(Part 2) Best products from r/Breadit

Hi! I also recently started baking as a new hobby. I’m very much still a novice and still find it quite intimidating, but I’ve found quite a few decent vids and books that have helped me to get started...

Bake with Jack - really excellent channel filled with 4 min videos talking about terminology, equipment and technique:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTVR5DSxWPpAVI8TzaaXRqQ

Richard Bertinet’s Waitrose video. A bit basic but I find Bertinet’s mannerisms inspiring and the instructions are very useful. Different kneading technique too:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTVR5DSxWPpAVI8TzaaXRqQ

BBC Good Food basic bread recipe. There is probably a better basic recipe, such as the King Arthur one, but this is the first one I used. I halved the salt on this and it’s given me really nice bread every time:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2060/easy-white-bread

Brilliant Bread by James Morton. Only just digging into this book but it really is great. Lots of recipes and kneading advice etc. I’d recommend it to anyone:

https://www.amazon.com/Brilliant-Bread-James-Morton/dp/0091955602

Flour Water Salt Yeast. I’ve not really delved into this much yet as I’m still getting used to the basics, but everyone on here seems to love it and it seems very well written (note:you’ll need a Dutch oven for this):

https://www.amazon.com/Flour-Water-Salt-Yeast-Fundamentals/dp/160774273X

If you’re going no-knead/Dutch oven, I’d say it’s worth giving this a watch too, but I’d check the comments as well as a lot of people seem to be tweaking the recipe. A seemingly infamous video/recipe from NY Times:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

Dough by Richard Bertinet. Another ace book filled with simple easy to follow recipes. Also comes with a short DVD, although I don’t know what’s on it as I’m yet to watch:

https://www.amazon.com/Dough-Simple-Contemporary-Richard-Bertinet/dp/1909487538

River Cottage basic white bread. Not the best instructions but I still found it a useful watch when very first starting out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVWuw_SBSo

Not sure if these are 100% the best places to start but they’ve definitely helped me. I tend to google pretty much everything, which will lead you to a lot of useful sites too.

I hope these help, even if only a little. Im sure others will make some good suggestions here.

Happy baking!

TL;DR - Go by weight for flour, there's a method to figuring out how much 1 cup of your flour weighs. Yeast temperature description is too subjective, again use exact numbers.

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Water temperature for yeast: between 95-115 degrees Fahrenheit (35-46 Celsius) depending on the kind of yeast. Usually dry yeast activated with water + sugar needs about 105-115F. See here for some details. I believe you fall in the 105-115F range. edit: I personally have had luck with the 105F temperature.
>
Your description of "being able to barely handle the temperature" is very subjective. Use a thermometer and always have a consistent temperature when making your breads!

Get a simple digital thermometer that goes up to the boiling point of water I use one of these types, they're cheap and they're good enough.


--------------

Flour: I hate being too strict myself but a consistent weight is the key (not volume). When you scoop flour you compress it into the cup you're scooping with, making each scoop very different from the rest. What I do is I carefully measure sifted flour for a particular brand and type of flour (different types weight differently) and I write it down on the package or on a reference sheet (with brand/type). Once I have the weight, I can look at recipes that use volume or weight (since most volume recipes mean sifted cups, not scooped cups) and all I need is reach the desired weight by looking at a scale:

Needed:

• take a flour sifter if you have one see here, or a mesh strainer like this
  
  
• 2 bowls, one large, one medium
  
• 1 precise electric (not spring) scale (grams or fraction of ounces) like one of these. They sell ones with a bowl that fits on top but honestly, the flat ones work better for me because as long as you can zero-out the scale, you can use your own bowl that fits on the flat scale.
  
  How to measure how much 4 cups of your favorite flour weigh:
  
  Why 4 cups? because 4 is enough for a good estimate (margin of error is spread over 4 cups instead of just weighing a single cup) and you can then divide the result by 4 to get a single cup's weight!
  The Lineup from left to right
  
  Bag of flour - Large Bowl with a measuring cup in it - Scale with medium bowl on it
  
  
• Take the large bowl next to your flour bag
  
• put a measuring cup inside the large bowl,
  
• put the medium bowl on the scale
  
• zero-out the scale
  
• with your right hand hold the colander/sifter above the large bowl/measuring cup (don't let it touch)
  
• with your left hand, scoop a cup or two of flour into the colander/sifter
  
• sift the flour (or gently tap the colander) until the measuring cup inside the large bowl is overflowing
  
• take the measuring cup out when it's overfilled and with a knife, scrape carefully so that your measuring cup is precisely even across the top and completely measuring 1 cup of flour
  
• take this cup of sifted flour and put it in the medium bowl
  
• do this 3 more times.
  
