Ask a Question
Questions? Start with the Search Bar: I’ve been posting recipes and answering questions on this site since 2007, so if you have a question, there’s probably a post that addresses it somewhere on this website. So, the first thing to do is to use the Search Bar on the Home Page. In narrower laptop or desktop displays, it sometimes appears right underneath the orange BreadIn5 logo, and on phones it’s right above where it says “How to make bread in five minutes a day?” Just type in the bread style, ingredient, or technique that you’re interested in, and the search-engine will show you posts on the topic, with recipes and answers to many questions.
Another place to look: the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) page (there’s also have a Gluten-Free FAQs page). If you don’t find your answer in the FAQs, you can post baking questions and comments, but please be brief, so I can get to all the questions.
If neither of those get you to the answer you need, click on any “Comments/Reply” field at the top of any post (it doesn’t have to be here on “Ask a Question”) and scroll down to the bottom; then enter your question or comment. Don’t look for the response in your personal email… Come back here to the site on the page where you posted, to look for the answer.
Questions are answered here on the website within 24 hours, often with a reference to a page number in our books where possible. Please remember that the blog is moderated, so your post may not appear until I’ve read and approved it; this can take 24 hours.
I am using soft wheat flour from Italy (Caputo) because I prefer the European growing and harvesting practices.
Will THIS flour also require the additional water you recommend for the master recipe?
You mean the recipe in our pizza book with 00?
am impressed with the recipes in your “Bread in 5” cookbook and I have some Limpa dough “incubating “ in my refrigerator right now. (And possibly incubating bacteria?)
The February 2020 issue of Consumer Reports has a caution about consumption of raw flour because it might be contaminated with “toxic E. coli”. I am a retired Medical Technologist, age 78, and have been tasting cookie dough, for 70+ years, and I don’t think this is a valid precaution to consider flour to be toxic.
I couldn’t copy the page into this question so I hope you can reference it.
The reason this warning appears is that there have been cases of contaminated flour containing pathogenic bacteria, and people did get sick. Personally, I don’t eat raw dough, though the risk is probably relatively low. Having watched the wheat harvest process (a Kansas field trip), I know it’s not a sterile collection process–if material is blowing around from nearby farms (especially if there’s nearby animal agriculture, it can make its way into grain silos. At no time is grain sterilized.
I’d like to make the Oatmeal Maple Bread recipe, but I don’t have wheat bran (nor do my local grocery stores, apparently!). Can I leave it out? And if so how do I adjust the other ingredients? I’m looking at the recipe on page 162 of the Revised Edition of “The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” (2013). Thanks!
If you just leave it out, the hydration will be way off. I’d swap in more whole wheat flour. You may need more water but I’m not sure how much. 5-10% increase?
If I bake in a LeCreuset enamel Dutch oven, do I still use the water in a broiler pan below my Dutch oven?
Check out our Posts on this– Type “Dutch Oven” into the Search Bar above
My refrigerator has suddenly decided to be very cold – sometimes freezing things. Given the current state of the world I am a little afraid to play with its temperature too much for fear something could break – now would NOT be a good time for that or for it suddenly decide to be too warm).
How cold can my refrigerator be and still have your recipes work?
Also – if I cut the master recipe in half – will a 2lt dough bucket be big enough (fridge is packed at the moment due to stocking up because of corona virus)
Thank you!
They’ll work, but you need a longer rest. 120 min?
Too small, that’s for a quarter-recipe.
A question about Old-Dough or Easy Sourdough theory. The dough bucket will have bits and pieces, or intentionally, a few chunks of the first dough remaining on its inner surfaces. How about just leaving them there, without mixing them in, when adding a new dough without cleaning the dough bucket?
Would the old dough from the surfaces of the container have enough time to populate the new dough with extra flavor during the resting and refrigerating periods without having to mix it in?
I generally mix it in with the water–mainly to avoid hard chunks. Your approach might be just fine though, in the context of high-moisture dough like ours.
