Comments on: Home baking makes comeback as families cut shopping bills – Telegraph

By: Steve P

Steve P — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:51:53 +0000

Hi i dont where to put this so i will put it here. I am having trouble getting my bread to have a “yeasty” taste, you can smell it in the dough and in the finished product but we are unable to taste it in the finished product .I made 2 loaves yesterday and as i have been using 2 packages of active dry in the recipe i added a third one to see if any added flavor was the result i could tell no difference in the loaves. Thanks for your help

By: ConnieM

ConnieM — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:55:56 +0000

Judy, about flat loaves. Have you tried making the top of your loaves by stretching and tucking under. I believe Breadtopia has a video on that if I’m not mistaken. It works pretty well when baked in the dutch oven. I also often bake in a loaf pan. There are available French bread baking pans but fairly costly. I’ve seen at different sites discussions about using cut stove pipes or drain pipes for baking, I suppose lined with parchment or well treated. Good luck. This is the easiest and best bread I’ve been making and it tastes so good. So little effort.

By: CynCo

CynCo — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:36:42 +0000

I have been doing a cold oven NK and AKN bread – I use a Calphalon stock pot and it’s just way too heavy to mess with hot. I lay it gently in the pot in a cold oven, and let it rise there before turning the oven on…I’d give you times but I am at high alt and 10% relative humidity… I find for me this gives a much better oven spring, and a very crisp crust without being too thick.

I’d had many failures at breadbaking before, but the sad state of our $5 grocery breads here prompted me to give it try again…so far so good!

By: Judy Nevitt

Judy Nevitt — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:02:56 +0000

I tried the cold oven .. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm not so great! the bread was OK as you predicted the crust was not crusty … sooo i probably will go back to pre heating .. could not find the topic dang it .. OH well .. the test was worth it ..

By: Breadtopia

Breadtopia — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:29:53 +0000

I think I’ll have to try the cold oven start thing just so I can say I’ve tried it. I like to preheat because it more accurately simulates a wood burning oven. Plus you’ll get nice oven spring that wouldn’t happen otherwise. But I’m sure there must be some good points to the cold oven start.

Do you have the link to the discussion y0u mentioned? I’d like to read it.

By: Judy Nevitt

Judy Nevitt — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:01:25 +0000

Thanks for the encouragements … The strange thing is the starter is 30 years old and I think this is the most active it’s every been .
happy about that .. i did take the time to spread it out dry and freeze it .. to unsure that i will always have that strand .
I have dome most of the suggestions you mentioned , no luck so for… however, I have no life , just a jar of sourdought and my coumputer , I am will stick to it and i am sure it will stick to me heheheheheh
.. I will stay with it till it works .. or i will call in the sour dough gods.
Today actually spend some time over on the sourdough board , reading , there has to be a way ….
By the way while there , there was a lively discussion about starting out in a cold oven .. the good of it is that then one just puts the dough when it’s ready ,rather then the over . crazy … what do you think about starting out in a cold oven … obviously you haven’t done it , because you say preheat … interesting will try in on bread day .

By: Breadtopia

Breadtopia — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:06:02 +0000

Hi Judy,

Yes, the recipe is scalable to whatever quantity you want to make. If you want to make larger loaves, you’ll probably want to increase the baking time a little.

Besides making the dough stiffer by adding more flour and/or reducing water, in order to keep the dough from spreading too much, it might also help a little to shorten the second rise time some. Maybe the first rise too. You can experiment with that.

By: Judy Nevitt

Judy Nevitt — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:18:13 +0000

I really like the the recipe with the beer and vinegar … SO If want to double it would I just double everything or is the is Rule .. thanks so much I so enjoy my bread days.
my friends are all jealous of me and my La Cloche . Yes I have given out the web page .. silly rabbits .. they are just lazy …
I am still having trouble with my sour dough on the second rise .. all goes well until i put in the La Cloche .. then it spreads out .. i added more flour .. i am really stumped,,,, The disasters still tasted good … Judy In WA

By: TonkaCrew3

TonkaCrew3 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:42:53 +0000

I too have begun baking and cooking at home to save money. It has helped our whole family. I am surprised though that so many people are either afraid to cook/bake at home or would prefer to spend so much more to have the “convienience” food at the grocery stores. Homemade may take more time but, it is surley woth the effort!

By: breadtopia

breadtopia — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:44:32 +0000

Hi Crystal,

Thanks for your post.

I used to keep a white and whole wheat starter separately, but now usually just keep a white starter and add whole wheat to it when I’m following a whole wheat recipe. I don’t think it saves any money but it sure is a lot easier and even if the recipe is 100% whole wheat, the amount of white flour this adds is usually very small.

Not only is your made bread going to be better tasting than the $.69 store bread, it will be so much healthier for your family. My opinion (for what it’s worth) is that spending more money on healthy food saves money in the long run on health related expenses.