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Having been working with mainly sourdough bread in the past, I have now turned my attention to yeasted bread. As I recently became a father of a little boy, my schedule is a bit crammed I try to apply the same basic techniques as in sorudough with rest/knead cycles (Dan Lepard, hand made loaf) , autolysis, slow fermentation etc. Comments on my experience will are as always welcome! - I use 25g Fresh yeast to 1 kg of flour (Half of suggested recipes) , and use ice cold water to slow down the process. Doing this I'm able to give my loaves 2-3 hours of bulk fermenting, and 1-2 hours of proofing, even longer if I put'em in the fridge. This is enough to get some aroma development I guess. Does this make sense ? (to delay the process to get better aroma?) - I finally found bread flour! (Hurray!) However, Italian bread flour costs about $3/kg. thats x3 "normal" flour, and about the same price as organic. How dows this compare to other countries? 1kg flour will give me about two laoves, making each loaf about $1,5. The economic motivation for baking for my family is starting to vanish... - My lates creation was 600g wheat bread flour 300g sifted rye 100g wholemeal rye 20g salt 660g whater. Honey I know some comercial bakers claim loaves to be "rye" as long as thet have 10% Rye Would you consider this a "Rye" bread? How about my recipe? - Visiting a restaurant last weekend, We got very nice tasting slices of bread with the meal. The crumb had an interesting texture I want to duplicate. It's a bit hard to explain, but I guess that If you put a slice on the table and poke your finger in it; A permanent dent is made, It wouldn't "bounce up". And yes, I tried this in the restaurant .-) The texture was not rustique, but very even, and light. The first thing that came to my mind was weak flour, am I on the right track?

does anyone know of any sources for fresh yeast for baking purposes in the montreal area? thanx in advance. EDIT: that should have gone into the where can i find thread, sorry!

Aside from the fresh greens and the chatter with the farmers, one of the best things about the opening of the Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market each spring was the return of the Breadline bread, fresh on Saturday mornings. Alas, since the acquisition of the Breadline by La Brioche Doree, apparently a French attempt to revenge themselves on globalizing Americans by foisting soulless pseudo-French baguettes on us, the bread seems not so much declining in quality, as plummeting. Anyone else noticed this? And, will it be worth eating at Michel Richard's Citronelle now that the Ciabbatta -- originally named Palladin, after Jean-Louis -- is no longer a delight?

I recently received a paninni grill and I am having trouble finding the correct type of bread to use with it? Any ideas on where to purchase the correct type of bread to use with the pannini maker? Looking for places in Northern NJ or New York City. Thanks.

In the everlasting quest to make bread rise higher, crumb softer, just generally better, I came across some malt extract recently and bought some, having read that some bakers add diastatic malt extract to their dough to improve it, especially if, as in my part of the world, the flour grown lacks sufficient alpha-amylase. The packet I bought does not have the word 'diastatic' but is called 'Malt extract', is a yellow powder. Does anyone have any experience using malt extract with bread (not sourdough)? I would be most interested to hear about it. How much does one use, and what does it do to the bread, eg, softer crumb? better rise? Thanks in advance!

Abra asked in the pastry thread about a tanoor oven in reference to ATAF's thread on Iranian Bread. I really love flatbreads and have the fortune to live in a country that offers Yemenite, Iraqi, Iranian, Tunesian, Indian, Italian, Ethiopian, Druze, Bedouin, Moroccan and Bukharan flatbreads. I am sure I have missed a few. I found this very interesting article on flatbreads. On the Flabread Trail Here in Israel, you will find a number of shishlik restaurants make fresh flatbread in their Taboona. The wood fire is built on the floor of the oven and the bread is baked on the side walls. the dough is placed either by a round padded piece of wood or with a metal hook. I once saw a baker put the dough in with bare hands. I thought he was nuts, but he must have asbestos hands like some of the restaurant chefs. The Bedouin and the Druze here make their bread on a sajj which looks a bit like an inverted wok. The Bedouin also used to bake their flatbread in hot sand. What type of flatbreads do you like? Have you tried making flatbreads? I have only made foccacia.

