102 votes
Accepted

Why did flatbread dominate the Middle East but Europe adopted raised breads?

I'm going to agree with Szczerzo about this being an anthropologic question, but I'm going to disagree about the cause. While nomadic lifestyles was an influence, it's not causative. I'm also going ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 63.9k
75 votes
Accepted

Can meat spoil outside the fridge if it's baked into bread as a filling?

There are two differences between your buns and a tin can. First, your buns were heated to a core temperature of under 100°C. Yes, your oven was probably set way higher, but the water content in your ...
Stephie's user avatar
  • 59.6k
55 votes

What type of salt for sourdough bread baking?

This may come across as a little cynical ;) Don't believe the hype. Salt is salt. The difference between Himalayan, iodised & kosher is so small you'll never taste it. They're all 98%+ sodium ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.7k
51 votes
Accepted

Cracked oven proof dish - trying to understand the physics of what went wrong

You have answered your own question, it was the rapid change in temperature which caused the ceramic to crack. Oven temperature for bread baking is usually somewhere around 200°C/400°F, whereas water ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 76.1k
50 votes
Accepted

Milk instead of water in bread

Milk in bread dough is an enriching agent. Other typical enriching agents for bread include things like eggs, fats (butter, oil, etc.), and different types of sugar/sweetener. They are used to add ...
Athanasius's user avatar
  • 32.2k
49 votes

Cracked oven proof dish - trying to understand the physics of what went wrong

Presumably the dish was pre-heated to bread baking temperature (?450F?) but the water was at least 200F cooler. Water has a HUGE heat of vaporization. It takes 5.4 times as much heat to convert water ...
Woody's user avatar
  • 658
38 votes

Kneading bread with arthritic hands-any tips?

There are a few options: Most bread machines have an option to knead/mix only - you can then take the dough out and shape and bake as you would if you were doing things by hand. You can also get "...
bob1's user avatar
  • 14.8k
37 votes

What type of salt for sourdough bread baking?

Any salt will do. The trick is figuring how much salt. If a formula is based on a specific salt, and you switch, you need to adjust. For example this author did a comparison. She weighed 1 level ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 74.9k
35 votes
Accepted

Can I use baking powder in place of baking soda for dipping pretzels?

No, you cannot use baking powder to dip pretzels. To get their characteristic color and crust, pretzels are traditionally boiled in lye. Another alkaline solution, i.e. those containing a base, can be ...
Benjamin Kuykendall's user avatar
34 votes

What is the most accurate cheap way of repeatably measuring out small quantities of compressible powder?

Get a precision scale. Not the one you posted; it’s way too expensive, since it needs to be both high-capacity and high-precision. Here’s the one I use, and it’s fifteen bucks, and ten times as ...
Sneftel's user avatar
  • 29k
33 votes

Why does my home-made bread go mouldy?

Well, I don't think you're doing anything wrong -- I think it's because you aren't using any preservatives in your bread (and that's a good thing, right?). I find my homemade bread has to be eaten in ...
franko's user avatar
  • 5,966
33 votes

Is it more effective to add yeast before or after kneading?

The whole idea of adding the yeast before kneading is to be able to mix it uniformly. By adding the yeast after the dough is formed, it will be mechanically more difficult to combine it and you might ...
Luciano's user avatar
  • 4,834
31 votes

Why did flatbread dominate the Middle East but Europe adopted raised breads?

It's actually an anthropologic question. It's more due to Europe being settled down while Middle Eastern peoples were still nomadic. Raising bread, even with agents, is very hard when you move or don'...
SZCZERZO KŁY's user avatar
31 votes
Accepted

Why not make sourdough bread from young starter?

The advice to let the culture mature before you use it is targeted to getting reliable results. A mature sourdough culture has a relatively small number of strains of microorganism, which have ...
Sneftel's user avatar
  • 29k
29 votes

How to make bread with plain flour?

You don't need bread flour to make decent bread, plain flour doesn't generally have as much gluten content but it has enough to make bread that's perfectly fine. You won't get the same texture as with ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 76.1k
29 votes

What bread dough is quick to prepare and requires no kneading or much skill?