  Your scale will tell you how much 4 cups of sifted flour (for that brand) weigh!
  
  Write the 4 cups weight on a reference sheet along with the brand and type of flour (example: King Arthur Unbleached bread flour see here). I also write the weight/cup conversion.
  
  Next time you make bread, go by weight and you can exactly replicate your success or amend your attempts by knowingly changing an exact amount.
  
  EDIT: It's late and I completely forgot to mention that your video was really nice, a bit long and could use some editing but I enjoyed listening to you talking through the recipe! Good luck and happy baking!

Well it really depends on what sort of milling apparatus you have. My in laws sent me a very old hand mill a long time ago, and it took me roughly 30 minutes to mill a cup of flour (had to run it through three times to gradually get a finer flour). That was not worth it.

It was enough to pique my interest though and last year I bought a WonderMill and I absolutely love it. It was pretty pricey but I have certainly used it enough where I feel it was worth it. It takes about 2-3 minutes to mill 5 pounds of grain. Depending on what I'm making I might sift out some of the bran, but otherwise I use it as is. I have not read up as extensively on the timeline for using the flour. I've seen that you should typically use it right away or let it age for a few weeks. Personally I've done both and never had any significant issues.

Similar to your interest, I've been able to use it to make bread with locally grown grains. It also makes it much easier to make bread with stranger types of flour, since you can mill almost any dry, non oily, grain. I've milled wheat, rye berries, quinoa, barley, kamut, buckwheat, and a few other things. My wife has a friend who makes beer and tomorrow I'm picking up some spent grain from him that I'll be able to mill. Buying those grains isn't cheap, but I can usually get them in bulk so I buy exactly what need. Otherwise I'd have to buy an expensive bag of specialty flour that I might not need much from.

If you're thinking of getting a mill there are a lot of different options out there as I discovered. The Fresh Loaf had many good discussion threads which where helpful in addition to amazon reviews and youtube demonstrations.

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I recently got Tartine #3 when it was posted here for 5$ a few weeks ago. In it there is a recipe for Oat Porridge bread, this website has the recipe basically. I also have Sandor Katz' The Art of Fermentation, and it in it is a technique for making a fermented oatmeal, where you basically just do a 2:1 ratio (or more if you like a thinner porridge) of rolled oats to water and let it sit out over night or longer. Its good, you get a tangy taste to the oats and I find it to get a really creamy texture. So what I did was combine the two. I took the suggested amount of oats and water for the porridge bread in Tartine, then just left it out for a week, stirring once a day. By the time I did the bread it smelled reallllly great, very yeasty and sour. I blackslopped some of it into the initial dough of the bread, then cooked and incorporated it as per instructions.


Came out well, but I used a little bit more water than suggested in the porridge and so I probably should have added a bit more flour into the dough. As I said, it stuck to the banneton and deflated a lot, so it ended up more of a disk than a boule, but even so, I got a good bit of oven spring. Taste wise, the bread was very good. Well soured, and very hearty with all the oats in it. As they mention in the recipe, the crumb is super tender, and this bread holds up very well, I was eating it 5 days later and it still felt just as fresh as when I first made it, barring a bit if dryness where the cut was. Really an excellent loaf, just kind of hard to work with and very easy to over hydrate if you aren't careful.

Here is my photo album with different angles.

bottom

crumb

This is my first try at making something other than no knead bread. I followed the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe here and here pretty closely, but added a bit more water to the poolish because I thought it looked too dry. I baked it at 475F for 25 minutes instead of the instructed 20 minutes to give it more color.

I think it came out alright for my first try. I'm surprised that it tastes pretty good - it has a nice crispy, crackling crust that shatters when I bite into it. It's seasoned well too, the salt brings out a lot of flavor. The crumb is more dense than I hoped for - I think it's because I over kneaded the dough. Obviously, I need to work on the shape.

Honestly, I prefer this drier type of bread compared to all of the no knead bread I've been making - it's not so moist and spongy in the middle.

Tips and critiques welcome!

The main thing I use most of the time are just a scale (in grams is best, but it's more about ratios than anything), a dough scraper (something like this, but any flat piece to manipulate the dough will work. It's also very useful for cleaning where you were shaping the bread.). For letting the dough do it's final rise, I cover a flour sack towel (other fabric will work, but you want it smooth enough so the dough doesn't get fuzz in it, but coarse enough for the flour to 'catch' on it) in flour (a mix of wheat and fine rice flour is best, but cornmeal and rice or just lots of wheat flour will work) and line a colander with it. And razors for cutting the dough without it sticking. (putting something like these on a wooden coffee stirrer stick works well, but any razors or sharp blades should be fine.)

