Q&A MISC. Bread Questions
Until we can figure out a more sophisticated way to handle your feedback, your praise and your questions, we hope the following series of Q&A posts will help. Our goal is to get a conversation going about a particular topic in one location. Hoping that it will be easier for you to follow and get the information you need to bake gorgeous bread.
If we haven’t started a thread on the subject you are interested in then leave it here and we can create another post!
Thank you so much for all of the conversation. We enjoy it immensely and are learning so much from you all!
Zoë and Jeff
Zoe- thank you so much for the help. I took your suggestion and added 2 tbs of water to the basic boule dough. I thought I got good results- the dough was very sticky and rose to 4L line on the Cambro container. However, I just opened it to make the crusty white bread and saw that it shrunk down to the 2L line and stuck to the sides. I still didn’t need to cut it, it kind of tore off and didn’t result in very much dough. I wonder what I’m doing wrong- I’m letting it rise initially for 2 hours, using a kitchen aid mix, pillsbury unbleached all purpose, cambro container. i’m so confused! Maybe I’m thinking too hard about this…
Hi Nikki,
It could be that it was just under baked! Was the outside crust really nice and deep brown?
It is a wet dough because of the spinach, so don’t worry about it baking too long and drying out.
The only other thing I can think of is that it didn’t rise long enough before you baked it?
When you bake the next loaf, let it rise a little longer and bake a few more minutes.
Let me know how it goes!
Thanks, Zoë
I can’t believe I’m baking fresh bread at home! Thank you, thank you for this wonderful method.
Crust question: My Boule came out with a nice crispy crust but it is smooth. How can I achieve a ‘textured’ bumpy crust like in the photo or like the La Brea Bakery breads?
How wet is wet?
I don’t have the book because I wanted to first try out the recipes online to see if they’d work for me.
My dough (master recipe from Chicago Tribune) is really, really wet, maybe because it’s really humid here? I can pour it. Some of it stays stuck to the surface when I try to “slide” it onto the preheated surface (in my case, an upside-down pizza pan) – I really just have to use a spatula to pull it off.
The first loaf I made from it still rose well and had a good crust, but a gummy interior. The loaf I just got out of the oven didn’t seem to have any rise, though I haven’t cut it open yet to check on the inside. Also, I’m having to bake them for over an hour to get any brown, so the bottom’s burnt to get any hint of brown on the rest of them.
Any ideas?
Rachel: My guess is that you need more steam in the oven to achieve that nice textured surface. Some ovens tend to vent away the steam more than others and maybe that’s what yours is doing. First off, try more water (a cup and a half) in the broiler tray. If that doesn’t help, you may have to add sprayed water in addition to the steam from the broiler tray. Get a food-grade sprayer and fill with water. Spray generously just before you close the oven door and repeat twice at two-minute intervals. See what you think.
Lori Ann: You’re right, your dough is too wet. First question, are you using bleached flour? If so, switched to unbleached, which has more protein to absorb all that water. If it’s not the flour, decrease the water by a quarter cup and try again. Jeff
can you let me know where i can purchase powdered carmel. i can not seem to locate it in a small amount on any google site.
thanks
Hi Virginia,
King Arthur Flour carries it:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/landing.jsp?go=DetailDefault&id=1438
Enjoy! Zoë
Thanks. I’m guessing my flour is bleached (since it’s white) but it’s the only option around here besides buckwheat – I live in rural China in the south where they mostly eat rice or noodles, not bread (there’s no bakeries that sell anything except sweet breads, which is why I want to make my own :-D).
Can I still make this work? Would the less-water work with even bleached flour?
I adore your book. It is now stained from much use.
Question: my pizza stone is very dirty. How do I clean off the burned on cheese (messy calzone) and other bread products?
I’m buying more copies for all my friends who cook!
Hi Lori Ann,
Yes, the dough will still work with bleached flour but you will have to reduce the amount of water. I would also let it rise and then rest overnight in the refrigerator before baking and try letting the loaf rest longer before baking it the next day!
I have some bleached flour around here so I’m going to throw together a batch and let you know what I find.
Please keep in touch and let us know how it is coming along! I’m very excited to think that the bread is being baked in China!
