Questions tagged [bread]
Questions about kneading, baking, storing, and culinary use of any kind of bread.
1,155
questions
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Why is my baguette type bread coming out almost flat?
I bake bread almost every day. Mostly French baguettes, old stretch and fold every 45 mts. method for 1st proofing, couche for 2nd rise. Make sourdough too. But my bread loaves, which were coming ...
2
votes
1answer
106 views
Capturing wild yeast for sourdough: Is this healthy yeast or contamination?
I'm trying to capture wild yeast to make my own sourdough bread. I put prunes, water and some sugar in a sterilized glass jar and aired it daily. After a few days I get a white, fuzzy layer. The smell ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
Bread has acidic smell and taste
I made a sort of "starter" to use instead of dried yeast for making bread.
It was basically a loose dough with a tiny amount of dried yeast. When I bake I take some from the box and refresh ...
0
votes
2answers
82 views
How salty is olive brine?
I'm looking to incorporate some Kalamata olive brine into olive bread dough to maximize flavor. How much will I have to reduce the other salt in the recipe?
2
votes
1answer
113 views
How to avoid collapsing bread?
I know there are already similar questions but I thought I would share my baking process to get more specific advice.
I'm currently using a variation of the French dough recipe that came with the ...
0
votes
3answers
193 views
What are these white spots in my bread dough?
I'm making hot cross buns following this recipe: https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2020/03/09/vegan-hot-cross-buns/
About an hour into the first rise, I'm seeing these alarmingly mold-like dots in the ...
1
vote
0answers
68 views
Dough rising and oxygen. How does it work exactly?
Despite being easily the most rudimentary stuff in bread making and heavily discussed and written about, the relationship between oxygen and rising still appears to be shrouded in myth and speculation....
4
votes
4answers
185 views
Sticky, messy sourdough: overfermented, or ambient factors?
I've made the same sourdough bread a dozen times before, with small variations in parameters:
360g white flour
240g whole wheat flour
390g water
That's a 65% dough with 60% white and 40% whole wheat ...
2
votes
0answers
62 views
how to make crumpets with bigger and more holes [duplicate]
I make many batches of crumpets and although they taste okay, I can't seem to get enough holes. I've tried adding bi-carb at various stages of proving, but it doesn't do anything. I've also tried ...
2
votes
2answers
150 views
Why do baking recipes often tell you to “make a well” in flour before adding wet ingredients?
Many instructions for baking bread, cakes and other yummy things specify that you should "make a well" before adding more ingredients. One example is here
What's the reasoning behind this?
I'...
3
votes
2answers
85 views
Tortilla or flat bread breaks and ruins inflation
If you cook flatbreads/tortillas they should ideally inflate on the griddle.
What might cause tortilla or flat breads to break or crack in places some time during the inflation process, letting out ...
1
vote
2answers
109 views
Substitute spelt for white flour
I heard Spelt flour is lighter and easier to digest. Can I substitute spelt for white flour in my standard white bread recipe that I make all the time? Or, do I need a spelt specific recipe?
What kind ...
4
votes
1answer
94 views
For what culinary reason would a bread recipe choose skim milk?
Skim milk is specified for the whole wheat bread recipe list included with my new bread maker. Is there a particular culinary reason to specify skim milk not skim milk/whole milk? The other ...
0
votes
1answer
69 views
Dry crispy skin on sourdough starter: is it mold?
My sourdough starter is 2 months old. Some week or two ago it started to have a crispy skin on the top. The smell changed a bit, but it is still sweet-acid smell. I cover a jar with the starter with a ...
1
vote
1answer
63 views
How to avoid soft bottom of home-made bread?
The bottom of my bread is not hard. When I knock the top of the loaf, it gives a beautiful hollow knock sound but when knocking the bottom part -- it's not. I wonder what is the reason? How could I ...
18
votes
5answers
3k views
How to clean up after kneading dough?
I've been making my first steps in baking recently. I usually knead the dough in the same large bowl I mix the dough in to minimize the mess but it's still a pain to wash the bowl and any sponge I use ...