Buy a bread machine. Bread machine bread meets all of your requirements, including not learning any new skills. And it's still much better than supermarket bread in most places. I'm a former ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 63.9k
27 votes
Accepted

What are the safety and warranty implications of steaming bread in a domestic oven?

I think you are being too conservative. The oven door and glass in there is built to handle some temperature differences. When someone opens an oven door and sets a room temperature pan or cooking ...
PoloHoleSet's user avatar
  • 3,634
26 votes

I need to judge whether my bread flour is ok or not. 50LB bag 11 months old

It's impossible to say whether the four is safe for certain, given the conditions you describe it is likely fine but there are no guarantees. It's very possible that the flour has simply gotten ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 76.1k
25 votes

Old biscuit recipe question - "until the dough blisters"

Per this historical post from Old Mill: “These [cold water biscuits] were made before leavening agents were available to make them rise. You would knead the dough until it was elastic, then beat it ...
DoctorOptimist's user avatar
25 votes

What is the most accurate cheap way of repeatably measuring out small quantities of compressible powder?

There is a misconception in your question. You say: I do not really care about knowing the actual weight and I do care that today's measure is the same as tomorrow's measure In fact, the "...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 139k
24 votes
Accepted

What is the purpose and effect of using knuckles when kneading bread dough?

I don't think that it is really necessary to use your knuckles. Rather, there are ways to knead dough well, and ways to knead dough badly. I have seen ineffective people pinching the dough, or turning ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 139k
23 votes
Accepted

Why doesn't milk create gluten when combined with flour?

Milk does create gluten1 when combined with flour. The water in the milk does create a gluten structure. If it didn't, any bread made with milk would be dense and flat. But the dinner rolls I made ...
Athanasius's user avatar
  • 32.2k
23 votes

Can meat spoil outside the fridge if it's baked into bread as a filling?

I don't know about chicken specifically, but pork filled baozi (steamed buns) need to be stored in the refrigerator. Bread crust isn't exactly non-porous after all (squeeze a bun, the air doesn't ...
LightBender's user avatar
  • 1,897
22 votes

Making bread fast and with few ingredients

A basic flatbread can be made by mixing flour, a little oil (if possible) and just enough water to make it stick together. Salt is often added. No real kneading is needed, just mixing, but a little ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 44.1k
22 votes
Accepted

Why is ciabatta poolish usually made with instant yeast?

Commercially produced yeast has been around since the mid-late 1800s, and the commercial strains we use today have been around since the 40s while Ciabatta was invented in 1982. So while ciabatta ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 76.1k
21 votes

Can you slow down the time it takes for dough to rise?

Yes, you can easily slow down the rising time by lowering the temperature of the dough ("retarding" it, as the pros say). You can either put it in a cool place or refrigerate it; the colder it is, the ...
SourDoh's user avatar
  • 11.5k
21 votes

Can I make bread/pizza dough with only cricket flour and no wheat flour

I think you will be disappointed. While a fantastic protein source, cricket flour does not contain the gluten proteins that make bread what it is. Therefore, bread made with cricket flour must get ...
Sobachatina's user avatar
  • 47.5k
20 votes

How to clean up after kneading dough?

Kneading in a bowl is time-consuming and doesn't give as good a result as kneading on a flat surface, however I'll concentrate on cleaning. First, don't let things dry out, it's much easier to clean ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 76.1k
20 votes

How to clean up after kneading dough?

Alternatively (with respect to @GdD's answer), let it dry out completely. Totally dry dough doesn't stick all that well to many surfaces (glass, plastic, non-stick). It then chips/scrapes off quite ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 44.1k
20 votes
Accepted

Why do my breadmaker loaves rise unevenly top to bottom

I think there is one major problem here, and my answer is based on my experience using a breadmaker, which is not the same make as OP's. I had a similar problem when first using a breadmaker and ...
bob1's user avatar
  • 14.8k

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