Larger loaves: What adjustments are needed?

Email | by jeff, January 23, 2011
Filed Under FAQs | 7 comments

In our books, our standard size for a loaf-bread is 1 pound (450 grams), or a piece of dough about the size of a grapefruit. Why did we opt for these relatively small loaves? Because for beginners, they reliably brown without burning, and are easy to bake through to a nice result in the center of the loaf.

Larger loaves need more baking to avoid a gummy result in the center, and that means longer baking times at the listed temperature. Two pound loaves need about 45-50 minutes, and three pound loaves need about an hour. Let the crust get nice and dark. When baking large loaves, temperature is critical, so you must check your oven temp with an oven thermometer (click to see one on Amazon).

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Freezing the Dough: Can I do it?

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Email | by jeff, January 3, 2011
Filed Under FAQs | 5 comments

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Yes, you can, just wrap it very well or seal it in airtight containers, defrost overnight in the fridge when ready to use, then shape, rest, and bake as usual. How long to freeze is a bit controversial — our dough loses a bit of rising power over time in the freezer, and that’s especially true for enriched doughs like challah and brioche. Some of our testers were happy with dough frozen for four weeks, especially lean dough (dough made without eggs, butter, or oil). Others felt that three weeks was the max, and for those folks — enriched dough only froze well for two weeks. And there is no need to increase the yeast or make any other changes to dough that will be frozen.

This can be very handy when you don’t use up the entire batch before it reaches the end of its storage life in the refrigerator.

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Three Ways To Get Steam Into Your Oven For a Great Crust: NEW VIDEO

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Email | by jeff, December 27, 2010
Filed Under FAQs, Special techniques | 105 comments

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In Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, we talked about one way to get steam into the oven to create a great, crispy, caramelized crust on lean (un-enriched) loaves: pouring water into a pre-heated METAL (not glass) broiler tray or other pan just before you close the oven door. That works well for most ovens.

But some ovens are a bit temperamental about this. Really large ovens, or really well-vented ones, and in many cases, professional-quality ovens installed in homes, seem to let the steam escape and you end up with a dull, pale-colored crust that isn’t crisp. We’ve got a video of some excellent alternatives… Continue reading →

I posted a comment to this site but it hasn’t appeared. What happened?

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Email | by jeff, June 1, 2010
Filed Under FAQs | 372 comments

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If you don’t find the answer to your bread questions on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) tab, we encourage you to post into any of our “Comments” fields by clicking on the line that says “Leave a Comment” or “X Comments” just under the date of each post.

But please remember, our blog/website is moderated. That means that your comment doesn’t appear on our website until it has been approved, especially if you’ve never posted to our site before. That could take up to 24 hours. Here are some guidelines for comments that we are not willing to approve for our site:

References to commercial sites or endorsements for products, especially if the Authors haven’t used or otherwise can’t vouch for the product. In particular, we’re not likely to approve website addresses (URLs) in this situation.
Health claims: The science behind health claims made by products is often murky and controversial. We’re happy to answer questions about the health of ingredients or techniques in our books, but please don’t make complex health claims here on the website.
Offensive or rude remarks: Usual manners apply! (Thank you)
Pingbacks: Please don’t set up your own blog to insert Pingbacks into our site.

Pretty much everything else is fair game. One other thing— very rarely, we simply miss someone’s comment. It’s just an oversight; if we haven’t answered you in a day or more and you met the guidelines above, please “comment” again.

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Left the dough on the counter overnight! Can I still use it?

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Email | by jeff, May 6, 2010
Filed Under FAQs | 93 comments

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After mixing the dough, our recipes only require two hours at room temperature for their initial rise (assuming you’ve used lukewarm water); then the container goes into the refrigerator where it can be stored for up to two weeks (depending on the recipe). Occasionally, we’ll forget about a batch and leave it out overnight. We’ve found that this has little effect on the final result, maybe just shortens the batch life by a day or two.

So don’t throw out that good dough if you forget about it overnight!

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Traditional recipes: How can they be converted to the ABin5 method?

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Email | by jeff, April 21, 2010
Filed Under FAQs | 75 comments

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People sometimes ask us for simple formulas for converting traditional bread recipes to our stored-dough method. Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer to the question. Developing recipes for our books takes lots (and lots) of trial and error.

If we put our our testing methods and approaches up here on the web, our publisher would kill us! If you want to try to convert a traditional recipe to our high-moisture, stored-dough method, read through the two books to get a sense of the moisture level that’s needed, then check out the rest of the FAQs here on the website. Pay attention to our “videos” tab as well. It may take a bit of work, but you should be able to transform your existing repertoire.

Happy experimenting!

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Missing instructions and missing recipes from the website: Some of the web-based recipes don’t have everything I need to make the bread, and some recipes are missing altogether

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Email | by jeff, October 30, 2009
Filed Under FAQs | 19 comments

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We’re sometimes asked to provide details that don’t appear in a web version of a recipe here on our site. In many cases, our web versions contain the full recipe, including all baking instructions, temperatures, etc. But in most cases, we can’t do that. Why not?

Well, to make a long story short, our publisher would kill us if we put all our recipes up here on the website, for free! There’d really be little reason for anyone to buy our books. This site is mainly a way of reaching out to our readers, and supporting them as they work on recipes that appear in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and in October of 2011, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. If the answer to your question appears in one of our books, we’ll probably just refer you there.

We really enjoy connecting with our readers this way, and we’re proud to be among the few cookbook authors who are personally answering questions from people who’ve bought our books (thank you!). We hope to talk with all of you about our recipes soon.

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Contest and Giveaway Rules (don’t post your entry here!)

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Email | by jeff, August 2, 2008
Filed Under FAQs | Comments Off

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From time to time we run giveaways here on the website. Sometimes it’s one of our books or baking equipment, other times, it’s been ingredients. We randomly select from entrants who respond to the post using the Comments field in the post where the contest announcement appeared (don’t post your entry here or we won’t see it). Here are contest rules:

Only U.S. residents can enter, and we will only ship to a U.S. address. You must supply your e-mail address so that we can notify you if you are a winner (winners cannot be notified by U.S. mail).
You must type your “Comment” entry under the post announcing the contest.
Only one entry in any single contest is allowed. If you post a Comment more than once, you will be disqualified. But you can enter in any or all of our contests over time.
If selected, you will be notified by e-mail and you must respond with a U.S. mailing address so we can ship your prize.

Good luck!

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