I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.

j

"Julianne" > wrote in message
news:G0Chb.30767$k74.5978@lakeread05...
> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j
>

I recommend looking at the King Arthur Flour website - lots of useful info.
Also ask for their print catalog - in addition to lots of interesting
ingredients and tools it includes recipes and tips.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/cgibi...home/main.html

Peter G. Aitken

"Julianne" > wrote:

> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j


That's a big question!

To start, I'd find one source of information, probably just one formula and
stick with for quite a while until you are very comfortable with it and can
consistently produce bread with which you are happy. It's very easy to get
confused by, seemingly, conflicting information. I've been baking sourdough
bread for a number of years now and am still working, more or less, with the
formula I started with. It's amazing how many minor changes can be made to
the same base formula that will result in noticeable differences in the end
result. Also, when you do get to the tweaking stage, you might want to
change just one thing at a time.

Pay attention to the dough! There are so many things involved in bread
making that are hard to describe in print. Many of them relate to the state
of the dough at various stages, like kneading and rising. Paying close
attention to the dough during the process and comparing it to the end result
is probably how you will get that down. Along these lines, when a recipe
says something like, "let it rise for two hours or until doubled in size"
don't even pay attention to the time part of the instructions, just wait
until it doubles.

Most importantly, have fun. Chances are that even your mistakes will be
pretty good eating.

Good luck,
-Mike

This is a most excellent site. Thanks so much. I may change my mind after
I try some of their baking tutorials (complete with photographs and amusing
pieces of trivia) but it looks terrific!

j
"Peter Aitken" > wrote in message
...
> "Julianne" > wrote in message
> news:G0Chb.30767$k74.5978@lakeread05...
> > I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does
anyone
> > care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
> >
> > j
> >
>
> I recommend looking at the King Arthur Flour website - lots of useful
info.
> Also ask for their print catalog - in addition to lots of interesting
> ingredients and tools it includes recipes and tips.
>
> http://www.kingarthurflour.com/cgibi...home/main.html
>
> Peter G. Aitken
>
>

"Julianne" > wrote in message news:<G0Chb.30767$k74.5978@lakeread05>...
> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j
Use unbleached flour and buy your flour from a store with a lot of
turn over cause flour has a shelf life. The PBS food show-America's
Test Kitchen taste tested some various flours and unbleached won and I
think Pillsbury unbleached was very close to the pricey stuff. Lots
of discussion on how long to let it rise, at what temp, use of crocks
vs stainless steel as bread pans and shape of bread but fresh
unbleached flour is the biggie IMHO along with enough kneading to
fully moisten the flour. I use a stand mixer and then only knead for
a relatively short while. Let it rise in a 45-50F room and then bake
in french loaf bread pans. Used to spritz the bread with water-just
hisses and not much else. Just forget the bread machine and bleached
flour.

Julianne wrote:
>
> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j

Patience! Good bread needs time to rise properly.

There are all sorts of books in the library on baking. Get a few out and
try the recipes.
Any advice anyone posts here, someone else will refute anyway LOL!

Julianne wrote:

> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j
>
>
Nothing can compare to the feeling you get when your first hand baked
loaf comes out of the oven.

Nothing will taste so bad as the first loaf that comes out of the oven.

If the taste, texture and color don't discourage you, tell us about it.
THEN we can give you some tips. And then you are on your way to baking
good breads.
--
Alan

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
avoid the people, you might better stay home."
--James Michener

Julianne wrote:

> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j
>
>
Forgot these sites when I posted my first comment.

http://www.theartisan.net/TheArtisanMain.htm
http://www.breadworld.com/
http://www.robinhood.ca/
http://www.bbga.org/
--
Alan

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
avoid the people, you might better stay home."
--James Michener