Other stuff is nice to have, but not necessary, IMO.

Take a look at the following books which your local library may possibly have. All deal with whole grain breads and breads made using non-standard flours.

Tartine Book No.3: It's the Tartine round loaf in a million whole grain variations, while also including some interesting pan loaves.

Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: Recipes for pretty much every type of whole grain bread. Uses a lot of specialized ingredients, and complex multi-stage recipes, and contains a ton of information.

Peter Reinhart's Bread Revolution: Not familiar with this book but it looks neat, probably advanced if you're just learning about using alternative grains to white flour but still interesting.

Home Baked: Nordic Recipes and Techniques for Organic Bread and Pastry: This is a personal favorite book, and the vast majority of the recipes use whole grains. Everything I've made out of this has been excellent, although some recipes are lacking in how-to type details that might not be obvious to a novice baker.

You can buy a cast iron Dutch oven for $20 on Amazon. This is a great investment because it lets you make really good, really simple no knead breads.

Literally just miss together four ingredients and let things sit. Then fold the dough, let it sit some more. Bake it and you've got amazing bread. These no knead recipes are the best ROI for your baking time, effort, and dollar.

One great tip I picked up is to put the bread in the Dutch oven on parchment paper so there's no clean up!

You can get most of them from Amazon. I've been using Ken Forkish's recommended Cambro clear plastic bins with covers and they work great, 12qt for mix / rise and the 6qt for sourdough storage. You can get bannetons and bench knives from Amazon too.

Get a 2nd dutch oven so you can do two loaves at once! 10" Lodge cast iron ovens are fantastic and durable and have tons of uses outside of baking too.

Maybe the most important thing you can get for her if she doesn't have one already is a kitchen scale. One that goes to 1g would probably suffice though if you're doing smaller yeast measures you might want .5g or .1g.

Also recommend getting a thermometer.

Of course if you're in Canada and are Amazon impaired hollar and I can let you know where to get this stuff in the 3rd world above the 49th parallel.

Hi Guys, thanks for all of your suggestions, they've been a real help in deciding what to go for!

For those who are interested, here's what I went for:

Baking Cloche

Dough Scraper

2 x Round Banneton

Baker's Linen Cloth

My Weigh KD8000 Kitchen Scale

Professional Lame/Grignette/Blade

Book: Brilliant Bread - James Morton

Once again thank you all :)

A great book to read is [Bread illustrated] (https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Illustrated-Step-Step-Bakery-Quality/dp/1940352606). It's pretty cheap and they explain everything from the equipment needed to the easy breads to the super turbo championship edition breads

1. Oh my god - I DO have that book! I didn't even think of using it! Also, I grind it on a "bread" setting which is om between
   pastry" and
   coarse" - it's still pretty fine (can barely distinguish the bran with my fingers).
   
   
2. I bought a small one (I live in an apartment in a big city) and it's awesome. This is the one I have, it's only about $220 on amazon.
   
   
3. Thank you for your help!

Myweigh KD-8000 a little pricey but uses AA batteries instead of the watch ones. It also has the option to use an AC adapter. Those features alone have paid this thing off. For those complaining of auto shut off this thing has a setting that lets it stay on indefinitely. Other cool features include a bakers percentage mode and the ability to calibrate. The only con I would say is that it requires a 5kg calibration weight to calibrate. Those things are expensive! I found mine to be true from the factory.

I bought it with the optional AC adapter. In hindsight I would of saved myself the $15. This thing has seen daily use with the same pair of AA's for the past few months. If you have rechargeable AA's you can save yourself some $$

With AC adapter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C6CN1VY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_YMfJAbFHNMT0G

Without AC adapter
Kitchen Scale - Bakers Math Kitchen Scale - KD8000 Scale by My Weight, Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VEKX35Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aOfJAbM613BJX

Hey, yes please ask away! For the sesame seed, I've thought about rolling the baguettes but it's much easier to spray the baguettes with a little water before they are cut and sprinkle it only on top.

For shaping, I think a bakers couche for 17 dollars is a necessity (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0053NRBO2/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I think that will keep your baguettes from going flat.

Last, I've gotten some nice mixed holes from this recipe by long cold fermentations in the fridge and proper building of the gluten strands. I could be wrong but I believe the shaping and folding is more for obtaining a taught surface for a nice rise. I now use a baking stone which helps with oven spring but it's not necessary.