I've been trying to stay fairly low-carb for health reasons, and have just bought a bag of Carbalose flour. It's not the same thing as Carbquik baking mix--it's supposed to be a straight substitution for flour. I've read a lot of recipes but haven't been able to get answers to some of my questions. I thought that maybe some here could help me figure this out. Some of it has to do with the chemistry involved in baking. I've been reading The Bread Baker's Apprentice and the La Brea bread cookbook, and thinking about sourdough and breads with long fermentation times. I'm wondering if a low carb flour would even work for sourdough breads (would there be anything for the yeasts to eat?) Here is what the website says about it: Considering the ingredients, can any of you chemists figure out what would happen if I try to make sourdough or long fermented breads with this? If it would even work at all, that is. I've also thought about combining with regular flour to just make a lower carb bread, which would be better than nothing.

Is iranian bread one of your favourite breads? want to know how its done? Check out my post at this link

I have used this recipe many, many times to make pita bread. Usually one or two never puff up but enough do that I just pass it off as one of those things. This morning I made a batch of dough and not a single pita puffed up. I tossed the lot in the trash and started again. Believe it or not, NONE of the second batch puffed either. What is going wrong? I used the same set up as always, followed the recipe as always, used the same ingredients, etc. My yeast is fresh and the dough itself rises properly. I simply have no clues as to why they are not puffing in the oven and am reluctant to try a third batch until I find out.

I've been in Cambridge for the better part of a year now and the best bread I have found has been in the Market. But this stuff is far from stellar, and when you move beyond the selection of rye breads (of which there is an impressive selection) the quality is ... hmm ... questionable. Now, having just returned from Paris I am at a loss to find a single place in Cambridge that can make a decent baguette, with its wonderful chewy-crisp combination. Anyone else know of a good bakery in Cambridge for such things?

How many degassing cycles a plain bread dough can normally tolerate in room temperature? (instant or active dry yeasts) My understanding is that yeast grows stops when it consumes all the available sugars. After how much time may it be expected, considering the dough is being degassed and folded/turned from time to time?

Buenos Aires is populated by millions of descendents of Italian immigrants. Nonetheless, most bakeries sell a pasty, tasteless bread and in some cases an absolutely insipid bread baked in electric ovens. The great exception is La Pompeya at Ave. Independencia 1912 (w/ Combate de los Pozos). This is a great find that I learned about years ago on Canal Gourmet. Founded in the early 1930, Italian immigrants are said to have gotten off the boat in Buenos Aires with little more than slips of paper with the address of the bakery. Now, as then, the place is well worth the trip to find it. This bakery has nothing to do with the Italian pastry shops that dot the lower east side of Manhattan. La Pompeya is as working class as the neighborhood it is situated in. The bread I go for is the round kilo loaf of country bread. It is crusty and made for bruschetta. Don't be put off by the dark salesroom. There are all sorts of surprises to be discovered and tasted: canoli shells, pan dulce for the holidays, flaky sfogattielle, and fresas, large round donuts of dried bread, which I have never tried, but are for moistening with olive oil to make a poor man's bread salad. It's a two hour round trip for me to La Pompeya but I am always a happy camper those Saturdays that I make the trip. The country bread freezes perfectly.