1
vote
1answer
115 views
Brioche bread texture
I made a loaf of brioche today following a French recipe. Here's how it looks:
I don't like its texture. It's bland and a bit dry. Honestly, the taste of overnight-proof bread is not very atractive ...
2
votes
1answer
92 views
Overworking bread dough by hand
Recently, I tried to make naan using this recipe:
Combine 375g flour, 75g yoghurt, 200g water, 6g sugar, 4g salt, 15g oil, and 2g yeast and let rest 20 minutes.
Knead 1 min then rise 45 min, ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Can i refrigerate bread doughs twice before baking?
Can i refrigerate dough twice? Such that after kneading i will refrigerate the dough overnight. Then after forming i will cold proof it. Will there be any deterrents?
0
votes
2answers
115 views
Sourdough dough collapsed, not rising again… Need help!
A few days back I started a bread following a Youtube recipe, it had 400gms of flour and 350 gms of water. I had never made such high hydration bread before. I did 1 hour of autolyse followed by 4 ...
1
vote
2answers
67 views
Coconut bread dough is crumbly and does not come together to knead
So I followed the following recipe once and the bread buns turned perfect. Today I decided to make it more coconut-ish so that it tastes and smells like coconut even more than the previous batch. I ...
2
votes
1answer
68 views
Does there exist a conversion between a sourdough and preferments recipes?
I tried asking a similar question: From regular fresh yeast to sourdough
and didn't exactly get real answers, so here I am asking something easier.
Is there a formula to convert a sourdough recipe ...
0
votes
1answer
58 views
Can I use less sugar for making this bread?
I've been following this beginner recipe from Alex, The French Guy Cooking (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycztOGTIX-s&t=326s).
I'll summarize it at the end for easier refernce.
The result was ...
1
vote
2answers
97 views
My buns/bread don't brown from top?
I have tried making buns and pizza muffins using all purpose flour (bleached/unbleached/bread flour are not available in my country)multiple times at 180-200C in the middle rack of my oven. They never ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
Why is ciabatta poolish usually made with instant yeast?
So far all the "classic" ciabatta recipes I have found propose using small amounts of instant yeast.
But I'm pretty sure that ciabatta predates invention of instant yeast so why not use sourdough ...
2
votes
2answers
479 views
Sour dough using unbleached all purpose flour is very wet during the preshaping
My wife created her own sour dough starter. She’s been feeding it unbleached white flour. It’s doing great.
When she is making her dough during the first step she is using a recipe that calls for ...
4
votes
1answer
150 views
Bread is not rising
The problem
After ten years of baking bread, I have a new problem with my bread rising—it seems to fall when baking in the oven.
I've used the recipe below with good results, yielding nice 1–1/2 lb ...
3
votes
1answer
59 views
Can I make up for under-proving my bread dough during the first rise by doing an extra long second rise?
Long story short, I think I overestimated how much my dough expanded during the primary fermentation (it's supposed to double in size, I'd say mine was only 1.3–1.5× the size). Now the dough is ...
2
votes
1answer
115 views
Can I mix all-purpose flour with high-gluten flour to make bread flour?
Basically of the opposite of this question.
I'm writing during the 2020 pandemic, and bread flour is sold out everywhere because everyone (including me) is entertaining themselves at home by making ...
0
votes
1answer
122 views
Would carbonated water be a good substitute for two eggs in this cherry loaf recipe?
I would like to replace the two eggs in this recipe with carbonated water:
Ingredients
1/3 cup shortening, butter, or margarine
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs, ...
1
vote
1answer
103 views
Why is my brioche dry?
Patient: Brioche. Dry like a croissant. Huge air bubbles.
120 g all purpose flour
96 g heavy cream
1 egg
10g yeast
salt
10 g sugar
Mixed ingredients with lumps, 16h in the fridge, 5h in room temp, ...
2
votes
0answers
84 views
Why are my croissants heavy?
I have been experimenting with croissants and found that, delicious as they are, they are dense, not light and fluffy. The layers are very close together, not open with vast pockets of air.
