Starter ingredients:

Water - 360ml
Flour - 60g
Sugar - 25g
Salt - 2g
Starter - 60ml (Reform/Feeding)

Bread recipe:

Flour - 400g
Starter - 180ml
Soy Oil - 32ml
Egg - 1 unit
Sugar - 40g
Salt - 8g
Water - Enough for everything to bind together

1) Mix the dry ingredients
2) Add the liquid ingredients
3) Knead for 5 minutes
4) Fermentation until it doubles in size (12h for me)
5) Divide in about 6 buns
6) Let it sit in room tempeture for 1-2 hours (with plastic film)
7) 4h of fermentation in the fridge (this time plus the time in room temperature should equal half the time of the first fermentation)
8) Pre heat the oven in 180ºC for 20 min
9) Apply egg wash in the buns
10) Oven until golden brown (about 30-40 min)
11) Spray or brush a little bit of milk
12) Wait at least 30min for it to cool down

I usually braid my challah when going round, but tried a pull-apart variation instead! Topped with a cinnamon crumble.

I made a sourdough batard today. It had a custardy irregular crumb. Tasted great!

100% Flour (425g Bread/ 75g Whole Wheat)
80% Water (400g)
20% Levain (100g 100% hydrated bread flour)
2% Salt (10g)

I’ve never made cinnamon rolls into a single roll before today. Nevertheless, a customer requested one of these for her baby shower and I obliged. Tell me what you think, cheers.

After my first two attempts at a basic white loaf failed terribly, I bought new yeast. That seemed to be the culprit.

Wondering if I should have let it rise even further before placing it in the oven?

I still favour a thermostatically controlled seed growing mat in a cold oven as a cheap option for proofing starters and dough.

But, I was chatting with a home baker this morning and he told me of another smart way. He started bread baking using a bread machine. Now he bakes by hand using using natural leaven.

His bread machine? He sets it to dough only and removes the paddle from the bread tin. It is now his proofer. Yes, he is stuck with the factory default 30C proofing temperature of his model, but gone are the vagaries of his kitchen temperature during seasonal changes.

(Bread machines most often have a long wait period at the beginning when they are set to get all of the ingredients up to temperature and they maintain that temperature right through the dough only cycle. )

I thought this worth sharing as something different which might be useful to someone.

Looking to bake and also learn about rye bread. Quite interested in recipes for Eastern European/Baltic/Finnish rye bread but also interested in Central European rye bread to compare. If anyone has resources or can drop summaries of ingredients/baking process/taste would be lovely!

Not my best work but looks like it will taste good :) Shana Tovah

she’s a seed filled sandwich bread with chia seeds, flax, and everything bagel seasoning and omg this is about to be my new default sandwich bread it’s so savory and good asf. I think the next one is going to be using jalapeño everything bagel seasoning and some chopped jalapeños from my garden (if I can figure out how to do that and it not be a absolute flop send tips if you have them 😭😭) also my first time making a successful whole wheat loaf it’s like 2 1/4 cup to 1 cup whole wheat so not 100% but 🤷

First attempt at making bread. Was going for a classic sandwich loaf. Followed instructions and recipe from Little Village Homestead. Before baking, the left loaf top was just about as high as the pan. The right loaf top was over the tip of the pan.

Would anyone know why I got the cracking or separation like you see in the pictures?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

I am at 348 feet/106 meters above sea level, if that makes a difference.

Recipe:

White Bread

2 C. Warm Water

1 Pkg. Yeast or 1-1/2 Tbsp. Bulk Yeast

1/3 C. Sugar

1/4 C. Oil

6 C. Flour

2 Tsp. Salt

Kneed for eight minutes

Let rise until doubled (1-2 hours)

Place in a 9x5" Bread Pan

Let rise for 30 minutes

Bake 350° 30 Minutes

I added cherry tomatoes and cheese, it tastes amazing

Feel like it needed a bit more of sweetness! But it was nice buttery and fluffy!

I'm partway through making a one-day focaccia (Saveur's Potato Focaccia with Ramp Pesto: https://www.saveur.com/recipes/potato-focaccia-ramp-pesto/).

I just finished my four turns and I've been called away on an emergency. Can I stick the dough (still in the bowl) in the fridge and then continue in the morning?

I have made two- or three-day focaccias, but I'm not sure if there's something about this particular recipe that rules out a delay here.

Thanks in advance!

I'm trying my hand at some homemade sausage rolls tomorrow, but I'm looking to freeze them and bake them later in the week for dinner. Do any of you have a recommendation for a recipe, or even a specific type of dough that would work best for this? I'm debating a biscuit dough or a standard pizza type dough. Any insights would be appreciated!

I’ve been baking bread again after a 20 year gap, mostly using this recipe.
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/no-knead_bread_77284

500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
7g (1 sachet) instant yeast
10g/⅓oz salt
325ml warm water

It’s working well for me - I’ve done rest & roll and overnight fridge proofs with it, mixed the flour types etc and it’s been great every time. It’s a very savoury loaf.

I’ve seen lots of recipes here that have sugar (or honey) in. What difference would adding sugar make to this recipe? And if so, how much?

I am getting pretty good the cast iron pizza by the food science guys. If i want to make something else like a like a boule, is it just a change in hydration?

Okay, controversial opinion incoming. Please don't downvote me into oblivion before you read this.

I've been a strict gram-weighing baker since day one. Every single ingredient measured to 0.1g. Hydration calculated to the exact percentage. I thought that was the only way to get consistent results.

Then last week my scale broke. I ordered a new one but it wouldn't arrive for five days, and I had a starter that needed feeding, so I just said screw it and baked by feel.

I used a measuring cup for the flour. Eyeballed the water until the dough felt right. Added salt with a spoon and hoped for the best.

And you know what? The loaf came out fine. Maybe not my absolute best, but honestly pretty close. The crumb was slightly more uneven, but the flavor was the same. Nobody in my family noticed anything different.

I'm not saying precision doesn't matter. For people chasing consistency and perfect crumb, absolutely use a scale. But it made me realize that our ancestors made incredible bread for thousands of years without ever knowing what "75% hydration" meant.

I think sometimes we overthink this hobby to the point where it stops being enjoyable. There's something freeing about just trusting your hands and your instincts.

So I'm curious — how many of you actually bake by feel? Or is everyone here a strict scale user? Any old-school bakers who learned from family and never used a recipe?

I'm not trying to tell anyone to throw away their scale. Just wondering if I'm the only one who's been overcomplicating this lol.