Good luck, Zoë
Hi Patricia,
Thanks for sharing the book! I’m so glad you are enjoying it so much.
I clean my stone with a bench scraper. https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Pastry-Scraper/dp/B00004OCNJ/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1205900758&sr=8-1
I almost never remove it from the oven, just scrape the cornmeal or cheese off after you remove your bread or once the stone is cool.
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Jeff and Zoe,
I’m posting here because Jeff somehow found my little blog and posted a comment on one of my posts about this bread. Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂
Since I live in Cyprus it’s not so easy to get your book, but I wonder if you’re going to bring out a UK edition, and if so, when? I must get a copy of your book!
Also, Zoe you’ve mentioned shaping the bread and proofing overnight in the fridge – do you cover it at all?
Thanks a lot!
Hi Hazel,
Last I knew the UK version was already out? I think you can get it on UK Amazon? We’ll check on that.
Yes, when I let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator I loosely cover it with plastic wrap.
Thanks and good luck finding the book! We look forward to hearing more from Cyprus.
Zoë
Hi Zoe,
Thanks for your reply! And yes, the book is available on Amazon.co.uk, however despatch estimate is 2 to 3 weeks so I assumed it would be coming from the US… I checked a couple of other UK online booksellers and their despatch estimates are 6-8 weeks! Sigh.
I’m going to visit my local bookshop and see if they’ll be able to order a copy for me from the US.
Thanks again!
Hi Hazel,
Sorry about that wait! Good luck and stay in touch.
Zoë
Hi. I LOVE your book. My family can’t believe I’m baking fresh bread. They all say it’s the best bread they have ever had! However, I’m pregnant and have developed an aversion to honey. Can I subsitute sugar for the honey called for in the recipes? Should I also add more liquid if I do?
Thanks again!
Hi Amanda,
Congratulations! Have you ever heard of Lyle’s golden syrup? It is made of cane sugar but acts more like honey. If you can find it try it and you will be thrilled!
If not then sugar is fine too.
Have fun baking!
Zoë
I received your book as a Christmas gift from my son (albeit somewhat after Christmas, due to its popularity and my son’s last-minute shopping.) It is already dog-eared, grease-stained, etc.
I served the bran-enriched white bread to guests and was asked “Where is this bread from?” When I answere, “My oven,” they were blown away and immediately wanted information about the book.
My question is: Can I use oat bran in place of wheat bran in that recipe? Do I need to make any other changes to the recipe?
Thank you so much!
Hi Deb,
I’m so glad your son had the burst of inspiration, albeit last minute.
I think you can use oat bran instead of the wheat bran without changing anything else.
Thanks and enjoy all the bread!
Zoë
Deb: I use oat bran all the time and it substitutes nicely for wheat bran. I slightly prefer the flavor and texture so it will be prominent in our next book. Jeff
Thanks for the feedback!
Two questions:
1) I still have enough dough left over for another loaf. But, since the bread hasn’t been coming out good and the dough is so wet I can pour it, could I mix up more dough with your suggestion (less water) and then combine it with the remaining dough? If I did that, how long would I let it rise and how long would I refrigerate it?
2) I like healthy bread a lot better than white breads, and I hear the recipes in your book are good, but I don’t have wheat or rye flour. Would I be able to use the recipes? I do have sorghum (milo) and sorghum flour, millet, corn flour and corn meal, soy flour, and oats which I can ground up in my spice mill.
Thanks! I just want to check that I can get good use out of the book before I pay for international shipping to get it over here!! 🙂
Oh! One more question – do you have any snapshots/ still photos? I’d love to see what consistency the dough actually should be, and what cloaking looks like, and what a freeform loaf should look like pre-baking. The local internet connection can’t handle the videos on your page unfortunately 🙁
Lori Ann: I’ll answer your second question first: go to https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=121 to see Zoe’s post, with pictures, that shows how wet the dough should look. That should help, and it’s not video.
You can use the leftover stuff as a base for your next loaf, and the bread will have a shortcut to sourdough flavor (the technique is in our book). But the stuff you’re using as a base is too wet, so you’ll need to compensate with less water in your next batch. How much less? Depends on how wet the old stuff is. Try a quarter-cup less water for starters.
Then, about those hand-ground whole grains. Substitute out about a cup of white flour for any of those and see what you think. You can’t go that high on the ones you mention because they have no gluten and rising can be a problem. If you like the result, you can push it to 2 cups, but the result may be pretty dense.
Were you able to locate unbleached flour in China? Bleached flour is the reason for such overly wet dough. Jeff
I can’t find unbleached flour. I’ll try to sub in a little bit of whole grains with my next batch, but I just mixed up my old dough with the white flour and a whole lot less water (less than 2 cups). Will it help if I use 2lb of flour instead of 6.5 cups? The humidity fluctuates from 20% to 100% here and we don’t have indoor temperature controls or good insulation. I have a kitchen scale anyway – my husband cooks a lot.
I love the book so far and am gathering ingredients to try more but can’t find the malted wheat flakes at king arthur. Can I substitute barley flakes? Also, can you use malt powder that you make malted milk shakes?
Thanks for the help.
Beth
The two pound approach is a good one, but we’re not clear on how humidity affects the alternative measurement appraoches relative to each other. Worth a try.
Since you can’t get unbleached, why not just decrease the water a quarter-cup? Jeff
Beth: KAF dropped the malted wheat flakes and they’re not available anywhere else. A reader has successfully used a product called Maltex. Barley flakes aren’t malted and won’t give the flavor we’re looking for (though it makes a tasty bread). Malt powder for shakes is just fine, so give it a try. Jeff
I’m not sure this is the same product, but I’ve seen a product called malted wheat flakes at supply stores for homebrewing beer. They also carry various other malt products but I’m pretty sure that it’s a much different thing than the malt you use for shakes.
Daryl: There’s an interesting overlap between home brewers and home bakers–I used to brew as well. The malted wheat flakes for brewing sound like they’d work, so long as they were reasonably finely ground. I’d give it a try. Jeff
For plastic container for storing dough in fridge- can I put a Tupperware lid on tight, or just leave it loose-book says not airtight container.
Hi Kate,
If you use Tupperware leave the seal cracked slightly. Here is a post we did on our buckets:
https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=121
Thanks, Zoë
I am going to be baking three loaves of your olive bread in the oven at the same time. Do I need to add more than one cup of hot water to the broiler pan because I’m baking more than one loaf? Or, should I just use all the dough to make one giant loaf?
Thanks!!
Laura
p.s. – – LOVE your oatmeal bread!
Same one cup should do it, whether you do two loaves, or a giant one. Be careful with the giant loaf, they always need more baking time. Jeff
I have been loving the recipes from your cookbook. Now I’m going to try the chocolate bread recipe, but I have a question. I’ve seen in stores that Ghiradelli sells a ground sweet chocolate. Do you know if this would be bittersweet, and if so would it be a shortcut for the finely chopped chocolate in the second half of the ingredient list, or is this too sweet or maybe too fine? If this wouldn’t work, would the Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips work without needing to be chopped smaller? Thanks for all your help and for writing this great book!
Hi Daryl,
The size of the chips won’t matter in the recipe. They will just distribute differently throughout the dough.
You can use a sweeter chocolate if you like. It is up to your palate as to whether you want a semi-sweet or a bittersweet.
Enjoy and let me know what you went with and how it comes out!
Zoë
It works!
I used the weight measurements for the flour, and added less water than the recipe calls for. It’s been in the fridge several days, and I am currently eating the loaf that dough made. It’s nearly perfect! Wonderful crumb, smells great, rose perfectly (a lot more than I’d expected!), and most importantly, a great taste. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was that the bottom stuck some and kind of tore away when I tried to get it off. Otherwise, wonderful! Thank you!
Hi Lori Ann,
That is fantastic news! Thanks for letting us know.
Are you baking on parchment or cornmeal? If you bake on parchment you shouldn’t have any troubles with sticking.
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Jeff and Zoe,
I am about to bake my first Oatmeal Bread. It doesn’t say slash the top in the instructions for this one. Is that correct?
PS
The Deli Rye, Broa and Red Pepper Fougasse..all fabulous!
Thanks
Cynthia
Zoe, Jeff,
I’m writing an article about your book for Florida Today, a newspaper on the Space coast of Florida. I couldn’t find a phone or e-mail link directly to either of you. Is there a way to reach you for a comment or two for the article?
Bob
Hi Cynthia,
If you bake the bread without slashing the top the crust will open up randomly and have a more rustic look. We don’t always slash the breads baked in a loaf pan, but you certainly can.
Enjoy! Zoë
Made a pizza today and my husband is so stoked!!! I made one as an experiment with the basic dough and then one with the pizza dough. Liked the one with the olive oil better. I had no trouble sliding the pizza off the paddle. I used lots of cornmeal and your tip about not letting it stay on the peel too long seems to be key. I don’t have a pizza stone. I use a jelly roll pan from Pampered Chef. So, I have a funky elongated pizza. It was delicious. “Bye-bye pizza parlor”. Tomorrow brioche. The dough is in the fridge.
Hi Rosemary,
I love the olive oil pizza crust too!
I can’t wait to hear what you think of the brioche, it is probably my favorite.
Thanks, Zoë
Please provide shaping, rising, and oven temperature info for making dinner rolls out of the standard boule recipe or any of the other recipes in your book. Thanks.
Hi Sandra,
Your best bet for shaping advice may be to visit our videos:
https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?page_id=63
The rolls will just be small boules about 3-4 ounces of dough. We have a recipe for rolls on page 108.
The rising and oven temperatures will vary depending on the dough you are baking. If you have a question about a particular type of loaf please let me know!
Thanks, Zoë
Zoe & Jeff, you are the BEST ! I love your book, I am on my 6th loaf in 7 days…they are wonderful, my daughter informed me that now I can “work in a bakery”, she’s 6.
My question is, and forgive me if it was listed already, How many loaves can I bake in the oven at the same time ? Could I do 2 ? Would I need a longer baking time ? (I use the peasant loaf and the boule recipe so far.)
Also, if I have my son or daughter (they are little people) make their own mini loaves, how would I adjust baking time and or temperature?
P.S. I just wrote a blog post about your book and my experience this past week…I am so inspired !!
Thanks for you time…
Hi Amy,
Thanks so much for sharing your enthusiasm with us and your readers. I bake multiple loaves all the time. Just keep an eye out for the color. Depending on the type of loaf they may bake at different rates.
The small loaves will follow the same rules. Just watch them so they don’t get too brown, I’d say after about 20-25 minutes you should start to check on them.
Have fun!
Zoë
Zoe and Jeff,
Loved meeting you at Les Gourmettes. Since my first two old fashioned loaves baked years ago were edible but not really wonderful, I had given up learning to bake bread. That all ended with your book.
I finally gathered the courage to try again on Sunday. The boule was lovely, the fougasse was yummy, I am making another boule right now and am on to the olive oil dough for pizza tomorrow.
I have already told two serious bread bakers about your book and they are also going to try it out.
Finally, I love your efforts to continue the conversation with your readers. You are a great asset to the culinary community.
Come back to Phoenix again. Thanks so much.
Michele
Michele, we had a great time in Phoenix. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the book.
Thanks for coming to our class, and all your generous comments. Jeff
Congratulations! Great cover story with fabulous pictures in the Food/Wine section of my local paper: The San Jose Mercury News. It was titled: NO KNEAD TO KNEAD:”Finally, a homemade bread that requires very little effort from the baker.” There were beautiful pictures of a boule, fougasse, and baguettes and a section on shaping the dough. Prepare for more sales of your terrific book. Now, it’s time for you both to visit Silicon Valley.
Hi Zoe and Jeff,
Just wanted to tell you that the Hot Cross bun suggestion you posted resulted in the most wonderful and nostalgic hot cross buns I have had in years! Thank you! I used the Pannetone recipe as you suggested but I left out the lemon and just used orange rind, added 2 t. cinnamon, 1 t. cardamom, 1/2 t. cloves, and 1/2 t. nutmeg. I used a cream cheese frosting for the crosses. They were just as I remember having as a child. Mmm!
I have a question about making “French” dinner rolls from the master recipe..I don’t want to handle the dough too much – should I be removing a pound-sized ball of dough and cloaking that first, then cutting it into small portions, or do you remove the roll sized portions individually from the refrigerated dough and cloak those? Thanks–I haven’t been so obsessed with baking and bread for years! Love it!