Baking FAQ

Profile picture for user Floydm
Floydm on 7 Sep 2005 at 20:49

See these ingredient specific FAQs:

 

How do I make crusty bread?

One word: steam. Lots of steam in the first five minutes of baking. But be aware that many home ovens are not designed to handle the kind of steam required to make really crusty bread, so try it at your own peril.

What is the best way to store a loaf of bread?

Crusty bread: paper. Soft breads: air tight plastic. It is that simple. Either type of bread can be wrapped in plastic and frozen, though I don't find crusty breads ever to completely recover.

 

Comments

As any member tried the Roger’s 100% Whole Wheat recipe found on their site 

https://rogersfoods.com/about-us/

 

This is a very well thought out recipe and one thing that caught my eye was the use of Lemon juice - Lemon Juice is a natural dough enhancer.  “When making dough products it is added to increase the elasticity of the dough which in turn allows for a better rise”.

 

Everyone who has tried making a sandwich bread with this flour known a good rise is questionable, so we try autolyse and other tricks, but lemon juice is new to me.

Bob1936

If I add seed to my recipe, does this add to the solids in the recipe and must be corrected by adding equal weight of liquid. Otherwise whould not the Baker's percentages be thrown out. At prent my recipe is 176% and a hydration of 73% which works wekk for 100% all grain flour.

Bob Smith

and if it is raw, roasted, whole, cracked and type.  Is the seed ground fine enough to be part of the matrix? 

I propose to lightly fry the Flax 33g and Sesame 33g prior adding to recipe and I do belive I shouls offset this 66 g with and equal weight in liquidsm to thus balance the recipe and retain the Baker's percentages.

Bob

Soak the roasted seeds in the water you intend to add to the recipe for 30 minutes, then drain saving the water.  If the seeds soak up the water, fine. If the seeds dont soak up any water, weigh this roasted flavoured water as part of the recipe liquid and don't change anything.  

Is it possible to substitute butter ina a sanwich bread recipe with peanut butter? And can peanuts be added to a recipe as I have never seen peanuts used except as peanut butter?

Bob Smith

Toast

Bob1936 on 15 Nov 2022 at 09:38

 very good Many thanks as I will try one of these peanut breads and se what happens

Bob S

Has anyone experimented with using Steel Oats in a bread recipe? I have failed with seeds, and most other add-ons but somehow these steel oats are just begging me to throw them into a bread recipe and enjoy the hutty flavour.

Hope someone can help

I have just heard that one should not cut the dough with a lamb blade if you are using a full grain whole wheat flour. Has anyone else heard this and is it true?

Bob Smith

Yes my spelling while ttyping leaves a lot to be desired. I make my bread with all grain whole wheat flour and I was told not to cut the dough with a lame. Yet for the many times I have used this recipe I decided not to score the dough and what happened on one loaf the crurst bulged, so I feel I should definitle keep scoring the dough. Any suggestions?

Bob S

one, but I do go by dough feel, how the skin on the loaf is behaving.  I tend not to score wet squishy loaves. Nice skin is begging for a score.  :) 

This time I did not score and the crust bulged and the dough below it did not rise. However I will again score the crust over each end, small cuts, and see if this works. I am using full grain whole wheat flour and to ensure I get a good rise I use 15 g of lemon juice as directed my one of the leading flour companies out west "Roger's". I sure appreciate all those who have given me hope and suggestions

 

many thanks

 

 

Bob Smith

I have read everything I can find on using the lame and all the ways to make decorative cuts but no where can I find anything the say "do not use the lame on whole wheat bread. 

So I agree with you the fault lie elsewhere. I know my dough was very moist, but otherwise was soft and elastic, but why my loaf turned out so bad is a mytery and tomorrow I will be making bread again ............. can't stop

Bob S

A trapped large bubble during the shaping can give the impression of a nicely risen final loaf when it hasn't proffed much at all.  Bubbles like that are easy to feel if you gently lay the flat side of your hand along the length of the loaf before scoring. Give the loaf a little juggle and you can detect  the bubble to pop and collapse. They give the rising loaf more time to proof before scoring.  

In a simple recipe
Whole Wheat for bread flour, yeast, salt, veg oil,  sweetener (say Maple Syrup) 

To get the most out of the Maple Syrup, I wish to add a tsp of sugar to activate the yeast, then when activated I add the Veg oil and maple syrup, and lastly the salt. I do not want to use the maple syrup to activate the yeast as I wish the properties of the syrup all go into the texture, taste toi lift up the finished bread. Does this make sense?

Bob Smith

Halifax NS

Aug 31, 2023