I have ...
1
vote
1answer
114 views
Why is my dough sweaty?
I have been making kouign-aman (my favorite recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxwgzzErW1w) for several years, playing with different recipes, making minor modifications, but can not seem to ...
1
vote
0answers
21 views
Délices au Beurre (Lye Bread)
When you want to make Brezel or swiss Délices, you usually use lye dough. The technique is to coat the dough just before backing with either:
Sodium hydroxide NaOH (2 %)
Sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3
...
3
votes
3answers
138 views
Baking after the first rise (without punching down) vs the regular two rise approach?
Yeasted dough is usually given a second rise because after the first rise it's shaped, which knocks the air out of it and so it needs time to be leavened again. But what if you shaped the dough ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
Can you fold dough during autolyse?
Would it be helpful, harmful or neutral to fold dough during the autolyse?
Let's say we're doing a long cold autolyse. At first I assumed it would be helpful to start the dough development early on, ...
10
votes
5answers
3k views
Picking up wet dough
I've been making sourdough recently and trying to get the knack of using a really wet dough. I've watched a number of YouTube videos, and I do all the stretch and folds and periodic reshapings, and ...
8
votes
1answer
149 views
How can I improve my bread-scoring technique?
When I try to score bread with a lame, the blade tends to catch on the dough instead of slicing cleanly through. This means that I have to run over the same cut several times, and also produces ugly ...
2
votes
2answers
124 views
From regular fresh yeast to sourdough
I know that there are formulas for switching from and to sourdough and or preferments, but even though my library grows I haven't found such a formula.
I have a general idea of the fact that a ...
0
votes
1answer
83 views
Beer in Sourdough Starter
Would there be any benefit to feeding a sourdough starter with beer instead of or in addition to water?
4
votes
4answers
215 views
Do I need a specific pan for baking sourdough bread?
I have been following a recipe to make sourdough bread and a starter. The recipe said to cook the bread in a dutch oven or a cast iron casserole dish. Since I have neither, can I cook the bread in an ...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
Using pastry flour for standard sourdough bread recipe?
I am trying to make sourdough bread, but was only able to get whole wheat pastry flour (due to covid). Characteristics of this flour (from Bob's Red Mill) are: 1) low protein content 2) stone ground 3)...
0
votes
0answers
89 views
White dots on pizza or focaccia after baking
Sometimes I prepare a pizza dough that is a "direct" knead, no fancy preparations, works with all-purpose flour, rises in a couple of hours with regular yeast, about 70% hydration, olive oil inside.
...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
Are the white dots mould or part of the bread?
The bread is called Malted bread, 9/10 I see this I believe it’s mould but does anyone actually know if it’s actually part of the bread or not? Top right corner.
Thanks.
0
votes
0answers
16 views
Sun Dried Tomatoes Convert wt in oil to dried wt
I have sun dried tomatoes in oil. The recipe asks for dried tomatoes. So 25gms dried tomatoes is equal to how many gms tomatoes in oil (without the oil!!)
0
votes
0answers
43 views
Bread Didn't Turn Brown
The bread recipe I followed should have made a bread with a brown-ish top but mine didn't. The output was edible and not raw but the color was pale or light yellowish. What went wrong, was my ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
Which sourdough starter should i keep?
I decided to make 2 sourdough starters, to see if one would come out better. I only want to keep one and I dont know which one to choose. One has formed a hooch, while the other has not but otherwise ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Very Sticky Dough Before Kneading
It was my first time baking and followed a simple bread recipe. The ingredients are listed below.
My problem was after mixing, before kneading, the dough was still very sticky and stuck onto my hand ...
4
votes
2answers
223 views
Sourdough getting too brown
I am baking loaves of sourdough using this recipe: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/
I cook my loaves in a staub cocette and after the allotted time, they're very, very brown, ...
5
votes
3answers
490 views
Sourdough starters with different smells - is this normal?
I am very new to sourdough baking and gaining an interest in the subject so please forgive what may seem like newbie question.
I have two starters on the go at the moment. The first starter came as ...