My wife gave me the book, Beard on Bread. It is the Basic White Free-Form Loaf. You can also find the recipe here that someone else posted.

Didn't deviate much, other than using a hair more water in the sponge to make sure it was a very wet dough. As a result I probably used a bit more flour than it calls for when making the dough. I stopped measuring after 2 cups and probably kneaded in a bit more than a half cup.

It rose like crazy. The first rise is supposed to take 1.5-2 hours, pretty sure mine was done in an hour, tops. Which I was thrilled to see, since usually I never seem to even get it to rise to double bulk.

You can improve the flavor and crumb by employing a pre-ferment. The best books I've encountered that discuss the different types of pre-ferment are:

Bread Baker's Apprentice by Reinhart.

Bread by Hamelman.

Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Forkish.

Tartine Bread by Robertson.

Also, definitely watch the NYT No-Knead Bread video.

I have a USA loaf pan (search "loaf pan"; this is the exact one I have) that I am just loving to pieces compared to my darker bakeware. I'd suggest getting one of their loaf pans and retire that dark loaf pan you have.

I also have a half sheet pan which I am loving to bits too.

Despite both having a silicone coating, they still suggest you spritz some oil before putting anything in/on the pan to make removal easier.

Utopia Kitchen Pre Seasoned Cast Iron Dutch Oven with Dual Handle and Cover Casserole Dish, 5 Quart

At $26 you can buy two whole barely exceeding your budget and bake two loaves at once. I've been very pleased with my cheap Utopia Kitchen dutch oven. I bought a 7 qt. size and wish I had gone with the 5 qt. size so I could get two in my oven at once.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X6ZBE42/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fOXQAb5KGPWC6

I just bought this book http://www.amazon.com/Josey-Baker-Bread-Baking-Awesome/dp/1452113688 which seems pretty amazing for beginner bread bakers (I just received it yesterday so I haven't made anything yet) but it has great reviews. he calls that round loaf a hearth loaf.

There are lots of books out there I was not sure about buying a book, I mean I wanted the Tartine Book from Chad Robertson but then I saw the reviews and that make more difficult to choose “the right book”.

I’ve been baking for almost 2 years and half, I actually have a small [bakery] (https://www.facebook.com/Passiflory) with my girlfriend and since in my country it’s not common to see sourdough breads I want to add old techniques to my loafs. I need to improve working with starters and include this in all my breads.

After seen reviews and feedback of the books mentioned on this thread I pre-ordered [“Josey Baker Bread: Get Baking - Make Awesome Bread - Share the Loaves”] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1452113688/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Check out his [video] (http://vimeo.com/77071595)

This is my list:

• kitchen aid mixer ($350)
  
  
• Dutch Oven ($50)
  
  
• good digital scale ($20)
  
  
• good thermometer for the kitchen ($10-20)
  
  
• Mixing Bowl set ($20)
  
  
• Bakers Couche ($15)
  
  
• Banneton ($10) (x2)
  
  
• Commercial Food Storage ($5-10) (x4 because I use these a ton)
  
  
• Bench Scrapper ($5)
  
  
• Measuring Cup (2 cup size)
  
  
• Measuring Spoons
  
  
• Pizza Steel Or Stone ($40-80)
  
  
• Loaf Pan
  
  
  Total = $620 (no tax)
  
  
  add in an awesome workbench table for 300 and you are good to go.

Ah, that explains a lot. Even though it's only an inch in each direction, 9x5 (45) is about 1.4x larger than 8x4 (32). To scale, I'd just multiply everything by 1.5 to make the math easier on myself (just divide by two and add it to the original value.) That said, that's a 2.25lb loaf, so make sure you've got room in your proofing container, if you use one.

I use this now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029JQEIC/ref=twister_B07J2MFFMG?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

It says 1lb, but I run 1.5lb recipes through it for a nice crown. The dimensions are a little deceiving. It's about 4" at the bottom and tapers up to 5" wide at the top, and then with the crown the loaf is about 6" across at the top.

You need real help. James beard has a book called "beard on bread". http://www.amazon.com/Beard-On-Bread-James/dp/0679755047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382906257&sr=8-1&keywords=beard+on+bread

I couldn't make out your paragraph. Sorry.

Good luck in the future. Read the book.

As a newbie baker, I swear by Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I've taught at least 3 non-baker friends the boule recipe and they all love it.

you might try a local bakery if you're looking for fresh yeast; I and many others use instant yeast, which lasts a very long time in the fridge freezer and works great; a pound (which is a lot) can be had on Amazon for about $8 (https://smile.amazon.com/Saf-Instant-Yeast-Pound-Pouch/dp/B0001CXUHW?sa-no-redirect=1)

I'll throw in a vote for Lodge as well. I have two of 4 qt round that I find work perfectly for baking bread. I also have an 8 qt Le Creuset I picked up at an estate sale. It's awesome, but I don't think I'd ever pay full price.

