Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:06:39 GMT -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v108.n041 -------------- 001 - Mike Avery - Question about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes 004 - Jeff Dwork Subject: Re: Distilled water Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:22:44 -0500 Andy Nguyen commented: >I feel that using distilled water for bread is _probably_ like using >distilled water for making coffee. I did try using distilled water >at one time, thinking that maybe my tap water is over-chlorinated >and that is making my yeast less active than it should be. I have >since decided that the reason I wasn't seeing as much yeast action >(crumb was too dense) not because of the water or because I was not >getting enough gluten development, but rather it was because, >well..., I just wasn't using enough yeast! From what I've read, using distilled water to make bread isn't a good idea. The mineral content of water is important to the growth of yeast, and distilled water is mineral free. So is reverse osmosis treated water. For a long time I felt that as long as your water tasted fine, it was probably OK to make bread with. That was up until my recent move to Sanger, Texas. I've baked in nine different cities in Texas and Colorado with no problems. And then, I moved to number ten. After the move, the dough didn't come together, it was as though it had way to little flour. I started using flour I'd moved here from the previous city and I weigh my ingredients so I was sure it wasn't a flour issue or a measuring problem. A helpful friend suggested that maybe the water was wetter here. Except that adding more flour didn't really help. The dough was still goo. Here in Sanger they use chloramines instead of chlorine. This makes chlorine more persistent - and gives the water a nasty taste. However, my yeast and sourdough were both working. This makes me wonder about the stories I've heard about chloramines killing yeast and sourdough. The water is amazingly soft here. But no softer than the water coming out of the softener in another home in another city where I had no problems baking. In desperation, I bought a water test kit like those used for spas and swimming pools. And I found the water was very alkaline. In all the other cities I've been in, the water was somewhere between neutral and somewhat acidic. Some folks suggested treating the water to harden it. I played with that and got some inconsistent results. I called the local water company and they confirmed the softness and alkalinity of the water. They also told me that the water varied a LOT seasonally but couldn't tell me when the changes occurred. I didn't really want to play with the tap water every time I baked and still have inconsistent results so I went out and got some Ozarka spring water. And my bread problems went away. I haven't tried other brands, or even the Ozarka drinking water. I'm sure the other products are fine, but I had been so frustrated by the baking problems that once I found something that worked, I was ready to stay with it. Mike --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n041.2 --------------- From: "Kim McEuen" Subject: Re: Artisan cookbook Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2008 17:26:11 -0400 Do not, I repeat, *Do not* make the Pecan Sticky Buns from the Challah recipe in the Artisan cookbook unless you want to be ruined for life. I can not stop thinking about them. I could eat them every day of my life... Seriously though, this cookbook has been worth every penny to me since I purchased it. I make a loaf of some sort from this book almost every day. The recipes are very forgiving and you can't beat the minimum amount of effort for busy days. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n041.3 --------------- From: EK Subject: Question about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 23:05:45 -0800 (PST) I've been reading a lot about this book here recently. I'm really tempted to get it, but just wanted to check. Some years ago I bought No Need to Knead (not sure if that's exactly the right title) and in the end gave it away, as I found the bread to be solid, sort of wet and more like crumpets than real bread. Is there any difference in the methods used in the two books? Thanks, Elisabeth --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n041.4 --------------- From: Jeff Dwork Subject: oops Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:55:33 -0800 I managed to misplace the posts that were sent around 1 Nov. I found them last week and tried to send them out then but something went wrong. Anyway, here they are. We've gotten no posts after these, so if you've sent something that you don't see here, please send it again. Jeff --------------- END bread-bakers.v108.n041 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2008 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved