Zoe Francois

Hi. If it is just a tough skin I usually mix it into the new batch. By the time it has sat in the refrigerator for 24 hours the old dough has softened up again. Good luck! Zoë

Hi Pierogi, Any chance you live in the mountains? I've been talking to some people who have to deal with high altitude baking and their concerns are similar to yours. Just a thought! I usually just dump the new ingredients onto the old dough and mix it all in together. This saves your from having to wash a new container. If you have a difficult time mixing it with a spoon, you may want to get your hands in there. If you are getting a skin on your dough you will want to cover the container a little bit tighter. It means there is too much air getting in the bucket. The dough does sometimes weep a bit. I'm not sure why it does this sometimes but not others. I usually pour it off and add more flour so the dough doesn't stick to my hands. Thanks for not giving up! Zoë

Hi Mette, Thanks for the wonderful pictures! Once the dough is quite old we recommend sticking to the flatbread chapter or adding it to the next batch! Enjoy! Zoë

Hi hsm, Congratulations on the success of your bread, it is a powerful feeling isn't it! Nothing better than fresh bread and really great butter! Enjoy! Zoë

Hi Zoe, Your dough is just fine. It may have a very strong sour flavor that you will either love or not. We are divided about that in my household! Next time if it smells like the sour is too intense you can add the end of one batch to your next batch. This will mellow out the old and jump start the fresh batch. BTW unless there is mold on the dough it is fine to use, unless you don't care for the intensity of the flavor, at which point toss or add to the next batch. We've let dough go for up to 3 weeks with no ill effect other than it losing rising power. Thanks, Zoë F

Hi Pierogi, Your dough sounds like it is going through the normal course. It will have an initial rise that is very exciting and then as it ages and some of the yeast dies off it will start to deflate in the bucket. But it will still have good oven spring so don't worry! Try to handle the dough as little as possible as to not knock out the air bubbles that have formed. This is very different than the other recipes that are out there that want you to knead. As you saw in the video it should take no more than 30 seconds to form the loaf. I'd let the dough rest for about an hour+ (because the dough is more than a week old and may have lost some of the initial power of the yeast) and then bake it on a preheated stone with a water bath below. Thanks for your persistence! I'm so glad you are determined to bake bread. It is a worthy goal and fun! Zoë F

I've been meaning to get a scale from this century. I'll pick one up and report back! Thanks Tino, your help and insight are wonderful! Zoë

Hi. This is the hydration I use for KA AP flour in ounces, but my hydration is coming out differently than yours Tino? I converted it to metric and all of your numbers add up correctly. 2#=32oz 3 1/4 cup=26oz hydration = 26/32 (x100) = 81.25 for KA AP flour Pat, I wonder if using a higher protein flour would give the dough more stretch and allow it to rise higher than you previously got with the lower protein AP? This is a mystery! Zoë ← Zoe -- The mystery here is the difference between ounces and fluid ounces. A fluid ounce is a measurement of volume. 1 fl oz of water and 1 fl oz of oil will not weigh the same amount. An ounce measurement is a weight. 1 ounce of water weighs the same as 1 ounce of oil. There are 8 fluid ounces in one cup of anything. There are 8.33 ounces in one cup of water. The problem is that the two are not exactly interchangeable. So, while yes, there are 26 fluid ounces in 3 1/4 cups of water, a fluid ounce of water weighs 29.57 g / fl oz. 29.57 g / fl oz. x 26 fl oz. = 768 g I think that's where the discrepancy came in. Tino ← I admit my scale is old and not as accurate as some, but I was weighing both the flour and the water. I was coming in at 25.75-26.25 ounces for the 3 1/4 cups of water. Zoë