I'm a novice bread maker and have baked, including this one, three different kinds of bread. My first was a simple, white sandwich loaf and the second was a french bread. Both turned out "okay." The french bread wasn't kneaded enough and spread quite a bit. The slashing, oven moisture and flavor were good. However, this oatmeal bread was awful. In the interest of full disclosure I didn't sprinkle the yeast over the top of the oatmeal mixture, I stirred it in. It foamed after about 6 minutes, I added one teaspoon of salt and five cups of flour. Kneaded it for about twenty minutes, slowly adding a bit less than one cup on flour (all-purpose). Elastic, smelled great, let it rest under a bowl for about fifteen minutes. Cut in half with a chefs knife, formed into two loaves, dropped into two lightly oiled loaf pans, brushed with egg, sprinkled with oats. During the doughs resting stage I turned my electric, pizza stone-bedecked oven to 225 for a few minutes then turned it off- just to warm it a bit. Inserted said loaves and promptly left for the hardware store. Should not have gone to the hardware store. What appeared to have happened is that the loaves over-rose. They were lumpy on top. -sigh- Removed them, preheated my oven to 370 and baked for about fifty minutes. I let the misshapen, sad things cool and sliced off an end to taste. If the flavor and texture were there then I wasn't too concerned with the appearance. Yech. Too dense. Not enough salt. Blech. Is there something I should know? Bad recipe? Outstandingly incompetent baker? What?

Hi guys, I've always wanted to bake my own breads... ok so maybe this isn't my first time baking bread, but since I've only done it twice, and both times I failed, I guess I can still consider myself a first timer in this area of the kitchen. Can you guys suggest ideas on what to start with, something like a no-brainer type recipe for a simple bread. Tips, do's and don'ts, and the like. I just want to boost my morale a little bit in baking. I've been trying to look for threads that focuses on just bread making but I havnt found any that covers the whole shebang on the subject. I would also like to ask, what makes a bread dull looking, hard, and pale no matter how long you bake it? I swear I was trying to make bread not stone .....well at least thats what the recipe suggested I was making

My wife loves bread pudding (chocolate, banana, you name it) and I am having difficulty finding restaurants that serve a good rendition for dessert. Any suggestions? So far the best I've tasted out of NYC, was a white chocolate bread pudding at Food For Thought in Marlton.

I have had this at the HSG when in Vancouver and loved it. There has been much discussion on this board surrounding this (now) famous pudding. The recipe has been posted here http://www.diningoutguide.com/ShowRecipe.aspx?ID=1 I want to make it this weekend and have a couple of questions: - the recipe calls for 1 cup molasses. I know there are a variety of types of molasses and strengths and I have no idea what to buy. Help? - Can the cake be made ahead, cooled completely and then made into the pudding? The receipe says to cool at room temperature for 20 minutes and then make into pudding. The only prolem is.............I won't have some of the fabulous ice cream available at the HSG to top it off!

A group of us had a great meal at Veritas the other night but one thing we noticed was that the bread was nothing special, something that I noticed as a common thread through several restaurant week destinations (including Lupa and Union Square Cafe). In fact, it seems to me that it has been a while since I have had decent restaurant bread (went to L'Impero and Gotham Bar & Grill end of last year and neither of them had good bread either). A lot of the restaurants seem to offer the same thing, a basket with three (sometimes four) options, usually olive, ciabatta, and something else. The breads do not taste particularly fresh and are not warm (which I wouldn't care about if the bread was fresh). They all have the appearance of having been gotten from the same source. Is there a common bakery that most restaurants are using now? When we used to dine at Bouley more regularly, fresh-baked breads were one of the hallmarks of the meal, something I always looked forward to. Now bread, even at top places, seems to have taken the role of filler starch. Am I the only one who feels this way? In addition to Bouley, how about some other top restaurants that are making their own bread?