I followed your recipe for pizza dough, using 00 flour. Delish. One question, the dough never browned when in the oven. I tried sheet pan and baking stone at 500-550F. Thoughts? It was cooked well, just never got the darker brown color
Have you checked your oven temp with something like https://ow.ly/8CVPU ? Your stone should be out-performing the sheet pan in this situation (a thick one, preferably). We covered this at https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/08/24/pizza-stones-which-creates-the-best-crust/
I bet it’s oven-temp. But might benefit from a half-inch thick stone if you’re not already doing it.
I saw a post the other day of a Croissant…I think it was from you guys. Do you have a technique to make flaky croissants without the lamination of butter technique that is so tedious? Are the results comparable?
We have a “Croissant-esque Roll” in our latest book (click on the Holiday and Celebration book above to see the book on Amazon). We didn’t post the recipe here on the website, you probably saw someone else’s recipe. We think these are terrific! Ours has shortcuts that really decrease the labor, but warning–this is not a 5-minute recipe.
Any pics to share of the end results?
Type this into our Search Bar above:
Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day is released
… and you’ll get to a page with a long line of pictures from that book. The one of “Kouign Amann” is made with the Croissant-esque dough. No pictures of croissants though, those shots aren’t on the website, but they’re in the book, on page 338 (on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2wYZlcC)
So, my refrigerated mix dries out on top. I’m assuming I just incorporate this into the loaves. If my assumption is correct ignore this stupid question. My wife wanted me to ask.
Just incorporate it! IF you want to prevent this, as you use up the dough, transfer to progressively smaller containers.
Hi! I love the Amish Style Milk Bread on page 83 in the Holiday and Celebration Bread book. It’s a really nice dough to work with and great for savoury and sweet rolls. Can the butter be substituted with virgin coconut oil? Thanks!
We haven’t tested with that– but my guess is that it’d probably work. You may have to experiment with it, moisture requirement may chabnge unpredictably.
A friend recommended your book: The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but I seem to be unable to purchase a copy online. Any suggestions on how I can get it?
thank you.
Have you tried Barnes and Noble online? Amazon hasn’t got it, but pretty sure B&N does.
Can wine yeast be used instead of baker’s yeast? Would change of proportions of other ingredients be necessary?
We’ve never tried this, but my guess is that it will work but it won’t be great. Wine yeast is optimized to produce alcohol, not so much carbon dioxide. And pleasing wine flavors. It’ll probably under-rise but make good flatbread– better than high domed loaves. I don’t know how I’d adjust anything here–just give it a shot.
Can I use homemade liquid yeast on the bread recipes, if so, how should I measure it to replace rapid dry yeast?
We don’t have any experience with homemade yeast, so I don’t know how to advise you!
Amanda, are you talking about homemade sourdough starter? If so, I would be interested in the answer too.
… and if that’s what was meant in Amanda’s question, if you type “easy sourdough starter” into our Search Bar, you’ll find exactly that. It’s also in one of our books (on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3axsuJV), in much more detail.
Found it! In “New Healthy Bread,” beginning at page 385. Thanks Jeff.
Hi I just received your first book Artisan bread in 5 minutes, I was hoping for recipes using sourdough starter, since the start of this pandemic I made sourdough starter and was hoping to make wonderful breads, I then came across a live Instagram of Zoe making breads! I was hooked and purchased your first book but I’m more interested in using whole wheat, grains and sourdough anyway what I’m asking is does your last book the new healthy bread in 5 minutes a day have a lot of recipes using sourdough starter? Thank you and I love watching your instagram videos you’re such a beautiful person. THanks for sharing your love of bread making!
That’s the book with the sourdough starter (chapter 11), yes. It’s on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3ayCdiZ. That said– outside of chapter 11, the recipes all call for commercial yeast, and in chapter 11, we give guidelines for using sourdough in any recipe, but it takes a lot of improvising. That’s not really for beginners. My advice– learn our method with commercial yeast first, then move on to sourdough. One other thing… that book uses vital wheat gluten in most of the recipes to give extra lift with whole grains, especially since our dough is stored (and loses a little rising power with storage). If you’re avoiding gluten, we give conversion charts for dropping it from the recipes, but again it takes improvisation and maybe isn’t a beginner technique.
Hello 🙂
What could be the reason for a bread not raising. Bread is very good but flat. I’ve tried dry test. Fresh yeast. Different flours. Leaving it rest in fridge or out fridge. Letting it raise in a proving basket to keep a shape and putting it right away in the preheated cloche. My oven is on max. Could it be too hot? Or could there be something else I’m not thinking about.
Thank you!!
What temperature is “max?” Yes, if it’s too hot, the crust will set before it has a chance to expand. When you say “not rising,” do you mean there are no holes, or poor hole structure? Or is there good hole structure, but the loaf’s spreading sideways instead of expanding upward?
Hi Jeff. My oven is set to 250C(480F) but I haven’t controlled it with a oven thermometer. Probably should start by that. The end result bubble wise is nice, lots and lots of 1 to 2 mm bubbles and some 10-15mm bubbles. When it comes to the crust : it’s very thin and crunchy. And yes it feels like the loaf spreads sideways before it has time to raise… is my initial mixture to high on water maybe?
That’s higher than we recommend (450F), so turn it down a bit. About sideways spread, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIb8fC9BdWs&t=125s
And yes, you could decrease the water 5% or so and see if that helps with spreading.
My challah braid keeps expanding in the oven so that there is a huge separation down the center when it’s finished aking. Any suggestions?
Which of our challah recipes are you using (from which book/page number)?
The page is 296. The book is the The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking from 2013.
Hi Ingrid,
This is sometimes due to not allowing it to rest quite long enough, but another trick is to knead the dough just a few seconds before forming the ball. This activated the gluten and strengthens it, so it will stretch a bit better. If that doesn’t do the trick in your next loaf, try making it with bread flour next time.
Thanks, Zoë
I’m using the 2013 edition of the NEW Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. When I try the master recipe ( 3 C water, 1 T yeast, 1 tsp salt, 6 1/2 C A-P flour) It comes together fine and tastes fine BUT when I take it out and flour cloak it and set it out to rise, it spreads instead like a 5 ” ball will become 10″ and flat . I’ve tried increading the flour to 7 C. The dough is thicker but it stilll spreads.
I have also used a scale to measure out the ingredients with the same result. I’m about ready to give up!
What brand of AP flour are you using? Is it a low-gluten flour like White Lilly? European flour like “00.” Flours from India, which are low-gluten? If it’s not that, it’s could be:
1) your “gluten-cloaking” technique, so try with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIb8fC9BdWs&t=125s
2) your measurement technique may be off, see this video (or weigh the ingredients): https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/04/28/how-we-measure-our-flour-using-the-scoop-and-sweep-method
Finally, it won’t ever spread sideways if you use a loaf pan, see page 78.
Hello:
I have a recipe for Betsy’s Seeded Oat Bread from 2014 which calls for Vital Wheat Gluten. I don’t have that and think you have revised some recipes to no longer need it. How do I adjust the water, the yeast, or whatever is needed in this former recipe to bake without the Vital Wheat Gluten?
What I have currently is: (sorry about formatting issues!)
Ingredients: Half Recipe Full Recipe
1 cup 2 cups whole wheat flour (I use white whole wheat)
1.5 cups 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4cup 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oat
2 tablespoons flax seeds (I don’t use this)
1/4 cup 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 c 3/4 cup sunflower seeds, plus more for sprinkling
1/8 cup 1/4 cup sesame seeds, plus more for sprinkling 1 T 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast, or, 2 packets
1 scant T 1 tablespoon salt
1/8 c. 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1.25 C. 2.5 cups lukewarm water
1/4 c. 1/2 cup honey or agave (I use molasses) *
1/8 C. 1/4 cup neutral-flavored oil (vegetable or canola)*
Sprinkle of corn meal on top
Yep, that recipe’s on page 208 of our 2016 book, The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (it’s never been posted to our website; the book’s on amazon at https://amzn.to/1NdVkgj). Our publisher would be very unhappy with us if we posted all our material here on the website!
Suggestions for hydration when omitting VWG are just under the Ingredients table on page 209.
I am grain free, however miss bread that actually tastes and feels like bread. Do y’all have any suggestions? I found one bakery that bakes a decent loaf, however they are incredibly expensive and only sell every other week. I would rather bake my own if I could find a recipe that actually tasted good. I keep almond flour, coconut flour,potato flour, potato starch & tapioca flour in my pantry. My friends swear by your gluten free bread, unfortunately I can’t have rice so your gluten free recipe doesn’t work for me.
We’ve never tested grain-free recipes, but our friend Peter Reinhart has a nice book that might meet your needs, on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3eKBXRg It may not be completely grain-free, so maybe check it out in the library or online before you buy. Book’s called The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking: 80 Low-Carb Recipes that Offer Solutions for Celiac Disease, Diabetes, and Weight Loss.
It uses a lot of almond and other nut flours, but I’m not sure if it uses ONLY those.
Hi! I am baking with your Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes book. I have 3 cups of sourdough starter. Can I use it in your Gluten-Free Olive Oil Bread on page 302 to substitute for yeast? And if so, how do you suggest I adjust the recipe ingredients? Thanks so much!
Nancy
Nancy, go ahead and type the words easy sourdough starter into our search bar above. That post gives guidelines for how to use sourdough in our recipes. Much more detail in our book, the new healthy bread in five minutes a day.
Hi how well dose your olive oil dough do on the grill with ouT a pizza stone? Thanks, Shelley
If you have a heavy duty baking sheets, aluminum, you’ll get a decent result
Using your original master recipe, my breads come out fine, but seem to lack the rise and seem rather dense. Could it be the age of the yeast? I stored my extra in a jar, but I’m pretty sure it has been about a year. Any advice on how to fluff my loaves up a notch?
Which of our Master recipes from which book and page number? We have many “masters”.
Hello,
I received a 2lb. package of Red Star Active Dry Yeast this afternoon. When I opened the box, the package of yeast was warm/hot to the touch. I have no idea how long the package sat in warm weather, it is about 80 degrees here but the package was sitting in a delivery van all day. Do you think the yeast is dead? Thank you
no, I’m guessing it’s fine, but if you want to prove it to yourself, mix a quarter teaspoon of it with a half cup of water and a teaspoon of sugar and see if it bubbles in 5 minutes.
Hi Zoe and Jeff
I have been loving your recipes for 8+ years and even used them as the basis for a bakery I owned for a few years.
This week I did an online FB class using your recipes and of course giving you credit for this amazing process.
Thank you for the recipes and inspiration!
Ken: Thanks for the kind words! That said offense, but our webmaster doesn’t allow us to put unknown web links on our site–there’s a security risk and we have to be very careful.
Hi! I have had my sourdough starter for about 8 months. It grows very well, exploding over the top of the jar often. It has a very distinct and somewhat off putting smell of alcohol. This disappears when fed. Is this normal?
Yes! When carbohydrates ferment with yeast, they produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol smell dissipates when the bread’s baked.
I’m making your master recipe for the first time and I just realized that I put 3 1/2 cups of water in, Instead of 3 (misread the recipe). How can I fix this? Or should I just let it be and see what happens? It’s currently in the middle of the two hour rise and then I was planning on refrigerating it for a couple days before making anything. Thank you!!
Which “Master,” from which of our books and page number? We have many “Master” recipes across our seven books.
Hi Jeff, it’s the The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Master Recipe (Back to Basics updated) from your post on this website from Oct 22, 2013. Thanks!
Got it… Just work in flour, calculate the proportion before doing if you want to be precise, then allow it to ferment at room temp for at least 2 hours. Also check out the tips on the FAQs page above; much more detail in the book (https://amzn.to/3bJWLGx).
Is it ok to stir the extra flour into the already risen dough or do you suggest I kneed it in? My dough has been in the fridge for a couple days. Thanks!
You probably won’t be able to stir, too hard to move the spoon. A mixer’d work, or knead it in, as you suggest.
After baking bobka for easter, I froze the unused egg whites in an ice cube tray. Now I am thinking about using a couple of cubes in place of water in the master recipe (new ab in 5 2013 pg 53). How will this affect the texture of the crumb ?
It’ll be good–take a look at my German Brotchen post (type “Brotchen” into the Search Bar above).
Hello! I made my first 5 minutes dough yesterday and today I am baking _ while I m writing – my first loaf.
So I have leftover dough in the refrigerator. I presume it will continue to raise. So I can make bread practically every day, using 1 lb, 1 lb 1/2 every time. The recipe says that the dough will be good up to 14 days. So what I am suppose to do at the 14th day, when I still have dough? baking all in once (in different loaves) or refresh it and start over? Thanks!
You can use it as the basis of a new batch, or freeze it…
I realize after already refrigerating my dough and baking a loaf, that the dough is too dry.
Can i add water to refrigerated dough at this point and mix it in?
Thanks,
Kimi
Not really– it deflates. If the resulting bread is still good when you bake the dough, don’t worry about the dry appearance. You can prevent this by transferring to smaller containers as you use it up. Also can seal it more closely (though don’t make it airtight).
H! First of all, thank you both soooo so so much for doing a gluten free version! It is fantastic, I no longer need to buy bread at the store:)
Anyhoo, which gluten free recipe would you suggest for making hamburger and hot dog buns?
Thank you!
Keela
In the book (https://amzn.to/1msOBmY), we have, starting on page 90, instructions for buns… the soft dinner rolls, made a little flatter, will work as hamburger buns.
It’s day 6 and my starter is bubbling pretty regularly but it hasn’t really grown a ton. Should I feed it three times a day. It pretty warm as well so any suggestions would be great thanks!
Have you been through all the tips at the bottom of the post? We keep updating them so if you haven’t looked in a while…
I’m trying to make the oat flour bread from The New Artisan Bread…page 174. My dough is very wet to where it just drips off my hand. Can I add flour to it to fix this or is this a loss? I think this may be from adding 1/4 cup extra water because I thought it was King Arthur flour I was using but now I think it was a bag of Bobs Red Mill. Everything is blurring together at this point . Any advice is greatly appreciated, even if it’s to start over.
Thanks!
You can definitely work in flour at this point, then let it ferment on the counter again. Don’t start over!
I have been making your 5 minute artisan bread with both the unbleached flour and the wheat/white flour combo. I made some last week but there was little stretch to it as before. Also, not crisp when I took out of oven.
This is the first time it wasn’t crisp and no stretch to the dough. What did I do wrong?
Thanks so much
I love this recipe.
Sounds like you’ve made our recipe before and the dough had good stretch and the crust was crisp? And now it’s not? What changes have you made?
question: working with master recipe – after initial 2 hour rest can I transfer dough to smaller storage container (leaving space for off-gas etc.) to accommodate limited space in fridge.
George: Well yes, once it’s leveled off. You may find it rises again, depending on your fridge temp (won’t matter to the final result), but it might over-stuff the smaller container, so keep an eye on it!
Thanks It may be worth a try due to storage space limitation exacerbated by current factors. We’ll see. Thanks again
Hello! I have now tried your sourdough starter recipe twice. Both times, I have absolutely beautiful, bubbling starter by day 4. And then overnight, on Day 5, my starter was soup. Standing water on top, zero bubbles, and liquid dough-soup when stirred. Any suggestions?
Thanks so much!
Danielle
Go ahead and type “easy sourdough starter” into our Search Bar above, which’ll take you bake to the recipe. I’ve added a lot of tips for this, at the very bottom of the post– try all those. What you’re seeing is common.
Hello from Australia! The only flour I could get recently was Italian semolina flour which said it was good for bread and pasta. But my wet dough has a spongy texture and breaks off when I try to cut off a chunk (rather than stretching in an elastic way). Does this mean there is not enough gluten? Or is the mix too dry? I’m going to rest it for 90 mins before baking but wondered if there is anything I can do to ‘fix’ my remaining dough.
Sounds like you need more water…
Hello, Do you have recipes for Hamburger rolls, New England style hotdog rolls or a puff pastry? I have not been able to locate them in your books. Do they exist and if so how do I find them. Thank you
You can do two quick searches, using our search bar above. Type in burger for the first one and hot dogbfor the second and you’ll find the recipes you’re looking for.
Hello, Thank you when I search I find that it recommends using the Brioche dough for hamburger and hotdog rolls. I don’t see other suggestions. What about a puff pastry dough, is there a cheat to that?
honestly I use our basic white or whole-wheat doughs to make buns, just shaping them into the shape I want, and if I want to soft roll I brush them with oil. there’s no way to approximate puff pastry with our dough, but we did make Danish and croissant dough in our Holiday and celebration bread in five minutes a day book
Hello- I am waiting for my book (on order since April 1st) hopefully arrives soon. I have made a sourdough starter but I am not sure I understand how I use it to make bread (I see a pizza dough recipe). I see adjustments in the amount of flour and water but is that based on your master recipe? Which I have also made.
Also- I am baking in a steam oven so any tips/tricks that you can offer for baking bread in a steam oven is appreciated.
Type “easy sourdough” into our Search Bar above for an abbreviated version of chapter 11 of our book that has this (NewHealthy: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/healthy). About baking in a steam oven– these are supposed to be the best, but neither of us have one, we’ve generated steam the old-fashioned way in our method. Check out these two links (video link in the post doesn’t work so I gave you our direct YouTube link:
https://artisanbreadinfive.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2658&action=edit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrrvcxLEo78
Hi! Where can I buy the book in Italy? Also online shops are good!
Thanks!
Have you tried: https://www.amazon.it/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutionizes/dp/1250018285/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_it_IT=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=the+new+artisan+bread+in+five&qid=1588599141&s=books&sr=1-1
Hey there,
I was wondering if the AP flour in the original bread in 5 can be substituted with any healthier flour like wholemeal, multigrain, rye etc and if so will that require any other modifications?
Thank you very much in advance.
Dikla
Yes, but you need to increase water, and in some of our recipes, we use vital wheat gluten. Which of our recipes are you using (which book and page number)?
Hi,
Do you have a multigrain bread recipe? I have two of your books, but neither has it.
Thanks,
Dawn
The 2009 and 2016 Editions of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day have these:
1) Vollkornbort: whole wheat, wheat berries, and rye flakes
2) 100% whole wheat and flaxseed
3) Ten-grain bread: 10-grain hot cereal (Bob’s Red Mill) and whole wheat
The 2016 edition: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/healthy
2009 edition: https://bit.ly/3b0j35X
These recipes aren’t here on the website (our publisher would never speak to us again if we put all our recipes here on the site!)
Jeff, we do love you, but we’ve been missing Zoe for some time. I hope that she is well. Working on a new sourdough book, perhaps? Please forward our best to her.
So sweet, Rita and Alan. Zoe is fine, and in fact, she has been working on a new book of her own, on cake baking. We’ll probably go back to alternate months very soon.
I read the ideal temperature for creating sourdough starter is 70 degrees. I keep my house cooler than that. What is the lowest temperature one can successfully produce sourdough starter?
There’s a lot of variation in published recommendations. I think the variation is probably because the science on this is a vague. Some authors have you starting at a cool temperature, like 65 degrees, and then increasing the temperature to 70 to 75 degrees after day 3. We found that a warmer temperature in general, increases your chances for success, and we haven’t tried to monkey with this on various days. Type “easy sourdough starter” into our search bar above, for our tips on how to raise the temperature. Read the whole thing, all the way to the bottom to see all the tips.
Any recommendations on adding protein powder to your bread recipes? I have been making the basic artisan bread for a couple and all three generations in our household like it a lot, but I thought it would be nice to add some extra protein. Thanks for any recommendations!
we haven’t tried this, but I’m sure it’s going to increase the water requirement if you simply add it to the dry ingredients, and that’s the way I would experiment with this. if you added let’s say a quarter cup of protein powder, I’m guessing you’re going to need to increase the water by 5 or 10%. use varying hydration to get the dough to look like what you experience when you don’t use protein powder
We are missing Zoe as well ??
I followed the “master recipe” from this site and used some of the comments to troubleshoot my second loaf. The first loaf came out ok, if a bit dense. I made sure not to shape the dough for too long (less than 30 seconds), let it rise for ~60 minutes (still chilly here in WI), and baked it according to your directions in my oven on a pizza stone. I used an oven thermometer to verify the temperature. The only step that I didn’t follow exactly was my placement of the dough in a glass bowl with plastic wrap covering the bowl. My yeast should be fine as I use it for challah every week and there hasn’t been a perceptible change there (plus it was recently purchased).
