Making your own bread
 

Hi all

I was wondering if there is anyone out there in TOTV land who makes their own bread. I love sourdough toast in the morning and saw that the recipe calls for sourdough starter. I looked on Amazon and sure enough they sell little dried packets of it for $7. I bought one and I am on day three of feeding it. It seems to be working. Right now I have about 3 cups of starter. I was wondering if anyone has a great recipe for sourdough or tips on breadmaking they would share with me. This is my first time. We love having fresh bread around the house and I have lots of time on my hands. I have a Kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook.

Such an ambitious undertaking! Am sure it will be worth the effort! Once upon a time I did a search on san francisco sourdough bread and printed this to tuck in my cookbook - How to Make San Francisco Sourdough Bread Page-1 - interesting read and recipe is on the second page. Not sure if it beats direct ordering from https://www.boudinbakery.com/index.cfm as I have been known to do! :0

I can't help you but would like to know how the bread making is going. I'd like to give it a try.

I make my own bread all the time. All though I haven't made sourdough bread because I don't really like it, I buy all of my products from King Arthur Flour - Try it Once, Trust it Always On their website you can shop for products and buy a starter and all the bread making products you can think of. You will also find many recipes and some will have photos (if you see the word blog-hit that for photos) and I have found that useful for a visual on what my dough should look like.
Also, I only use instant yeast which I buy from King Arthur. It is so much easier.
Good luck!

A professional chef for 35 years. The simplest and best place for bread making is:

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Buy the book. You can find it on Amazon. It has pizza dough, sourdough, etc.
Simple. And the recipe cant be beat.

One recipe called for putting a 1/2 cup of water in a sheet pan in the bottom of the oven to make a crispy crust. Is that necessary? Do you only use King Arthur Flour? I did see it at Publix. Is there a difference in that and Pillsbury?

I use a breadmaker and prepackaged mixes. Works for me.

We used to have one and were always getting loaves of bread that weighed about 10 pounds. I don't have one now (would like to have one) so I was going the old fashioned route. They didn't use to have the prepackaged mixes back about 15 years ago when I had my machine.

I looked on Amazon and read the reviews for this book. They sound amazing. Not a bad review in the bunch. I went ahead and ordered this book and it will arrive Friday. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thank you so much for recommending this book. I think it is perfect for me. No kneading the dough which I like. I can't wait to make some cinnamon rolls with it. Thanks to the others for recommending the other sites. I will read those too.

Sour dough bread
 

Hi
Google "no kneed sour dough"

I found a really interesting recipe doing the google search. This person uses a dutch oven to bake the bread and it looks beautiful. Now I wish I had one. lol

I've made that several times. You don't need a dutch oven. You can make it in anything that can stand the 425 degree heat and has a lid. When I make it, I use a 2.5 quart Corning Ware dish.

Hint: After the dough rises, turn it out onto a square of parchment paper (can buy at any grocery store). Pick the whole thing up and plop it, parchment paper and all, into the baking dish. Follow directions for baking. Afterwards, it will lift right out.

Best to use King Arthur Bread Flour, second choice any other Bread Flour, not all-purpose flour. It does make a difference

Yes, that is necessary for a crispy crust, however I use ice cubes as it easier to walk over with a pan of ice cubes than a pan of water. Also, watch the pan to make sure that it doesn't dry out and run out of water/ice while it is baking.

Yes, I only use King Arthur Flour. The quality is better.