Part 1: The words (pictures in the next post) Following Wendy’s request I will try and elucidate some of the mysteries of proofing. Bread dough is a complex, and not entirely understood system. My knowledge is also limited and I hope the greater experts on this list will correct my more glaring errors. This is inevitably something of a simplification of the complicated things that are going on as the dough matures. For a fuller explanation refer to a science based baking textbook such “Principles of Breadmaking: Functionality of Raw Materials and Process Steps” by Piet Sluimer, published by the American Association of Cereal Chemists 2005 ISBN 1-891127-45-4 Proofing is the last stage before baking, when the formed and shaped dough is left to rise before being baked. For some bread it is the only fermentation stage; a lot of industrially made and some craft bread is produced with a “no time dough”, where there is no or little bulk fermentation, but instead the gluten is developed using intensive mixing. Softer doughs need support during proof. This is often in the form of a linen lined basket or banneton. For long breads, like baguettes and batons (in the demo) a folded floured linen canvas couche is used. To understand what is happening we need to go back right to when the dough was mixed. When the dough is mixed air is mixed into the dough to form micro-bubbles. These micro-bubbles are key to what happens later. Dough mixed in a vacuum or in a closed mixer with no headspace (such as the Amway system) produces a fine, close and uniform crumb texture. The density of gas-free dough is around 0.8 L/kg; after mixing about 0.9 L/kg, showing a gas fraction of about 10% of volume. Fermentation increases this to about 1.0-1.5 L/Kg, at the end of the bulk stage, depending on the type of product, and then to around 3.5 L/kg at the end of proof for a typical white loaf, more than tripling in volume. After baking this will increase again to around 5 L/Kg, oven spring increasing the loaf volume by about 50%, and an increase of 5 times over the volume of the just mixed original dough. These volumes are for white bread; bread with bits in them, such as seed breads or whole meal breads will rise less since the bran or other inclusions tend to puncture the gas cells, and in some breads, such as those with a large preferment, there is less fermentable material. A good clue for the end of the bulk fermentation stage is when, if you slash the dough, you can see small bubbles in the cut surface. “Knocking back” or degassing decreases volume, but also makes new food available to the yeast, and generally results in a finer crumb structure. In the 1950s or so, a fine even crumb, such as in Pullman bread was thought most desirable, and techniques were optimised to produce such bread. Now a more artisan bread with an irregular and coarser crumb structure is preferred, so different techniques (less degassing, wetter doughs) are used to make what our predecessors would have thought of as badly made bread. The enzymes in the yeast, or from added enzymes such as diastic malt, or the acid in sourdough start to break the starch down into simple sugars that can be fermented. Over time this degrades the starch, reducing the dough viscosity making the dough seem wetter. The gluten gells slowly in the presence of water, and this gell forms the scaffolding of the loaf crumb. Kneading, stretch and fold, or intensive mixing, depending on the type of bread, all help the gluten stretch into thin sheets and distribute the gas cells evenly, although the primary force for the gluten development is hydration, and the primary stretch is the expansion of the gas cell walls in the dough. During fermentation the yeast generates carbon dioxide. This expands the micro-gas bubbles present in the dough from air entrainment during mixing. No new gas bubbles are created, although some may coalesce, and the very small ones disappear. These bubbles are not entirely gas tight – think of them as a leaky bucket. If the production of CO2 from the yeast drops below the rate the gas leaks or dissolves in the surrounding fluid, then the bubble deflates, rather then inflates. If the bread is over-proved the rate of gas production rate drops because the yeast runs out of food. For cells near the outside of the loaf this diffusion of CO2 to the atmosphere is greater than for cells deeper in the loaf. This means that the fragile foam in the centre is surrounded by a layer of tougher, less expanded cells, a bit like a balloon skin. This skin needs to be tough enough to support the fragile inside, but not so tough as to corset the expansion. Exposure to the air (or contact with the dry canvas banneton/couche) slightly dries this skin, contributing to its toughness. Too dry, and it will be sufficiently tough not to let the inside rise. Too wet, and it won’t be tough enough and collapse before maximum volume is obtained. Ideal conditions are between 70% and 85% relative humidity. A draught will also dry the skin (and cool the dough), and the bread should be proved in draft free conditions, which can be a problem where a fan or forced convection is used to maintain conditions. Professional bakers have special proofing cabinets where the temperature and humidity can be controlled. Craft bakers cover the dough with a cloth or plastic sheet which reduces draughts and slows evaporation. Putting the dough in its banneton or couche in a loose fitting plastic bag, such as a bin liner is a good home solution. The relative temperature of the dough and its surroundings is important. If the dough temperature is higher than the air, evaporation will be quicker. Lower than the air, and the air near the dough is cooled, and so the relative humidity is higher. However over time the dough temperature will become that of the surroundings, which is why in proofers where the air temperature is much higher than the dough the first dough pieces stick, and the last ones skin. Disrupt this skin on ripe dough, and the gas from the inside will rush out, the dough deflating. As the bubble expands the cell walls are stretched. Gluten hardens and gets stiffer under strain, so the thinner parts of the wall stiffen, pulling harder on the thicker bits, so the bubble expands evenly, until the walls get too thin and rupture, releasing the gas. However cell rupture is rare in most correctly proved bread. Typically dough will stiffen slightly as it matures as the gluten hardens by being stretched, and the bubble jostle each other, although some dough, such as sourdough will slacken with time considerably as the acid degrades the viscosity of the starch. The dough will also feel wetter as the dough begins to overprove. At the beginning of the proofing period the dough is comparatively robust, and so long as the gas is not completely knocked out of it, it can be handled and shaped. At the end of the proof period the gas cells have expanded to nearly at their breaking point, but held together by the slightly tougher less expanded cell layers around the outside of the bread. The dough is now a delicate foam balloon, with the gas cells near their bursting point. Rough handling at this stage will deflate it. In the oven the gas in the cells further expand aided by the trapped water turning to steam. The wetter the dough, the bigger the holes. The bread rises like a soufflé. Like a soufflé, bottom heat and direct contact with a hot surface to give maximum heat transfer helps volume. The heat cooks and hardens the cell walls. If conditions are right, the expansion will occur before the walls cook and solidify, giving the desired oven spring. Correctly proved dough will give the largest volume loaf, even though an overproved loaf will be bigger going into the oven. If the dough is underproved it will not reach its maximum volume, as the gas cells start smaller, and will cook before they reach their maximum expansion. If overproved, then the gas cells at already at their maximum stretch, or even have started to deflate, and the dough will rise little in the oven. The dough may be bigger going into the oven, but does not gain the extra volume. The length of time the dough takes to prove depends on many things, such as the activity of the yeast, the amount of food available to the yeast, the stiffness of the dough – stiffer doughs prove more slowly as the sugars diffuse less, and most of all the temperature. Yeast is most active at about 30C/90F. Above that temperature activity decreases sharply as the yeast begins to die or go dormant. Below that temperature the yeast roughly declines by 10% of each degree C. Thus at 20C/68F the yeast activity is halved. (Sourdough yeast and lacto-bacillus activity derived from work by Ganzle) Proof time is also affected by the amount of yeast in the dough. Although the total volume of gas produced is nearly independent of the amount of yeast, being governed by other factors such as the amount of available food and oxygen, the rate of production is can be varied. Craft bakers compensate for lower temperatures, for example when the bakery is cooler in the winter, by increasing the amount of yeast. In general, straight yeast dough is proofed after about an hour, sourdough after about 4-5 hours at 30C/85F. All sorts of other complex reactions are going on in the dough, each of which has differing degrees of temperature sensitivity. For example the breakdown of starch into sugars is less temperature sensitive than yeast, as is the activity of the lacto-bacilli in sourdough. Slowly fermented breads tend to be more flavoursome than quick fermentation. By adjusting proof temperatures, yeast amounts and corresponding proof times the skilled baker can to some extent alter the flavour profile of their bread. The extreme example is where the bread is retarded, cooled to fridge temperatures (4C/40F), so that practically all yeast activity ceases. The dough can be stored this way for up to 72 hours, for example over a period when the restaurant or bakery is closed. During this time other processes continue, most notably the skinning of the outside of the dough and the breakdown of starch into sugars. Retarded doughs have a characteristic reddish crust, from the extra sugars, with fine blistering, but tend to be more flavoursome. The cold also stiffens the dough, and this can make handling of wet doughs easier. The dough doesn’t cool in an instant. A typical loaf takes about 2-3 hours to cool down, during which time there is still some activity. Thus an overnight proof in the refrigerator is about equivalent to 2 hours at room temperature. It also takes about 2-3 hours to warm back to room temperature, during which time activity will restart. Whether to bake from cold, or allow the loaf to regain room temperature before baking is still a matter of debate. If allowed to warm there is the danger of over-proving. Personally I prefer to bake from cold. I find the cold dough stiffer, and so much easier to handle, especially for wet slack doughs. The extra temperature change in the oven gives, I think, a greater gas expansion and hence a bigger oven spring. However this larger spring means that unless evenly made