1450g and I'm using the following formula.

• 100% Flour
• 58% Water
• 2% Salt
• 2% Olive Oil
• 1% Sugar
• 1% Yeast
• Total -- 164%

I would usually use bakers flour and 1% bread improver however I wanted to test a cheap all-purpose flour with a protein content of 10.8% (Savings Brand in Austraila) and to see the result of no improver.

For my weights I do the following.

• 1450g / 1.64 = 884g -- dough weight divided by our 164% gives the required flour weight.
• 884 * 58% = 513g -- All other percentages are relative to the flour.
• 884 * 2% = 18g -- Salt
• 884 * 2% = 18g -- Olive Oil
• 884 * 1% = 9g -- Sugar
• 884 * 1% = 9g -- Yeast

On a higher speed I work the dough for roughly 8-10 minutes. At this point I want a dough with temperature of about 28°C, I usually get the water temperature(20-22°C with the current warm weather) set by adding a couple of ice cubes(tap water is about 26°C here) to a jug of water before weighing the water off. Kneading the dough will warm it up a bit which is allowed for in the water temperature.

I pull the dough out and give it a "window check" if it's not up to scratch I'll give the dough some hand work. I've seen mentioned here somewhere not to tear the dough but this is exactly what I've been taught at TAFE and hence what I do which rapidly develops the gluten. I suppose there are many schools of thought on kneading :-)

I then let the dough sit again for 10 minutes to again relax the dough before shaping. I split the dough into the required weights and shape. For the lunch loaf I would usually punch down and roll a baguette shape, cut in half and put in the tin with pointy ends in the middle. But today I tried splitting the dough in half and putting 2 balls in, my loaf suffered as I didn't degas it before balling it (almost no oven spring).

For the baguettes I punched down the dough folded the sides in and then rolled it whilst maintaining tension. I slice the baguettes before prooving as doing so afterwards can be difficult.

For prooving I use a plastice storage container to which I add boiling water for steam. The rise takes about 30-60 minutes and may sometimes need more boiling water added to keep the heat up if the weather is cooler.

A spray of water and some seeds and into the oven at 220°C. I pour some water onto an oven tray on the bottom of the oven for steam. I turn the temperature down to 210°C and bake for approximately 25 minutes, a bit shorter for baguettes and rolls sometimes and usually a bit longer for loaves.

From todays effort I can say I rushed a bit and should have left the dough in the proover longer and the gluten was a little under developed. But not a bad result considering my mistakes and cheap flour and it still tasted good with some brie ;-)

I am a new bread baker for about 1 month. My bread taste great but, this crust is not very good TOO THIN How can I make the crust thicker.
PLEASE HELP

Thought someone out there would enjoy the soap opera of a sourdough newbie..LOL!
I have been studying the techniques of many mentors here..I had my notes on the long
proof of my starter,autolysing, folding & shaping, slack doughs, retarded rise..too many
facts for my feeble brain I fear!! I took my starter out Friday, poured out but 1/4 cup
and fed with 1/2 c flour & 1/2 cup H2O..a little later bubbling and very happy..into the
oven with the light on overnight..Saturday morning (12 hours later)slowing down..so I feed
& back into the oven. Sunday morning..I think I waited too long..still bubbling..but there
is hooch too. I mix my starter, yeast,milk,lemon juice & flour..cover and let sit 30 min.
Un oh..really stiff so I add a bit of H2O..way too sticky..then flour..still a mess.
I cover and decide to let it sit for 45 min..while I make Sunday breakfast..french toast,
fresh strawberries & bacon. My husband decides to assist and dumps the dough out on the
bread board ..OK..I tell him wait..not ready yet and cover it up. We eat..I go back
to my doughy mess..hmm not too bad..dough has relaxed ..so I fold..put it to rest ..I'm in
the shower and now remember I haven't put in the salt, sugar and olive oil!!..another 45 min
has gone by and it has risen..Hmm..I know I am committing bread suicide..I pour my dough into my food processor..add the salt, sugar and olive oil and do the wicked deed..and pray.
I let it rest again..fold and back into the bowl. A hour later..it has risen nicely..so
I divide and fold and into the fridge ... and so the sourdough rises.. I hope
until tomorrow...
I do have a dilemma..usually I get out of work at 2:30 PM..but tomorrow 5:30..
if my house is pretty cool ..in the 60's ..can I take my bread out of the fridge to rise
@ 6AM ish? so I can bake tomorrow night..and/or can I wait until Tuesday to bake..when I
get home earlier?

I made some beer bread on Saturday and held back some of my dough to make a second batch once my Super Peel arrived - the first batch was very good, so I have no complaints over making it again.

The Super Peel seems fantastic! I am a little wary of using it just because gadgets that seem easy to me always seem to blow up in my face, but I shaped my dough and let it do its final rise on the peel, and then had absolutely no trouble transferring the dough to the baking stone - something that's been quite a headache in the past. I bake bread primarily on the weekends, so I'm anxiously awaiting this weekend when I'll be able to put the Super Peel through some more rigorous testing.

Oh, and I got one of my sourdough starters in the mail today - still waiting for another 1 from SDI, but hopefully that one will be here in the next few days too... It's been too long since I've made sourdough, and I can't wait to start making it again - hopefully it will mean no more commercial yeast for me.

Surprisingly, the sweet potato didn't gave as much sweetness as i expected. But it actually helped tenderize the dough and really keeps it moist. The bread came out soft and nice (without added fat), and didn't go dry even in the fridge after more than a day.

Perhaps later on, i might experiment with yam, avocados, zuchinni, carrots & ...parsnips?? :P

Howdy all,

I've been lurking around this website for about a week and decided to join in. I'm an occasional bread baker who would like to improve my loaves. I got into it because my sons have nut/sesame seed allergies. This meant my wife and I could not trust a normal bakery for good rustic bread because there is no way to be assured that the bread didn't get cross-contaminated with sesame seeds or nut products. Still, my wife and I still really love the occasional crusty loaf, so I started to make some bread (I average baking about twice a month).

We are really busy because we have triplet boys (collective age of 27 years old, look at my white hairs!), so I've had to tweak my protocol for baking bread to be as casual and flexible as possible. So, I thought that I'd submit to all of you what I do for feedback, suggestions, comments, etc.

I do love the taste of bread done with a preferment (a biga) and a slow rise, but with our busy schedule, I needed a way to do this with great flexibility. So...

I mix/knead a bread dough (I use the autolyse technique too) using instant yeast, bread flour, salt, and COLD water in a Kitchenaide mixer. I then put it in a lightly oiled stainless steel mixing bowl, cover with plastic and stick it into the refrigerator for a slow, cold first rise (usually about 18-24 hrs).

The next day, I take it out of the refrigerator, fold the dough (which when cold is somewhat stiff), put the dough into a new lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic and then put the whole thing into a weakly warmed oven (Turned on oven for about 1 min, turn it off and then leave the light on -- my oven gets to around 90 F) and wait for about 1-1/2 hr to 2 hrs.

By then, the dough is slowly warmed to around room temperature (maybe slightly warmer) and undergoes a 2nd rise. I then shape my loaves and let proof. After proofing, I do the normal stuff -- slash, wet, bake.

The bread is pretty good (my wife loves it). I bet if I folded it more often it would rise higher in the oven, but as a trade off in my actual hands-on time, it works for me. It has a faintly sour taste (which I happen to like) and the crumb is somewhat irregular but not extremely open like some of the photos I've seen on this website (though my hydration level may help to explain that, I've been hovering around 65-68% for hydration level)

So, what do you think?

Mr. Peabody

I was just playing with some ingredients on Sunday afternoon, and this is what I came out with - it wasn't perfect, but is probably my favorite breakfast/dessert bread that I've made to date.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups water (80-85 degrees)
1.5 cups freshly brewed coffee (allowed to cool to 80-85 degrees)
.5 cup whole milk
1.25 cups chocolate chips
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1.5 cups all purpose flour
2-5 cups bread flour (enough to give a good dough consistency - slightly tacky, but not wet)
1 packet instant yeast
1 tablespoon finely ground sea salt

Combine the water & the yeast in a small bowl.

Combine the coffee, milk, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, & all purpose flour in a large bowl. Once combined, add 1.5 cups of bread flour along with the water/yeast mixture, and combine completely.

Slowly add more flour to dough until it moist and tacky, but pulls into a ball (I begin by adding the flour 1/2 cup at a time, and then taper the addition when it's getting close to the correct consistency)

Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes. Return to a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and allow to rise at room temperature for 90 minutes.

Punch down dough and divide into 2 equal pieces. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form dough into desired shape and allow to rise for 60 minutes. Put dough into oven and cook for 30-40 minutes until the top is a dark brown.

Allow to cool on rack for 45 minutes before cutting.

I have made this dough into rounds with great success - it should work in a pan too, but I have not tried it this way. Do not place dough directly on a baking stone - use parchment paper to cover or the chocolate chips will melt all over your stone

If you try this bread and have any comments, please e-mail me - I would love to know how it turned out for you!

For the Lunar New Year, aka. Chinese New Year, which was yesterday, i made a batch of steamed buns with sweet black sesame fillings. They were soft and fluffy, except for the age of my flour, which gave a yellowish tinge to it, i think. :)

Happy Year of the Dog!

So today I am pretending to camp in our living room with my three (almost four) year old son. At one point, while he is pretending to be a daddy, he turns to me and says "Now, I have to bake some bread and make some pizzas. You stay here and play with mommy and your sister for a few minutes" and marches off to the kitchen.

Doh!

Hey Guys,
Lucky me I am going to Paris in the spring of this year and I plan on hitting at least one of the bakeries/ patisseries I know of, that being Poilane. However, I want to know pf any others I should hit. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

Ryan