Tag: bread baking | Apartment Therapy

Basic Techniques: How to Shape a Loaf of Bread

Now that it's finally cool enough to turn on our ovens again, we're getting back into the habit of baking bread at home. Last weekend, we made a few loaves of sandwich bread to eat during the week. ...

Crust and Crumb: A Return to Baking Bread

Our very favorite thing about fall isn't apple picking, or seeing all the great produce at the market, or even gearing up for the approaching holidays. It's the ability to turn on our oven again! And ...

Baking Lessons: How to Proof Yeast

Call us old-school, but we proof our yeast even if it's not mentioned in the instructions and even if the jar of yeast says it can be added right into the dough. We just don't want to go through all t...

Help! What To Do With an Over-Active Starter?
Good Questions

Q: About a month or so ago I decided my bread making skills had improved enough to try keeping a starter. I followed Alton Brown's starter recipe and put the whole thing in a mason jar in my fridge. W...

Food Science: Why Bread Crusts Crack

Far from being a bad thing, hairline cracks like those in the photo above are the sign of a fantastic, shatteringly-crisp crust. We've heard that this is something to which many bakers actually aspire...

What's the Difference? Light Rye, Dark Rye, Pumpernickel, and Marbled

As bread bakers, the differences between these four breads has been a real source of confusion for us. They often seem to be used interchangeably in restaurants, bakeries, and even some cookbooks. It'...

Essential Kitchen Tools: Bread Baking

Want to do more bread baking? These are the all basic tools we think you'll need to get started baking bread at home. You might not use all of them for your first loaf of white sandwich bread, but as ...

Regional Specialty: Scali Bread

It's pronounced "skah-lee" bread, and unless you grew up in Boston, there's a good chance you've never heard of it! Credit for this soft sesame-sprinkled loaf goes to the Italians who settled into Bos...

What Makes Bread So Special? Peter Reinhart's Speech from the Taste3 Conference

If you've spent even a little time poking around the bread baking world, you have likely heard the name Peter Reinhart. As an instructor at Johnson and Wales and the author of several books on bread b...

Bread Baking Tip: Punching Dough vs. Folding Dough

Here's one for those of you who have resolved to bake more bread in the new year! Does it make a difference whether you punch your dough down after its first rise or gently fold it over onto itself? I...

Recipe Review: French Country Boule from Local Breads

Looks pretty good, right? Alas, this loaf made from Local Breads by Daniel Leader fell far short of our hopes and expectations. Read on for the whole saga......

Book Review: Local Breads by Daniel Leader

"Flour makes a difference, but don't obsess about it." We loved this bit of advice from Daniel Leader's new book, Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers. I...

Indian Cooking: Making Naan Bread at Home

We had take-out from our favorite Indian restaurant last night. Everything was delicious, but, as usual, the naan didn't fare so well on the trip to our apartment. It was soggy and had lost most of th...

Baker's Tricks: How to Avoid Adding Too Much Flour While Kneading

Bread bakers are a calm, serene, zen-like bunch. (Right?!) But nothing gets us more paranoid than the fear of adding too much flour: too little and we have bubble-gum dough sticking to everything, to...

Weekend Reading: Favorite Cookbooks on Baking Bread

Anyone doing any baking this weekend? We're still playing around with sourdough in our kitchen, which boils down to throwing a cup of sourdough starter in just about everything. (Pizza dough? YES! Muf...

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Posts tagged “bread baking”