and correctly slashed, the bread may bulge unevenly, with the centre expanding more. “A l’ancienne” is a technique where the dough is mixed cold, and then retarded. The long cold period allows a long period for enzymatic breakdown of the starch into fermentable sugars but because of the cold there is little yeast activity, so that when the dough is later warmed up the yeast has more food available than would otherwise be the case. With slack dough it can give a highly aerated open structure. Just before the bread goes into the oven, the baker slashes it. The slashes (“gringe”, French for grin) act as weak points in the crust, allowing the dough to rise evenly in a controlled fashion. Without the slash the bread is likely to tear or bulge, and the rise will be impeded. It needs to be done just before the bread is put in the oven so that not too much gas leaks out – the heat of the oven will replace the gas that is lost. For this reason the slash should be quite shallow, and cut at an angle of about 45 degrees, almost cutting a flap. For plain breads use a very sharp thin knife, traditionally a razor blade on a stick (“lamé –French for blade). Special disposable ones can be obtained from http://www.scaritech.com/ . For seeded breads a serrated knife can sometimes be easier. Slash quickly and positively – don’t go back and mess with the bread. By tradition a baguette has seven slashes, nearly parallel to the length of the baguette, that open into a pleasing lattice. Originally the slash pattern allowed a housewife to identify her bread in the communal oven, but now is used decoratively. For example Poilane http://www.poilane.com/index_module.php?mo...1595520020&type carves a stylised P into their bread.. Bold simple shapes work best. It is hard to tell whether raw dough is under, ripe or over-proved, except in extreme cases. If you make lots of the same loaves you can begin to get a feel for when it's ready – from the volume, the look of the crust, and the slight resilience. It should feel taut, a little like a balloon, with a slight resilience and bounce back if lightly pressed. However the changes are very subtle. One technique is to put some dough into a glass measuring cylinder or jug. When the volume has about tripled from the initial mix, the dough is ready. It is slightly easier to tell from the cooked loaf. Underproofed bread will have a lighter crust (no so many sugars from the enzymatic action), a less expanded gringe, and a tight crumb. Overproofed dough, by contrast will have a darker, reddish crust, little oven spring, narrow grigne, and an open, but somewhat coarse crumb. Back to Wendy’s original questions: An overproofed sough will be very fragile, and may collapse. Baked, it will have little oven spring, so the grigne (slashes) will not open much. The crust will be redder, and possibly burnt in places from the high sugar levels. An underproofed dough will not have its full volume, and the crust will be pale. The crumb will be closed and tight. No, they are the same signals. It is easier to over-proof using a proofer. If the humidity is too high it can interfere with the formation of a taut skin, leading to earlier collapse. They are basically the same signals. However wholemeal breads, and breads with inclusions in them will not rise as far. Relying on the bread to double in size, although a reasonable rule of thumb is not always accurate, and can often lead to overproving. If you bake frequently you will soon get used to what your particular bread should look and feel like. Too many or too deep slashes will deflate the loaf, as will waiting to long between slashing and baking. Slashes also break the taut skin, so allow the loaf to spread. The effects are much more serious in overproofed bread. See the picture post... A quick summary of things that matter in bread making: Hydration: the ratio of the total amount of water to flour. Dough behaviour changes rapidly over a small change in water content: few percentage change – a tablespoonful of water in a pound of dough can make a dramatic difference. Of course, different flours can adsorb different amounts of water. Wholemeal will adsorb maybe 10%-20% more. Higher gluten flours can tolerate higher hydration levels. However what this means is that for repeatable results you need to be accurate in measurement – use weight not volume, and make sure not too much extra flour is not picked up from your worktop, or water lost in mixing. Dough temperature: Yeast activity and hence proof times vary greatly with dough temperature. The dough temperature can be affected by how much work the mixer does on the dough, the temperature of the ingredients and the ambient temperature. Degree of proof: Sourdough is reasonably tolerant to the degree of proof since it’s a slow process. Yeast dough, since it is moving faster, much less so, and overproving is the biggest cause of failure. Things that don’t matter so much: Strength of flour: You can make good bread from almost any flour. Strong flours can adsorb more water and are somewhat more tolerant, but most European bread, such as French Baguettes are best with the local soft flour. Additives: Additives can help, give a wider tolerance, but are not critical, and in larger doses will both affect taste and disguise the signals you need to look for. Handling: Providing it is correctly proved, dough is pretty tough stuff. Overproved dough will deflate soon as you look at it. So long as the dough is mixed evenly, you don’t need to knead – stretch and fold works fine. Nor do you need bulk fermentation for many breads.

Does anyone know of a gluten-free bakery in Paris? I would imagine it would be impossible for a regular boulangerie to make gluten-free bread if they produce other breads in the same space, but thought I would ask. I know the natural-food stores carry several, but a friend of mine's looking for freshly-baked, if possible.

Anyone out there have comments and suggestions for local bakeries? I regularly patronize One Fifty Ate at Wiliard Square in South Portland, for they make a really solid baguette especially when they are coming out of the oven. Different than a classic French baquette that I found in Paris the three odds years that I lived there. Floury, nice overall crust and texture. Standard is hit or miss, depending on what you go for. Admittingly, I have not had all their offerings but have only really liked the Pain au Levain, plus the staff is always rude and snooty. It is a bakery, come on now! Felt the same current upstairs with regard to decorum. Really, more people would patronize if they had better treatment - this is what has been relayed to me from peers and the few friends that I have met so far (new in Portland). Big Sky is overall pretty good and consistent, but I would not say consistently great as far as products go. I am there at least once a week at the Firehouse (usually Mondays for double stamps on loyalty card and to have bread for the week). I think the German Rye, with sauerkraut mixed into it, is one of their best. Their ciabatta is pretty good and their baguette is a bit above par. Their seeded breads (one is called 3-seed) and honey wheat are decent for sandwiches as well. Not a big fan of there danishes, goods, and baked goods though. They need to figure something out with their coffee, not all that great and only one offering, save for a flavored and a decaf. Staff is pretty cheerful and friendly, which is a big plus. Only drawback for me is that it is usually filled with children - don't get me wrong I like kids, but they are usually out of control over at the mock worktable playing with dough while parents are chatting and blissfully unaware what type of scene is going on behind them. Foley is more for cakes and desserts, but really have not found them to be mediocre at best. Two Fat Cats has a horrid name and I think it is way to expensive for what you get. I still patronize them but find it hard swallowing the bitter pill of $17 for an apple pie. Homey and a intentionally retro with regards to desserts of prior generations, just don't think that their prices are in line with the results. I had tried Katy Made desserts and thought that they were average, surprised at how many restaurants sold their products instead of making desserts in house. Any that I have missed? I am on the look-out and hoping to find some hidden gem. Bagels? Cookies? Tarts? Donuts? Please save time and don't mention Dunkin Donuts and Mister Bagel.

