Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 07:54:40 GMT -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v106.n007 -------------- 001 - sariah Subject: How to make unbleached, high gluten bread flour? Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:53:04 -0600 I'm hoping some of you experts can help me. I do not have any local stores that carry UNbleached bread flour, just the bleached. I do not want to order it due to the shipping costs. Is it possible to duplicate it by mixing pure gluten flour in with unbleached flour? What would the ratios be? Thanks in advance. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.2 --------------- From: "adam tenner" Subject: RE: Sourdough challah help Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 10:38:08 -0500 Hi Maggie, Thanks for writing back. Ok, here goes. 1. I do measure by weight, so I don't think that's the problem. 2. My starter was very active, so I don't think that was it. 3. I did use kosher salt. I usually use 1.5 t for every 1 t regular salt. 4. The only thing I did that was different from the recipe is that when I got to the shaping/proofing stage, I didn't braid them at that point, but rolled out the strands to let them proof. I did have some rise before that during the fermentation phase, but they didn't rise at all after that. In fact they lost all their structure and became nearly impossible to handle. As an illustration, I had expected to gently braid some nice long batard-shaped strands, but when I got to braiding, the slightest pressure pulled them into super tiny grissini! It seemed to me that they had begun to lose their internal structure like the sourdough chef does. What do you think? I am hopefully going to try them again next Friday night as I'll have more time this week. -Adam -----Original Message----- From: Maggie Glezer [mailto:glezer@mindspring.com] Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:46 PM To: a10er@yahoo.com; bread-bakers@lists.bread-bakers.com Subject: Sourdough challah help Hi Adam, I AM a member of the list! Let's see if I can help you. About adding extra flour, are you weighing or measuring by volume? I would guess measuring with a cup, in which case all bets are off--there is just too much variation in how people measure a cup of flour. This is one of my favorite things to demonstrate in my hands-on classes--cups of flour can weigh anywhere from 120 g to almost 200 g depending on how they are added to the cup--a huge variation. If the extra cup worked with the way you measured, I wouldn't worry about it. But for the future, I highly recommend buying a cheap digital scale. Your baking will be faster, cleaner and much more accurate. About not getting volume, there are many possible reasons. Usually this is because the starter just isn't active enough. Does your firm starter quadruple in volume in 8 hours or less? If not, it's just not ready, even if you have been using it for years, and needs more refreshments to become fully active. My recipes use very little starter, so they require fully active starters. Also, since it's winter, you might not be giving the dough enough warmth to properly rise, it needs at least 70 degrees F, and does better at even higher temperatures. So you might need to find a warmer place for optimal performance. If you added too much flour, and the dough was too stiff, the starter might also have been slowed. The rule with starters is that the warmer and wetter the dough, the faster the rise (and the more mild the flavor, but that's a different topic). Another thought: what kind of salt did you use and how did you measure it? If you substituted kosher or sea salt, you might have added to much, which would have slowed the starter. Finally, if you added too much sugar or honey, you would have the same problem. It can be really hard to diagnose a problem, the symptoms are few and causes many. Let me know what you think might be the cause! All the best, Maggie --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.3 --------------- From: Popthebaker@aol.com Subject: Kyle and Maggie Glezer's Sourdough Challah Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:19:42 EST I can't agree more with Maggie's analysis and suggestions. I find there are four indispensable tools in baking: an accurate scale, dough whisk, bench knife, and Prolon or Cambro containers. Scales with a capacity of 2 Kg (5 pound) have enough capacity for the average home baker and run around $30, unless you shop at the very high end kitchen stores. You can weigh ingredients directly into the work bowl without having to clean measuring devices. I have found that a dough whisk is the best implement for mixing any dough or batter and are about $10 from King Arthur and possibly your local kitchen store. A bench knife is the best implement for working with dough on the bench and dividing dough. Word of warning: You will find yourself using the scale for many other things besides baking. I use mine to weigh pasta, coffee, meat, and even as a postal scale. Pop --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.4 --------------- From: "Jack Hill" Subject: 5-Grain Bread Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:45:48 -0600 There is a restaurant in The Woodlands, TX called Sweet Tomatoes. They bake/serve the most delicious 5-Grain Bread. It has a wonderful chew with a crusty crust and soft, moist inside. Friday night while there I begged and pleaded for the list of ingredients that make up this bread. They will not share the actual recipe. My lucky stars were out because the young woman went into the back room and so generously wrote them out for me. She would not give the amounts needed, but here is the list: rolled oats, yellow polenta, rolled barley, rolled triticale, millet, rice bran, wheat germ, flaxseed, cracked wheat, high gluten bleached flour, powdered milk, molasses, honey, yeast, vegetable shortening, salt, and water Are there any seasoned bakers out there who would try and help me with the amounts? I am wanting to bake a 2-lb. loaf in my ABM. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks........................... Star Hill @ starb18@earthlink.net --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.5 --------------- From: "Jack Russell Weinstein" Subject: Pinching and attaching bread Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 12:17:10 -0600 Hi All, This is my first post on the list. :-) I wonder if people might help me with a bread shaping issue. When I make Challah (braided bread) or bagels, or any other bread that requires pinching two ends or two pieces together, the dough won't stay attached. I have tried wetting the end with cold water and warm water, adding extra flower and adding no flower, pinching quickly and pinching slowly. Does anyone have any techniques they might recommend for joining two dough ends so that they won't come apart during the rise? Thanks! Jack --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.6 --------------- From: WLHelms@aol.com Subject: Dried Sourdough Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:15:15 EST I've been considering baking with sourdough starter (I have none). If anyone would be willing to slip some dried soudough into a ZipLok bag and mail it to me I would be most appreciative. Just send me an e-mail with an address and I will send pre-addressed envelopes and pre-paid postage. I will also pay for you time and effort if it isn't too much. Many thanks, Wayne --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.7 --------------- From: RisaG Subject: re: DRIED SOURDOUGH Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:44:18 -0800 (PST) I just revived the sourdough before. I have it in a very large plastic container with a clean kitchen towel on top. We'll see what happens. I took 1/2 the package, 3/4 cup of warm water, 3/4 cup of flour (1/2 organic whole wheat and 1/2 white all-purpose unbleached) and 1 tsp sugar and put it in the container. Covered it. Put it in a draft-free area of the kitchen. We'll see what happens after a day or so. I'll keep everyone abreast of the success, or failure of it. Thanks for all the help. RisaG --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v106.n007.8 --------------- From: "Margaret G. Cope" Subject: Digital scales Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 08:02:12 -0500 Any advice on the brand? I would love to have one to make my baking more consistent. --------------- END bread-bakers.v106.n007 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2006 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved