Hey Brenda! King Arthur question

[Optimistic]

Brenda, xenon, and others that bake. . .do you weigh your flour? I don't, and am wondering if I need to start doing so. Maybe that contributes to my crappy bread-making endeavors of late.

[xenon]

Game changer for me. Might be because some of my flour was sitting around for a while and packed quite tight.

My first foray into bread making a few weeks ago was a disaster. Got a digital scale from amazon for about $12.

Game changer.

I tested some of my flour weight on the scale after to confirm. I was way off. YMMV

[Mik]

Yeah, weighing is very important in baking. It's chemistry.

[xenon]

Another big benefit has been that you can convert recipes you like into ratios - and scale them up and down with accuracy once you have a scale.

I had a recipe for 5 pizza dough balls. I only wanted 3. Multiple all the weights by 3/5.

[brenda]

@Optimistic
Opti, for bread, yes, weigh your flour until you get really comfortable making a certain recipe. The first several times I make a new recipe, I always weigh the flour. My challah bread is one I've made so many times, I can tell just by feel whether it needs more flour or liquid. My frequent pizza dough is the same way, I just measure and adjust. With varying humidity and temp, a given recipe will need tweaking to get the desired texture. On a cold winter day, I just know I'll have to add a bit more liquid. On a humid day, probably not.

Something that new bakers sometimes find difficult to manage is the hydration level for the dough, especially if it's meant to be a wet dough, actually sticky. Don't be afraid of sticky dough. Just wet or oil your hands, or use a bench knife to move it around. A good high hydration will help you get a nice moist bread. The oven never adds moisture to your bread. LOL. You have to make sure it's moist before you bake it, and that often means a sticky dough. People keep adding more flour to make it easier to handle, and then they're disappointed with dry bread.
Sticky is good!

[Jolly]

How about a pizza crust made with beer?

[Optimistic]

@Jolly Sounds delicious!

Ok, that´s it then, I´m sold on the scale. Most of my baking is cakes and cookies type-stuff, and I mostly stick to my favorite recipes. Working without a scale has not been an issue before. I´m also not really sure why I was able to have success with yeast dough years ago but lately not--but xenon, now I´m wondering if it´s because my baking ingredients are a bit on the older side, and maybe my flour has settled.

Ok, what about about a thermometer to measure water temps for the dough? Necessary?

[mark]

Just took delievry of 10lbs of KA Bread flour. This is a first. I usually just get Gold Medal at the grocery store. Always unbleached and all purpose. Although I did get some nice whole wheat flour a couple of weeks ago. I started substituting 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour for the same all purpose flour, in my sourdough bread recipe. Makes for a good hearty bread.

And yes, as you get more loaves made under your belt you will just know by the feel of the dough. I never weigh or measure my flour.

[mark]

I go between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit for the water temp.

[Optimistic]

@mark
Curious to hear what differences you note with the Bread Flour. I used to be just an all-purpose flour user, but recently got the Bread Flour. Actually, let me rephrase that. I decided to finally open the nice KAF Bread Flour I had in my stash, that had a use-by date of mid-2019 --says the gal who wonders why her bread didn´t turn out so great.

I have a fresh bag of the Bread Flour waiting for me after I get a lot of practice with the older bag.

[Aqua Letifer]

[Optimistic]

YUP!

[Mik]

Well, I have pre-cooked the sausage. I think we will sauce it with tomato-ricotta pesto on one and olive oil and garlic on the next. Hot and mild sausage, a blend of Italian cheeses, sliced fresh tomato and basil slivers after the bake.

I had one 17" crust pre-tossed and have cut it into fourths to fit our pans. Now I have a thick half sheet pan upside down in the oven at 550 to get it screaming hot. The pizza will go from a cornmeal dusted flat pan we are using as a peel direct to the hot stone, which is positioned in the bottom of the oven. We will see!

[Mik]

Oh yeah, and a little fennel pollen after the bake too.

[Mik]

First piece. Pretty good.

[jon-nyc]

Damn that looks good.

[xenon]

Very. Good size as well. I always have a tough time stretching the dough out and keeping it thin.

[Mik]

well, this one was bought re-tossed and I cut it it into quarters to fit because I did not want to mess with re-stretching it. It cooked about 5.5 minutes and was a bit overdone. This one I'm trying 4 minutes.

[brenda]

@Optimistic
Yes to the thermometer, too. Doesn't have to be expensive. I like my water to be about 108 to 110F, but anywhere from 108 to 112 is fine. I prefer to have it a little lower than 110, just because it seems like a little longer rise means I'm not rushing to get everything ready for shaping, etc. I tend to make large batches, so the prep for the step of shaping and putting the loaves on trays or in pans can take a little time. Plus, I'm usually multi-tasking, and I may need to finish up the thing that's my in-between project. I've heard that a slightly slower rise develops a nicer crumb, too, instead of the giant blowout bubbles. LOL I don't know that it matters for that reason. Mostly, I just like to have time for a little second project, even if it's just prepping for dinner.

[Mik]

I must preface this with I have never had much luck at pizza especially since it wasn't one of my favorite foods. Until I found real, chewy crust Neapolitan pizzas.

Here's the next one, with a garlic olive oil and Italian seasoning base. It looks better. Turned it down to 500 and less time. The key is putting it on a hot surface down low in the oven.