I have been making sweatbreads for many years and have always cooked them a fair length of time until they are nice and crispy. This is true now matter if I grill them or saute in clarified butter. Then I usually serve them on top of crispy proscutto napped with a Madera sauce(from my homemade demi). Typically I get them fresh from the "plant" within a day or two of slaughter. I typicall buy both type, as they come packaged that way. I soak a couple of hours then simmer in acidulated water. Then clean, break into smaller pieces and weight them overnight. Then I poach in a curt boullion for 15 min or so -- then saute them. Which usually is about 15 min until crispy. The other night I skipped the poaching and grilled them for about 20-25 min until crispy. They were fantastic, I think better than usual. I guess what I am asking is... am I cooking them too long with my usual method? I should note that I rarely get any complaints.... I know I have turned many a man, woman, and child on to the pleasures of these luscious morsels....

Hi, I've recently got medium ground rye flour and whole rye grains. Is it possible to make a 100% sourdough rye bread, like those dense and hearty german style ones without the use of white rye flour?? Can someone help me with the formula?? THX

I love this book! I've made the recipe for Basic Hearth Bread many times before but now I want to do the "ultimate full flavor variation." I've already let the sponge ferment in the fridge for 24 hours but she says for even more flavor, "refrigerate the finished dough overnight; take it out 1 hour before shaping it." So...does that mean that I mix the dough, let it rise, then refrigerate it overnight, take it out, shape it and let it rise again? I appreciate any advice anyone has

This is a fully risen loaf on the picture, about 1.25 hours after shaping. I'm seriously concerned with its skin (or absent of such... notice the holes). The loaf stays pretty low, and doesn't have ovensring (even if I don't wait until it that risen) - in the oven it can be seen that surface "breathes" severily, i.e. gases intensively go out through the holes... Before it went to the pan it seemed to have nice and smooth surface. What's wrong happened with the loaf? There was no retarding.

And from bread itself comes bread sauce. Bread sauce is a quiet nonchalant sort of thing, generally most self-deprecating the year round as it awaits its seasonal turn to appear with an arrogant burst of self-confidence as it brims from fine china gravy tureens at holiday time. Yet bread sauce holds in memory a long past, with paths meandering far and wide into other manners and means, perhaps related, perhaps simply co-existing. Yet each relation or close ally is made from the base form of bread, dashed into crumbs then set to gay dalliance with other good and warming things. Bread sauce was known in Ancient Rome, and from there it travels on forward through time, taking different forms of style. In this essay on a 1545 Remove for a Dinner Party we find that the breadsauce has become green with herbs, similar to what we now might call salsa verde. A hop skip and a jump brings us to the equitable joys of skordalia from Greece; gazpacho (which of course is a soup, but still we might include it for the familiarity of the humble stale bread crumb base, blended with liquids to make a fine dish); and ajo blanco, which is called the "original" gazpacho, showing a Moorish influence. During the Civil War in the US, roast partridge with breadsauce must have been a treat, the hunters carrying home braces of partridge to roast over the coals of the fireplace or stove, the stale bread generously endowed with flavor and spice to enrichen and blend together the strong flavors of the game and the creamy sauce. Fanny Farmer offers a recipe for bread sauce in her 1918 classic Boston Cooking School Cookbook, and our interest and curiosity in finding ways to use bread as sauce today is shown in a rustic, delightfully mouth-watering sauce povera for pasta from Italy - little cubed bread sauce and in a lovely minted bread sauce from the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver. The classic bread sauce served today at many Christmas dinner-tables is soft, filled with scent of nutmeg and a gentle waft of onion, as in this traditional bread sauce. Indeed, we might need to call this recipe (as Henry James would have it) - "the time honored bread sauce of the happy ending" - though surely more shapes and surprises have yet to come. .......................................................................................................................................... Edited to sweep up crumbs of loosened grammar.