Hello all!
I'm so glad to have found this site. It's made me so inspired to start baking with yeast, especially since it made me realise that instant yeast needn't be dissolved in water first! Hehe! I was wondering why all my breads never rose and ended up being as hard as rocks.
Anyways...
Thanks for that and the constant info.
:) 

 I found this site about a week ago and have been reading around daily since. I've never baked bread (or much of anything really other than meats and veggies that required baking, but you know what I mean). I have an immense passion for cooking, but always steared clear of baking because I've always been really scattered and baking requires a level of accuracy and organization that I lack. However, I've been trying to quiet my mind lately and decided to give baking bread a go. I gave it my first go with the recipe for rustic bread on the main page. I had an amazing time with the entire baking process and although my loaf isn't exactly attractive, it tasted really great and I'm proud of myself for seeing it through.

So, anyway... my name is Mashi from Miami, FL and I look forward to baking more bread. Here are pictures of my first loaf (forgive the weirdness of one of them, I accidently pulled the cord out mid upload and I think it damaged the image.

Hi There,

What to say about myself.

Well lets start of with what I know about bread making and if you have any questions about my eccentricities then let me know.

I am, or was a baker. I use to work on the mass production lines for three major UK supermarkets in their in store bakery.

I was also trained as a confectionery baker which means I make a very fine chocolate éclair even if I do say so myself. 

I no longer do this and currently unemployed because of personal reasons. I have baked a loaf of bread for over two years now until quite recently.

I was recently diagnosed with being gluten intolerant **waits for the sharp intake of breathe to finish**. I have decided to turn what I know about a loaf of bread and turn my hand to making allergy safe breads and cakes. My recent success was a 100% rice bread with no wheat or dairy. Very very tasty even if I didn't put enough yeast in it. Take two was attempted today and when it cools I'll cut a slice to trial taste.

Now I just need to learn a decent choux pastry from gluten free sources.

Despite my formal training I am still unsure on one or two things and that is why I joined this group. I shall be asking quite a few questions. 

 Away from the baking I also enjoy cooking, cycling, reading, movies and various other crafts. I have my oddities and eccentricities but they've got me in trouble before when I've posted them so if you want to know you have to be open minded.

Many Thanks

Just discovered this site while looking for a Ciabatta bread recipe on-line.  How did I never find this before?  My wife and I both enjoy baking breads and with grocery prices the way they are it makes sense to make our own (my wife noticed last week that the fresh baked loafs at the grocery store had almost doubled in price in the last year or so).

 I'm enoying all the great info so far and trying to find my way around the website and find all it has to offer.  One question I do have, is there a master list of all recipes?  There is the "favorites" list on the home page and I can search, but is there a quick list of all recipes?  I appreciate any help on this and I look forward to making some good bread.  I'm not so good at posting things online, I mostly read and use, but if I can I'll try to post some recipes if I see something missing.  Thanks and good baking.

Hola to all!  What a great place - stumbled upon it while searching for bakers supplies.  Surprised that it didn't pop up before this on other Google searches.

 Name is Terry but the nic is Mac (last name is McCann).  52, live in Ohio and I enjoy mangling Perfectly good ingredients that could have gone onto much better offerings :)

See you all soon. 

I stumbled upon the board looking for recipes and I found them!!!

Great site, great resource. About 4 months ago, basically an extension of a eating lifestyle change I made a decision to stop buying premade breads. We already have been cooking everything ourselves so why not add baking bread to the list. (All thats left is home brew beer and cheese). I still have SO much to learn but the kids haven't complained yet so I must be on the right track.

 As far as my name goes. When I'm not at home learning how to bake bread I head up a competition bbq team. 

Hello everybody.  My name is Adam, and I just found this place.  I've been baking bread for around 10 years, but only in the past year have I gotten really interested in improving the quality of what I do.  I'm terrible at following recipes -- I have always, and continue to, bake almost entirely by feel -- but after much experimentation and a lot of cookbook reading in my spare time, I think I'm on to some things.  Recently, I've been making a lot of variations on Peter Reinhart's baguettes in BBA; and right now, I have a french country-style miche -- a recipe that is almost entirely my own invention -- proofing on the counter.  My interest has been mostly in french, italian, and SF-style sourdough breads, but I'm always looking for ideas and techniques to expand my repertoire.

Hi,

My name is Gavin and I've been baking bread for a about 10 years off and on.  Over the last twelve months I've experimented with sourdough and have been rewarded with the best tasking bread I've ever had.

I am interested in a book of sourdough recipes that provide the bakers formulae with each recipe.  I've converted my regular recipes to give the ingredients in bakers formulae, but I want to be sure that I'm not losing the flavour and intent of the authors while trying new ones.

I built a brick oven in the backyard about 3 years ago and mostly use it when friends are around for pizza.  This initially drove my interest in bakers formulae as I need to scale the final dough weights depending on the number of visitors for whom we were catering.  I also used it last Christmas and baked the meats and veggies for 20 people with great success.  I love sourdough in the brick oven as it gives me plenty of time to bring the oven up to temperature and settle in before the bread is ready.  It was rather tricky when I used commercial yeast as the dough was often fully risen before my brick oven up to temperature; whereas the long proofing times of the sourdough gives me plenty of time.

I don't usually join forums, but I like the content and 'feel' that this sites gives, with the genuine interest and value adding that the members provide.  Thanks.

Hello.  My name is Lorie and I'm new here. 

I've been baking bread for a couple years now and enjoy it.  However, with my toddler running around after his two older siblings I thought I'd try out bread machines.  I find completely different results and my kids beg me to go back to my old ways.  In my search to save my bread (from the machine) I found this site.  

I hope to learn much and hopefully be a blessing as well. 

Hi I'm new here.  I started baking bread about a year and half ago.  Somewhere along the way I got interested in sourdough because I didn't want to buy yeast.  I'm still reading and trying out new ideas.  This looks like a nice forum and I thought I would join in with the exchanges.