I have been lurking this site since 2006 and finally decided to join.
My first attempts at bread baking were inspired by Lahey’s NKB recipe. I fooled around with it haphazardly for a few years with little success – not surprising, as I never much stuck to the original recipe/procedure.
Over time I did find success with other recipes and techniques - enough so to keep me baking, and keeping our household (of two) in good breads of all kinds.
Fast-forward 10 years, and my favorite “daily breads” include:
Stirato – Fromartz
Ciabatta – Cook’s Illustrated
Neo-Neapolitan pizza dough – Reinhart
Pan Pizza dough – Lopez-Alt
Bagels – Reinhart
Olga Bread – food.com
Focaccia – Cook’s Illustrated
French Bread - Dunaway
Hot Dog Buns - epicurious
My “holy grails” remain a true sourdough leavened only by starter, and a great (not just good) English Muffin.
I use a KA Artisan mixer for kneading (although said mixer is on its last legs), and like to do my S&Fs directly in the bowl. For flavor, I tend to throw in a scoop of un-fed sourdough starter to any recipe I think can handle it and will benefit from it.
In general, I know just enough about the bread-baking process to allow, where called for, autolysis take place before adding the salt. Beyond that, it’s a work-in-progress learning and truly understanding what goes on during the process. Since retiring from full-time work about a year ago, I greatly enjoy reading this website daily and am grateful for the resource as I learn.
Today I am baking Stirato, and have included a photo of my last bake of the same.
Happy Baking!
Welcome aboard! Glad you finally joined in.
Your stirato looks lovely!
Looking forward to seeing more of your bakes here :)