FAQs

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

I’ve enjoyed answering reader questions on our blog since 2007.  Click on any of the questions below– these are the ones that seem to be on a lot of bakers’ minds.  If you’re having a problem with one of the recipes, breeze through these FAQs first. If you can’t find an answer there, click on any “Comments” field adjoining a “post” here on the website (doesn’t have to be related to the content underneath). Tell me which book you’re working from, and which recipe and page number, and ask your question. I’ll answer, right under your question (or maybe a few below), within a day or so. Please understand that I can’t write back directly to you–there’ve been tens of thousands of questions here on the site, and I want other readers to benefit from the conversation. 

And please understand that my publisher would disown me if I put all my full-detail recipes here on the website or in the comment responses. This site is mainly a way of reaching out to readers, and supporting them as they work on recipes that appear in the published books.

If the list of FAQs below doesn’t get you the answer you need, try the Search Bar. On the Home Page, it’s right over the picture of the bread. In narrower displays, it sometimes appears right underneath the orange BreadIn5 logo. Type in the bread style, ingredient, or technique that you’re interested in, and the search engine will show you all the similar posts I’ve ever done on it, with recipes and answers to many questions.    –Jeff

  1. BreadIn5.com is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, BreadIn5 LLC earns an affiliate commission.
  2. Comments policies: I posted a comment to this site but it hasn’t appeared. What happened? Can I put up links to other sites?
  3. Contest and Giveaway Rules
  4. Convection oven: Any adjustment needed?
  5. Dense or gummy crumb: What am I doing wrong?
  6. Flour varieties: Do I need to adjust the liquids when I use different kinds of white flour?
  7. Freezing the dough: Can I do it?
  8. Fresh-ground grains: can I use them with this method?
  9. Gluten-Free Frequently Asked Questions (GF FAQs)
  10. Gray color on my dough: Is there something wrong? Is it mold?
  11. High-altitude baking: How do I adjust the recipes for high-altitude?
  12. Incorporating dried fruit, nuts, or herbs into stored dough: How do I do it?
  13. Larger loaves/multiple loaves: What adjustments are needed?
  14. Left the dough on the counter overnight! Can I still use it?
  15. The scoop-and-sweep method for measuring flour by volume: How it was done when testing these recipes
  16. Missing instructions and missing recipes: Some of the web-based recipes don’t have everything I need to make the bread, and others are missing from the website altogether
  17. Nutrition content: How can I calculate it?
  18. Photographs: Can I post pictures to this website?
  19. Privacy Policy
  20. Refrigerator rise trick: The formed loaves or rolls rise overnight and are ready for the oven the next day
  21. Rising: My shaped loaves don’t seem to rise much before it’s time for the oven.  What am I doing wrong?
  22. Salt: Can I decrease the amount of salt in the recipes?  How do I adjust for different kinds of salt?
  23. Sourdough starter: Can I use it with this method?
  24. Steam alternatives: How do I create a steam environment for a great crust when my oven doesn’t trap steam well?
  25. Stone broke! What did I do wrong?
  26. Storing bread: What’s the best way to do it?
  27. Traditional recipes: How can they be converted to the ABin5 method?
  28. Underbaked! My loaf didn’t bake through to the center.  What am I doing wrong?
  29. Web or other uses: Can I use your recipes on my own website, in my class, or in a publication?
  30. Weighing ingredients instead of using cup measures: How do you do it?
  31. Whole grain flours and vital wheat gluten: How do you use them?
  32. Whole grain flours and doughs without vital wheat gluten: How do those work?
  33. Yeast: Can it be decreased in the recipes?
  34. Health questions posted here over the years

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

4,022 thoughts to “FAQs”

    2. For years I used your 100% whole wheat bread, plain and simple from your original Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day page 79, substituting whole grain spelt flour as you mention. I used that recipe for years and found it was my favorite. However, I purchased your The New Healthy Bread and notice this recipe is not included. However come?

      Reply

      1. Hah, that’s a blast from the past! The first book you mentioned was from 2009, and the second from 2016. The way I remember it was that a lot of people wrote in to say that they found 100% spelt bread to be too dense, especially when made as a tall loaf. Personally I didn’t agree, but it generated a lot of debate with the publisher! In the new edition of that book, I tended to use spelt mixed with white all-purpose flour for a better rise. You sound like your taste is kind of like mine, that we’re okay with a denser result. Feel free to continue to swap it as you’ve been doing. Thanks for writing!

  2. Hi! I love the book and have made many pizzas and focaccias with it. Now I want to try the brioche recipe. Can it be used to make baba au rhum? Any advice on how to do so would be appreciated.

    Reply

    1. I haven’t tried it, but it should work. The baba recipes I’ve looked at seem very similar: an eggy white yeasted dough.

      Reply

  3. Ready to make my first loaf! Question: can I use a metal cookie sheet for the broiler tray? And where do I put the tray? Below the baking stone? Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Correct, below the Stone seems to work better. My guess is the cookie sheet is not going to be a great option unless it has a good rim that will prevent the water from running off the sides. Also a good idea to protect your oven glass if it’s not tempered a towel to prevent breakage

      Reply

  4. I don’t have a question…just a compliment!

    I am an accomplished baker and all around handy…I built a pizza oven in my back yard.

    I had heard about your book, but just didn’t get around to trying it…a purist.

    Well, apparently religion comes in a book with 382 pages! I am a complete convert, and several friends are now too. I do sneak a few folds during initial rise, but the rest is sooo easy.

    Thanks for all that you do, and happy holidays.

    Reply

  5. I would like to make fatayah, a Lebanese meat triangular pie I learned from my grandma. She made a bread dough but I only know how to make the filling. Would one of your recipes work for this?

    Reply

  6. Can I make a 2# loaf instead of a 1# loaf? That is instead of 4 loaves I would only get 2. Since I’m baking them in my large dutch oven. Hopefully it would make a taller round bread. Thanks, Doris

    Reply

    1. Sure, absolutely. You may need a slightly longer bake time, depending on the characteristics of your dutch oven and your oven itself.

      Reply

  7. I’m reading your “Best of…” book, and was looking for a recipe to bake my own hamburger buns; I didn’t find anything in the book’s Table of Contents. What would you suggest? “Brioche”?

    Reply

      1. Thank you very much. I mentioned “brioche” because we’ve been buying “brioche hamburger buns” from the grocery store for a while now, and I figured I could probably make some kind of equivalent (or even better?) using your suggestions.
        I have more questions that don’t relate to hamburger buns, but I think I’ll address these under a different post.
        Thanks again!

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