Anything else I could try to achieve more of a rise and a less dense loaf?
Thank you!
What flour are you using? How are you measuring (if by volume, use our scoop and sweep method like in this video: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/04/28/how-we-measure-our-flour-using-the-scoop-and-sweep-method
… though weighing is more accurate. But check out the troubleshooting tips on our FAQ page above.
Thank you for asking. I used Gold Medal AP flour and weighed it.
I will check out your tips.
Thanks again!
Hi Jeff and Zoe,
I have your first edition of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (2007) and have used these recipes almost exclusively for the last few years. My daughter was diagnosed with Celiacs about two years ago and I just received my copy of the Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I’m looking forward to working on these recipes but currently I cannot find any commercial yeast in any of our grocery stores. I searched the GF index for substituting Sourdough Starters for the GF recipes and only see the references to Sourdough like flavors on pg 14,15 and 73. I looked at your SD starter blog and see it is a 1/2 to 1/2 substitution for the flour and water for wheat based dough but I’m not sure how I would approach the GF recipes. I have both Bread Flour and GF starters (1:1 brown rice flour to water) that have been going strong since my commercial yeast supply ran out in early March. Can you tell me if Sourdough starter can be substituted 1 to 1 for the Master Recipe: Boule on pg. 64 of the GFABFMD book? With the wheat based sourdoughs I have been trying to keep the starter at about 20% to 25% or the total recipe but based on your blog on sourdough I would substitute 3 cups of starter (~46%) for the master recipe on pg 26 of the 2007 first edition.
Would I try to maintain a 46% starter to dough ratio for the GF master recipe as well and since my GF starter is made with rice flour would I sub out half the starter weight for only the Rice flour component of your GF All-Purpose Flour recipe on page 60 of G-FABIFM book (OCT 2014)?
Sorry for the length of the post. My wife and I love your wheat based recipes but I try to phase out all wheat based baking about two weeks before our daughter visits our house to lower contamination risks.
Thanks in advance,
John: We haven’t tested our sourdough method with GF. My guess is that it might be prone to being over-dense, but readers tell us (informally) that it works for them, using our post on starter, swapping in gluten-free flours. I haven’t heard specifics as to whether major changes in hydration were necessary. First warning– it’d be a lot better to become skilled with our GF recipes with yeast first… it’s totally different than wheat-based baking, and you want to be sure you understand how wet and loose the dough’s supposed to look be. That’s what you’re trying to match when you switch to GF–use this video to gauge it: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2015/03/03/gluten-free-bread-in-five-minutes-a-day-the-video. Sorry we can’t be more helpful– best guess is that you have to work outside of the recipe, gauging the liquid to how the dough looks.
What size, in inches, of the fluted brioche pans do you recommend for a beginner to start with? Is it ok to use one that is metal but is “non- stick.” Thanks so much for your direction and help!
It all depends on what size bread you’re making, what dough, what recipe, which of our books and page number?
Book: The new artisan bread in 5 minutes
Recipe: Brioche recipe page 300
I’m trying to figure out what size the “normal” or “average” brioche is and which size fluted pan I would need in order to make it. Sorry I wasn’t more clear first time around, I’m just learning so I don’t always know exactly how to explain well what I’m trying to figure out. Thanks!
Diane: For the amount of dough we call for in that recipe, it’s the 8-inch fluted pan. The non-stick is fine. For the minis, it’s the 3-inchers.
I also saw the video Zoe did 9 years ago that is on your YouTube channel on mini brioches and I’d love to know what size fluted pans those were also, if possible. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your help!
Could I incorporate herbs into the bread when I’m ready to shape & bake. Instead of adding all the herbs to the whole bread batch durning its rising & storage time?
You can use the roll-in method, yes. Don’t overwork the dough. Type “roll in” into our Search Bar above.
Do you have a recipe for bread using a homemade sour dough starter?
thanks!
Sure, it’s in our book, The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which you can buy at https://artisanbreadinfive.com/healthy. A summary of that material is here on the website; type “easy sourdough starter” into our Search Bar above.