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hi, here is my culture at 4 days old. how can i tell it is ready to be placed into the refrigerator? it hasnt change much since yesterday. i did however have a small amount of hooch in the center on monday, but it seems to have disappeared, not sure what to make of that. also, some say to wait till the whole culture is full of tiny bubbles, however in the directions it states to wait for 1-2 inches of foam and mentions nothing about the rest of the cultures appearance. also, should this culture be kept at 85degrees or at 70-72 room temperature? i am going thanks for any help! i hope to join the bread bakers thread!

Several times I've had dough fail to rise, or rise only minimally, and it's just dawned on me that this only started happening when the weather got cold. For first rising I place the dough in a glass bowl on a marble-topped baker's table, and I always prepare the dough in the evening for overnight rising. Could it be that the cold marble in the cold winter air (my kitchen's poorly heated) is interfering with rising? Is there an optimum temperature for rising? One baker told me "heat is the enemy of yeast," but a chef friend said "put it in an oven with a pilot light, it'll like the heat." ~ beau

Anyone know a good place to buy yeast in larger quantities in NYC? Every grocery store I go into seems to only have the 3-pack of the little packets.

Greetings, all: A friend of mine is trying to re-create two Russian breads. The first is called "Borodinsky" bread...it is a wheat, rye, bran combination bread, flavored with such ingredients as caraway, fennel, instant coffee, molasses, onion powder, etc, etc. The second he describes this way: "The second is called, "Narachomsky" bread...which, as best we can figure out, is a sourdough rye and potato flour bread, flavored with salt and cumin...nothing much more...the bread is baked in round loaves ( no pan). The crust is almost completely black, and the bread itself is a beautiful pale gray....it is very moist, and has a sour-sweet flavor that is amazing with a mild cheese, or any type of deli meat....We usually just have The Parents mail it from Minsk, but I decided to try and re-create it..." Any help at all would be most appreciated! Thank you! Rachael

I know from bitter experience the results of overproofing the second rise for bread. But what about the first? How tied to the "let rise until just doubled" rule do I have to be for the first proof? Thanks in advance.

Hey all, First post here. I have been inspired by all I see and learn. thanks. Anyway the 5 minute artisan bread thread really got me in the kitchen. My first try I used too much whole wheat flour and the bread was heavy and tasted like sawdust. Here are the results from my second batch which tasted great. I think the only issue I am seeing is that there was not much lift in the middle of the loaves. The crumb looked great nearer to the edges but it got much denser towards the middle. Could that be a result of poor slashes? Or possibly not letting it sit out of the fridge long enough (i waited 80 minutes). Baked on stone, 450 oven for 20 minutes. thanks Cameron

ANDIE'S ABSOLUTELY ADDICTING BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES Here’s the thing about pickles: if you’ve never made them, they may seem to be an overwhelming (and possibly mysterious) project. Our listener Andie – who has offered some really valuable help to the show several times in the past – has sent this recipe which provides an opportunity to “try your hand” at pickle-making without much effort. Andie suggests that making a small batch, and storing the pickles in the refrigerator (without “processing”) can get you started painlessly. Our Producer Lisa says that the result is so delicious that you won’t be able to keep these pickles on hand - even for the 3-4 months that they’ll safely keep! The basics are slicing the cucumbers and other veggies, tossing them with salt and crushed ice and allowing them to stand for awhile to become extra-crisp. You then make a simple, sweet and spicy syrup, (Andie does this in the microwave), rinse your crisp veggies, put them in a jar, pour the syrup over, and keep them in the refrigerator until they’re “pickled” – turning the jar upside down each day. In about 2 weeks you’ll have pickles – now how much easier could that be? If you are inspired, I hope you’ll try these – and enjoy! MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART. FOR THE PICKLES: 4 to 6 pickling cucumbers (cucumbers should be not much larger than 1 inch in diameter, and 4 to 5 inches long) 1/2 to 3/4 of one, medium size onion. 1/2 red bell pepper. 1/4 cup, pickling salt (coarse kosher salt) 2 quarts, cracked ice water to cover 2 tablespoons, mustard seed. 1 heaping teaspoon, celery seed FOR THE SYRUP: 1 1/2 cups, vinegar *NOTE: Use cider or distilled white vinegar, do not use wine vinegar. 1 1/2 cups, sugar 2 heaping teaspoons, pickling spice mix. PREPARE THE PICKLES: Carefully wash the cucumbers and bell pepper. Slice all vegetables very thin, using a food processor with a narrow slicing blade, or by hand, or using a V-slicer or mandoline. Toss the sliced vegetables together in a glass or crockery bowl large enough to hold twice the volume of the vegetables. Sprinkle the salt over the vegetables, add the cracked ice, toss again to blend all ingredients and add water to just barely cover the vegetables. Place a heavy plate on top of the vegetables to keep them below the top of the liquid. *Set aside for 4 hours. PREPARE THE SYRUP: Place the vinegar, sugar and pickling spices in a 4-quart Pyrex or other microwavable container (the large Pyrex measure works very well) Microwave on high for 15 to 20 minutes. [if a microwave is not available, simmer the syrup in a narrow saucepan on the stovetop, over low heat, for the same length of time.] Allow the syrup to cool. Strain the syrup and discard the spices. ASSEMBLE THE PICKLES: Place one wide-mouth quart canning jar (or two wide-mouth pint jars) with their lids in a pot of water to cover, place over medium heat and bring the water to a simmer (180 degrees). Remove the pot from the heat and allow jar(s) and lid(s) to remain in the hot water until needed. *After the 4 hours are up (crisping the vegetables as described above) pour the vegetables into a large colander and rinse well. The cucumber slices should taste only slightly salty. Return the rinsed vegetables to the bowl, add the mustard seeds and celery seeds and toss well until evenly distributed. Set aside. Return the syrup to the microwave, microwave on high for 8 to 10 minutes [or heat the syrup on the stovetop] until an instant read thermometer shows the temperature of the syrup is 190 to 200 degrees. Place the vegetables into one wide-mouth quart jar, or in 2 wide-mouth pint jars that have been scalded as described above. Pour the syrup over the vegetables, place the lids on the jar or jars, tighten well and place in the refrigerator overnight. The following day, turn the jar upside down - then continue to turn every day for 2 weeks. (This is to insure that the pickles are evenly flavored) After 2 weeks open the jar and taste. The pickles should be ready to eat. Pickles will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 months. ( RG2154 )

can someone recommend one please? in english

Cheesecake Factory, Texas Roadhouse, Pappa's Seafood, Pappadeaux's. These places all have amazing bread! It's so soft, yeasty, and fluffy, and you can't get them anywhere else! Even your local bakeries or your Whole Foods and Central Market bakeries can't make bread like that. All the breads in the markets and even recipes in books are for rustic-style bread. But I want soft and fluffy bread like in the restaurants! I was wondering how I could replicate any of these at home. To be honest, I highly doubt any of these restaurants have enough room to make the bread from scratch, they probably get them frozen for all I know. I really don't care how they do it; it's so good and I want to learn how to make them from scratch. I know there are some recipes floating around for these breads, but I really don't think any of them are the real deal. But I've been researching and it seems to get soft yeasty bread requires more than the standard ingredients of yeast, flour, eggs, and butter. I've seen online that they use "dough conditioners" and "Vital Wheat Gluten" to achieve that softness. Anyone know about this stuff? Is it unhealthy? I'll gladly put gallons of butter if that's what the recipe calls for, but I don't want to be messing with anything un-natural like trans-fats.

Am I the only person who thinks a decently sharpened regular chef's knife does a better job of cutting bread than a serrated knife? Fewer crumbs, less tearing, cleaner-looking slices. I'm not a gifted sharpener of knives. I don't have Takeda knives sharpened to 7-degree angles. I just have regular, decently sharp Euro knives (Wusthof, Sabatier et al.). But I find they consistently do a better job slicing bread than my serrated knives.

Slow and Easy Bread in a Pot was the initial recipe in the episode I watched yesterday. Episode 209 can be watched here. I was impressed by the other recipes too but the bread that was mixed, proofed and baked, all in the same pot, was the star of the show in my opinion. I think the overnight stint in the fridge should develop a very nice flavor. I plan on mixing a batch this evening and baking it off tomorrow morning and will report back with my results. It has also prompted me to order the book!

