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Tips and Tricks for Home Bakers
You'll be heading here if you've actually tried stuff out, and want to know more. This section is intended to be about the little things - the fine detail that either isn't written about because it's assumed that you already know it, or techniques which bakers use to give themselves a better product; or just shortcuts which you can take to get you where you want to go without too much work.
It's also intended to be useful in explaining things from a different perspective - sometimes in recipes there's just too much detail already to then cover some of the reasons things are done a certain way. I do try to put concepts out there as often as possible, but there are many occasions when I get the feeling that to go into more detail will simply be of no benefit, especially when you just want to work through the recipe.
Wherever possible, I'll link through to this area, so there will be some more to absorb as you go along. I know that people often work through recipes a number of times before they are happy with them, so on your second or third visit to a particular recipe, make yourself known to the tips and tricks section to see if there is some more here!
Happy Baking!
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Written by Warwick Quinton
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Here's a good basic hand kneading technique:
This technique can be used at any stage of the development of your dough. It will cause the gluten to progressively layer evenly, thereby getting better development each 'turn'.
Place the dough with the seam facing you (in other words upside down) on the bench.
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Read more...
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Written by Warwick Quinton
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Pre ferments make better bread!
A pre ferment is essentially anything used on the way to building a sourdough or other type of bread, which assists the leavening process. For example, a 'sponge' made of flour, yeast and water is a type of pre ferment. In this article, I'm going to walk through the basic sponge method, and show the best ways to incorporate sourdough into the spongemaking process.
Pre Ferments also are like natural bread improvers - apart from increasing the activity of the yeast, they serve to elasticise the gluten, which gives you a better rise.
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Written by Warwick Quinton
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Baking bread in the back yard barbeque!
Hankering for authenticity? Curious about 'sole' baking? Thinking about embarking on the wood fired bread oven journey (in the back yard)?
Before diving in with the brick oven and all that fuss, why not get started with a backyard BBQ oven? It's actually a truly viable (and valuable, if you've purchased one lately) piece of baking equipment, which can produce amazing bread.
If you want to get the really incredible crust that 'hearth' or 'sole' baking can achieve, this is a relatively cheap (and instant) shortcut.
You might already have a BBQ with a lid and a pizza stone, and been keen to see how this contraption would work as a bread oven. Well, save some time (and possibly money) before diving in, and read this! In a nutshell? If it's done right, a BBQ oven for breadmaking works BRILLIANTLY!
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Read more...
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Written by Warwick Quinton
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Whole Grains in Breadmaking
Using whole grains as either a porridge (cooked) or blanched to soften them is common in many countries. Not only does the use of cooked whole grain improve the nutritional value of the bread, but cooked or partially cooked grain helps the bread to stay moist for much longer. The grains also give the bread a sensational flavour.
I'll be going into detail in future articles, but grains like rice, oats, millet, wheat, barley, rye, spelt and quinoa all make great additions to bread, using the 'cooked' method that follows.
You can also used the 'blanched' method for all of the above grains, and use it also for linseed, sunflowere kernels, pumpkin seed meal, nut meals, semolina, rye or wheat grits, kibbled wheat or rye, and even wholemeal flours.
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