What’s A Cup? A recurring question, posed for many reasons, is, “What’s a cup?” Some people in other countries want to know what a cup is so they can use recipes on American web sites and in American cookbooks and magazines. One English baker asked plaintively in a newsgroup, “What’s a sodding cup?” But even […]
WHY Won’t My Dough Rise? If I had a nickel for every email that asks that question, I could retire. Sadly, there’s not a single answer, any more than there’s a single answer when you ask your mechanic, “Why won’t my car start” before the poor guy’s had a chance to even look at your
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San Francisco Style Sourdough aka “Black Canyon Sourdough Bread” San Francisco style sourdough bread is basically a French bread made with a sourdough culture characteristic of San Francisco. Many people, especially those in San Francisco, like to believe that this bread can be made no where other than San Francisco. However, the organisms in a San Francisco
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Some quick bread recipes On this page, we’re listing some of our favorite quick breads. Usually, when people think of quick breads they think of breads leavened with baking powder. or baking soda and buttermilk. There is an almost forgotten sourdough variant of this, ripe (or acidic) sourdough starter and baking soda. It makes great biscuits, rolls, muffins, cupcakes and even an
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Using A Sourdough Starter Sourdough Starter Primer This is the last page in our “Sourdough Starter Primer”! And WOW – we’re FINALLY going to talk about using a sourdough starter! The payoff for all the work in starting and maintaining a starter is finally within sight! There are two major ways to use sourdough starter,
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Breadmaking Troubleshooting Tips It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been baking. It doesn’t matter how careful you are in selecting your ingredients. It doesn’t matter how careful you are. It doesn’t matter where you went to school. It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur or a professional. Sooner or later, your bread won’t come out
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How Do I Keep My Bread Fresh? There are few things as wonderful as a slice of fresh bread. Dan Leader in his book “Bread Alone” mentions that fresh bread was a weapon of war – in the Second World War a number of generals had their bakeries make fresh bread for their soldiers several
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Tolerance When bakers talk about tolerance chances are good they mean how long a fully risen dough can wait to be baked without losing final loaf quality. There are a lot of variables in tolerance. More highly hydrated doughs have less tolerance than firmer doughs. Wheat breads can have as long as an hour’s tolerance.
Reviving a Sourdough Starter Sourdough Starter Primer This is a part of our “Sourdough Starter Primer”, an in depth look at how to start, maintain, store, revive and even use a sorudough starter. A systems analyst’s mantra says, “It takes a consistent process to produce a consistent product.” I learned this when I was a
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Retarding Dough For Flavor Enhancement and Process Control The information below is taken from an EXCELLENT discussion in the Bread Baker’s Guild of America mailing list. It is hard to overstate how much I have learned from this group, and strongly encourage any serious baker, amateur or professional, to join and support the guild. Much of
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Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread This was a recurring favorite at the farmers market and in the health food stores where we sold bread. It inspired many of the other raisin breads in this book because it taught us to really love raisins in bread. It’s a great bread. It is based on our Challah, but
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How Do I Fit Baking Into My Schedule? A More Hands-on overview of fitting baking into your busy schedule Any number of times I mention that you can adjust your baking schedule to conform to your work schedule, or other facets of your life. It IS easier if you work at home or are retired.
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