Hmmm .... You didn't mention what kind/type of yeast you were using. Do you buy the one use, single packets of active dry yeast or do you buy in bulk and measure out the yeast? It is possible that you may have gotten a really active strain of yeast. I'll assume that the ambient temperature you are bulk fermenting the dough in has remained the same between flours. Also, did you add the full amount of salt? Besides flavor, it also helps to regulate the growth of the yeast. I know you mentioned you tasted the raw dough ... too little salt would allow the yeast to grow very rapidly. Finally ... 2 lbs flour = 908 grams 3 1/4 cups water = 3.25 cups x 236 g/cup = 767 grams Hydration = 767 / 908 (x 100) = 84.5% hydration for All Purpose flour That seems too high to me ... Zoe, what are your thoughts? Sorry if my response seems a little disjointed; I'm trying to solve the problem through multiple angles. Basically, just switching flours and adding a 1/4 cup more water shouldn't have caused the top to pop off. Something else must be going on. ← Hi. This is the hydration I use for KA AP flour in ounces, but my hydration is coming out differently than yours Tino? I converted it to metric and all of your numbers add up correctly. 2#=32oz 3 1/4 cup=26oz hydration = 26/32 (x100) = 81.25 for KA AP flour Pat, I wonder if using a higher protein flour would give the dough more stretch and allow it to rise higher than you previously got with the lower protein AP? This is a mystery! Zoë

One of two things happened, I would guess ... 1) You measured the right amount of flour, but didn't develop the gluten enough 2) You didn't add enough flour If it were me, I would add the remainder of the mixture to a stand mixer bowl, add about a 1/4 cup of flour at a time (using the dough hook) until the dough passes the "windowpane test" (Google that term and you'll find out what I mean). and place back in the fridge and use as normal. You could just start over -- you'd only be out maybe $1.50 in raw ingredients. It might be an interesting project to try and save it though. As much as people think that bread dough is a mystery, it is pretty forgiving. ← I tossed in a few heaping spoonfuls of flour and worked the dough with the hook for a few minutes. I hope tomorrow's bread will turn out better. ← Hi Sygyzy, In this note you said you measured out the 6 cups of flour, and it is supposed to be 6 1/2 cups. It will be challenging to get that extra flour in at this point so you may want to put it in a stand mixer as Tino suggested. It is fine to add the extra flour at any point, but you'll need to let it rise again so that the gas will develop in the dough. If you use it without this second rise it will be very dense. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Zoë

Hi. I'm sure others will weigh in on this but I just wanted to reassure you about the airtight vs non-airtight. If the container seems to be trapping the gas, then just leave it ajar. The rectangular boxes that you see on the website let plenty of air circulate and are no more than 7" tall but hold 6qts. They may be a good solution and are available at most stores like target and walmart. Most of the others pictured trap gas in them and so I just put the lid on without closing it tightly. Some people have found a container through tupperware that actually has a valve on top to allow air in and out. I saw a set that was similar at Costco. They were all different sizes but most were no more than 7". Good luck. Zoë

Hi Sadie, Thanks for trying the recipe. It is a good sign when you eat the bread before the picture. As you go through the book you should read the errata sheet. It is on the top of my websites: www.zoebakes.com www.artisanbreadinfive.com Thanks and I hope eventually to see some pictures! Zoë

Hi sygyzy, I'm so glad you enjoyed the bread! If you find the water/steam too cumbersome you can add ice cubes instead. Some people do this with great success. As for the 1# loaf listed in the book as the weight of the loaf. You are absolutely correct, it is clearly less than that. When we came up with that number it was meant to be an approximate weight. Some of the doughs will equal 4 1# loaves and others will be slightly more or less. Unfortunately this is not clear enough in the book. We have been surprised (pleasantly) by the number of home bakers who do use a scale, but it was written with the assumption that most would be eyeballing it. Thank you for bringing this up and I will make a note of it on the errata sheet at our websites. Zoë

Hi Bubbles, This dough really wants to puff if it isn't weighed down with the toppings! You will really have to dock it well. This also works on the grill in the summer, when you don't want to crank your oven up to 550 degrees. Zoë