Sorry for the awkward title. Couldn't figure out how to word it concisely. Here's my dilemma. I have worked hard, studied hard, and have finally after many travails been able to consistently produce a good loaf of sandwich/pan bread. The problem is, unlike storebought or even bakery bread, my bread is not very durable for lack of a better word and falls apart when used for sandwiches. Wah. I have used both all-purpose and bread flour with no discernable difference. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Darling husband has a fixation for the bread of his childhood, and loving wife that I am I strive to indulge his every whim. The most elusive of these desires has been Baurnbrot - German Farmer's Bread or Peasant Bread. Hey, this should be doable right? I can make the mustard he loves from scratch, I have access to all sorts of German cold cuts, cheeses and sausages that are authentic to his taste, Brochen are relatively easy to produce - but the Baurnbrot I have attempted in the past has never been "right." So, yesterday at Whole Foods (ugh) I ran across this This Seitenbacher "Mix" for "Original German Farmer's Bread," grabbed it, brought it home and baked it. OK, home run. Hubby loved it, best bread he's had in 20 years, yadda, yadda. The silly thing retails at Whole Foods for $6.99 and makes about a one pound loaf. A pound of this bread just gets hubby started, especially in the cooler months. The rub is that this mix is just a package of spelt and rye flours with sea salt, a packet of active dry yeast, and a packet of sourdough starter. I think I can do this cheaper and more efficiently. I suspect that the secret ingredient (outside of technique, and I pretty much have that down) is that starter. It appears to be a rye flour based starter (by greyish appearance) and I would hope that it is live. Smells wonderful. I noted on the website that they sell the starter in packets, and they mention that many home cooks start their own sourdough with the packets. I'm thinking that I could probably go buy another "mix" - rob the mix of the starter packet, feed the starter a day or two - and maintain my own. After about a dozen loaves, it should work out to a cost effective average - and I can whip a loaf out at hubby's whim. Here's where my need for help and lack of baking experience shows. I have never kept a rye flour based starter and don't have a clue. Do you feed it with a rye/wheat flour mix? Would just plain old sourdough starter be just as good, and is it perhaps the spelt/rye mix proportions that does the trick? What are typical spelt/rye proportions? Thanks in advance for any help. I am willing to spend a few bucks and experiment for a while to get this right. Next Christmas, I'll hopefully be able to send a five pound loaf off to my German Mother in Law and make her cry!

Dear fellow bread enthusiasts, http://ted.com has a new video up by none other than Peter Reinhart! He's giving a talk on his epoxy method of making whole grain breads, and the basic mechanics of the whole bread baking process from (as he says) "wheat to eat". Watch by clicking here: Peter Reinhart on Bread

Thanks to the wonder that is the "interwebs" I have found a copy cat recipe for an old Southern California delicacy that used to be sold by Van de Kamp's bakery "franchises" for want of a better term. For those of you who didn't grow up in California in the 50's & 60's, Van de Kamp's had what I think were independent franchises in the major grocery chains of the day, where they sold their own branded products. In their heyday, they had "hostess" dressed in bright blue dresses with pristine white, starched, lacy pinafores over them, and white buckram "Dutch Girl" hats. The full name was "Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakeries" so the Dutch getups made sense. As with most wonderful things of one's childhood, Van de Kamp's has gone the way of penny candy and double features. But I digress. They sold a coffee cake that was sublime. It was called a Dutch Twist, and it was a yeasted cake, braided much like a challah bread loaf, and sprinkled with an absolute TON of coarse sugar before baking, so the crust became marvelously carmelized. It was amazing. My dearest friend in the entire world has recently been expressing a longing for the Dutch Twist, and lamenting about how much she misses it and how good it was. I found what is supposedly the recipe, and would love to make it for her, but its written for an automatic bread machine, which I don't have, and don't want. Does anyone have any tips for converting the recipe (its the mixing and initial rise portion that takes place in the machine) to be done either manually, or in a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Thanks so much in advance. *I* would love to taste this delight again as well.....

Most of my favourite white bread have a yellowish crumb (particularly baguette for some reason) while all of my homemade white breads are pure white. I have used various type of white flour with similar results. Why is the crumb of all my favourite bread has that yellow tinge? Could this explain why my homebaked bread are not as good as those other breads?

This brew pub is in Mount Airy near McMenamins It was opened by the couple who ran Heavyweight Brewing Company. They feature their own beer and a number of guest brews on tap. They have wines by the bottle and glass, that I have not sampled. The flatbreads, (pizza to me) are baked at a high heat in a wood burning oven built for this restaurant. The crust is at once light and crispy and chewy, cooked perfectly with a bit of char on the edges, and very flavorful. It stands up to the toppings, no soggy crust in the middle. My favorite "bread" is the seed pizza with garlic oil, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds and cheese. Other favorites are the cheese tomato sauce and fresh arugula and a pesto pie with potatoes. The salads are fresh and well executed, I have found the soup to be hit or miss. The desserts are from The Night Kitchen in Chestnut Hill. This place is well worth a a special trip.

I saw a few references to Eric Kayser's hazelnut and turmeric bread in the blogs, including Chocolate & Zucchini. Sadly, I am not going to get to Paris any time soon. Does anyone know if there's a recipe around?

all-purpose flour 3 cups whole milk 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup kosher salt 2 tsp instant yeast 1 tbsp large eggs 2 i am thinking maybe 1 egg, add 1/2 cup water, and cut the butter to 1/4? making this http://www.applepiepatispate.com/bread/fil...o-pan-de-leche/

hi, i am following the raisin walnut bread recipe from the bread bakers apprentice by Peter Reinhardt. now, id like to try a banana walnut cinnamon bread and a apple walnut cinnamon bread. i was wondering if i can saute the apples or bananas with some butter and sugar to sweeten them before adding them to the bread for the second rise. any suggestions for this? thanks all

It seems that "The Bread Bible" is a very common cookbook title: a quick search on Amazon.com yields: The Bread Bible, by Beth Hensperger The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum The Bread Bible, by Christine Ingram Of these, I own but one: Beth Hensperger's. We've discussed Beranbaum's Bible over here, and that seems to be the one most often recommended in the "Bread Books for the Home Baker" topic (though Hensperger gets a little love), and Berenbaum's is the only one mentioned in the Pastry & Baking Index. I'm sure there must be eGullet members out there who bake from Hensperger's, though! What are your favorite recipes? I've tried about a dozen, but I'd love more recommendations. Are there any I need to avoid? Any ideas for modifications? Personally, she opens with a winner: her recipe for White Mountain Bread (p. 43) is fantastic, in my opinion. I love the whole wheat breads, nut breads, challah, and all the rest, but I still find myself gravitating back to the super-simple, flavorful, basically perfect white bread recipe. I'm also a big fan of the Olive Bread (p. 146) and the Shallot and Poppy Seed Braid (p. 196). In particular, the shallot and poppy seed filling from that last one is one of the best fillings I've ever run across for a bread.

When I was in Paris in late October (link to pics here), there was a bakery at the corner of Rue Douai and Rue de Bruxelles, in the 9th, that had the most amazing breads. One of them was called "picolla" and the place was so busy I never had enough time to ask them how they made it or what it was exactly. One thing I can say was that it was swoonaliciously good, with a thin crusty exterior and a moist, fluffy interior. Absolutely fantastic. So, what exactly is Pain Picolla? Cheers!

I'm an experienced bread baker, but here's a thing I've never tried. I think the absolutely best rolls for Thanksgiving are these Buttery Pan Rolls. But this year, in my kitchen in France, I only have one oven and not enough time or counter space to make these at the last minute, as I usually do. Could I form and butter the rolls, wrap tightly, and freeze? Then let them thaw and rise before baking? How much time do you think the thaw/rise would take? I'm guessing about 4 hours. I know, baking bread in France is totally coals to Newcastle, but I'm having a dozen people for their first Thanksgiving, and these rolls are so typically American and so not French.

Good morning, Could bread lover or enthusiast point me to the variety of breads regardless of nationality that you know of? A few types I knew of are Turkey bread, ciabatta, forcassia and that is about all.... those that are free off improver, enhancer and others raising agent but using olive oil. Thanks you and hope to hear and learn from you. Take care and cheers!

When it comes to re-culturing sourdough in a new location there seem to be two schools of thought. One group says that local bacteria will take over and, although you still have sourdough, it no longer has the same characteristics. This group has such members as Jeffrey Hamelman, director of the baking education center for King Arthur Flour, who has been quoted as saying "Local bugs join the party, and before long you've got Lactobacillus newyorkensis." Also, Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice says "... the organisms indigenous to your region will gradually take charge ... a starter made from a seed culture imported from Egypt or Russia will, over time, produce bread that tastes like a starter made locally from scratch." The other group maintains that the sourdough culture, being a mixture of yeasts and lactobacilli bacteria, when cultured properly will reproduce identical yeasts and bacteria. This group has contenders like Ed Wood, author of Classic Sourdoughs. What has the experience of eGullet members been?