After two tasty pizzas two nights ago, one of which was embarrassingly dark on top, I put the stone on the bottom rack as you suggest above. Fantastic results, Zoë! I baked the bare crusts on the stone for about two minutes at 550, flipped them over and put my toppings on the baked side. Back onto the stone for about 7 minutes and we were in pizza heaven with pizzas that looked as good as they tasted. I used the European Peasant dough for my crusts; the dough was mixed early this morning and I will try to leave it alone for a couple days before baking a boule or a baguette. ← Great. When you parbaked the pizza crust did you dock the dough? I'm just curious if it tried to puff up like a giant pita because it had no toppings? I've been baking a lot of baguettes lately. The crumb is nearly perfect when baked in a thin baguette, plus you get all that wonderful crust! Zoë

Photo of loaf from same batch -- Tasty. Jmahl ← This sounds and looks great! I have to get some rolled rye to throw in my next batch. Zoë

That was one of the big surprises for me too. It's delicious warm or cold. My husband thinks it makes fantastic toast, but I actually prefer it untoasted. The flavor is as wonderful as the texture. This is great stuff! Zoe is definitely my hero. pat ← Wow Pat, thanks! I'm blushing. Zoë

Hi Saluki, I'm so pleased to hear that your first loaf was such a success. As you work with the dough and get the hydration to where you want it, you will find that you'll get larger holes in the dough. I hope you can figure out the pictures so we can see them! Thanks, Zoë

Although the clear flour may have a high protein content it will actually make a denser rye bread than if you use bread flour. As Tino pointed out clear flour is not very refined and will not act like high-gluten flour. Marc, was this your experience, that the rye was denser and not lighter baked with the clear flour? This is a more traditional crumb. Saluki, keep us posted! Zoë

I just have to tell you all that I made this ricotta with goat milk and heavy cream today and it is mind altering-ly good! I made a calzone with the first bit. It kicks the calzone into another echelon of pizzeria foods! Then I put a scoop of plain warm ricotta over a bowl of cherries my husband had poached in red wine, a drizzle of honey and my entire family licked the bottom of the bowl! Thank you Devlin for this idea! It is necessary to have this on hand! Zoë My only regret is that I only had enough goat milk and cream to make a half batch!

Does this mean the next edition of your current book, or a new book altogether? ← I'm hoping for this one! But, I've learned not to hold my breath. Next one for sure! Zoë

Tino, you explained baker's percentages very clearly, but I think you should base them on the 2# figure Zoe gave (907 grams?). Then we'd all be starting with the same amount of flour. Zoe, I love your book and your enthusiasm... and of course the bread! Thank you so much for answering questions. I can't remember when I was so excited about a book! ← Thank you!!!!! This forum is really fun for me. I feed off of this conversation. Zoë

Hi Tino, I just want to add to your note that 81% hydration is for bread flour (or KA all-purpose) if you are using regular all-purpose (which is closer to 9-10% protein) then you will want 75-76% hydration. I think most of you have ended up using a higher protein flour, but for those of you that are using AP then 81% is going to be a very wet dough. Thanks again Tino! Zoë

Hi Tino, Thank you for providing this info. Our next book will include weights and a primer on baking percentages! We have been pleasantly surprised at the number of people who do scale their recipes. Now we can go to the publisher and tell them people are asking for it. As you said, it is the only true way to get a consistent product. Thanks! Zoë

I've only made one batch... been trying to get another one done, but life has interfered... Maybe I did a stupid thing. But, after I whacked off the dough for the first loaf, I dumped the rest of the dough into a smaller container. After the second "whack", I dumped the rest into an even smaller container. The dough didn't seem to mind! I'm so NOT exacting about all of this... That's why I really like this bread method. It is forgiving of all my sins! Pam ← Hi Pam, I transfer my dough all the time to smaller containers. Otherwise I would have to move my children out of the house and refrigerate their rooms for the dough. It is all about precious fridge space. Zoë