Buy a scale - use it for most measuring, especially flour.

Buy 2 thermometers - one to leave in the oven and one instant read for testing done-ness.

Use Instant yeast.

Besides that - read alot about baking then practice and experiment. Try adjusting the water/flour amounts and see what works best for you.

Baking is an art... but it helps if you also know the science.

Mercer 10" curved blade is my favorite so far. Cuts like a dream and rocks along the bottom of my bamboo bread cutting board.

Not sure about video series... But I bought this cookbook and found it to be very helpful. I had some experience but not much. This book has helped make bread making seem like something I can do! They have pictures for each step and talk about troubleshooting issues and even go into the science of bread at the beginning a bit. book on amazon

Kind of an FYI for /r/breadit and OP.

I bake my bread in a dutch oven, but my fathers' been looking for one, also for bread.

Just bought a Lodge 4 qt. dutch oven for my father last night after watching the price change 3 times over the last week. From $57 down to now $32. This is as cheap as you're ever going to find it if you want to get one.

I have a book suggestion. The Josey Baker Cookbook. The guy used to write science text for kids. The book is a very approachable, step by step guide to baking. It is a beginners guide, but you are going to make some amazing bread.

How instant is instant? I have one of these that I use for brewing but it's not what I would call instant. It gets to the temp typically in a few seconds. Is this sufficient you think? Also, I'm very familiar with the meat "doneness" scale, what temp's are bread done at?

Thanks!

Link for those wanting it.

Thanks for the heads up! First kindle recipe book. Should be interesting.

It's very possible. My go-to dead-simple sandwich loaf, for example, is 100% sprouted whole wheat. I baked a loaf this morning and I assure you it's delicious :)

Loaves like the one here are harder with 100% whole, but very possible. Here's a book on the subject.

Right. It’s the lodge 4 qt.

[Amazon Link](Lodge Pro-Logic 4 Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven. Pre-Seasoned Pot with Self-Basting Lid and Easy Grip Handles https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001DJVGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i14PBbD6Y510S)

It's barley malt syrup, here's the Amazon link. I generally use it for boiling bagels, but put some in bread to try the flavor. Diastatic powder malt is actually better for baking bread as a dough enhancer. I use this too occasionally.

PART 2:

Prep:

Around the 3 hour mark, you need to start prepping the kitchen for the tasks of cutting, shaping, rising, boiling, cooling, topping, and baking. You need:

• to make some space for laying out the dough. You will be cutting and shaping the dough into the round bagel shape in a little while, and you need some space to do this.
  
  
• a baking pan. and either lay down a bit of semolina flour, cornmeal, oil, PAM, or parchment paper to help prevent sticking. I prefer parchment--you can reuse it 1 to 2 times if you're careful, and cleanup is just a matter of pulling out the paper.
  
  
• to preheat your oven to 245 C, or 475 Fahrenheit. You want the time for heat to soak into the walls of the oven reaaallly well.
  
  
• (If you are not boiling with lye, disregard my shenanigans about the type of metal used) Grab a stainless steel pot, one which can hold 1.5 to 2 quarts of water with a few inches to spare. I said stainless steel! More on this in the safety details later.
  
  
• an implement for fishing and straining the bagels out of the boiling lye solution. Alternatively, you could use two forks, two spoons, or even chopsticks.
  
  
• a large bowl or container and fill it halfway with water. You will be adding lots of ice to it later to halt the cooking process after boiling the bagels. This will also wash off the NaOH, making them easier and safer to handle.
  
  
• a long bladed knife, or a dough blade.
  
  
• If you plan to use toppings, get a shallow dish with raised sides and dump them in. You'll probably need to dump in much more than you think. A LOT will stick to the bagels.
  
  
• a stopwatch or nearby analogue clock for timing the boiling of each bagel.
  
  
• plenty of plastic film for covering the dough during final proving.
  
  
• Lastly, rubber or latex gloves, preferably marked HDPE or LDPE. These are what I use.
  
• and protective eyewear
  
  

  ---

I have this Oxo one and I'd say it works pretty well for me.

I recommend this knife. it makes bread slicing a lot easier.

The victorinox bread knife does pretty well for me.

I very highly recommend it. I don't always get the right slice, but when you find a setting on it that you like, it's reliable. Got mine at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077TK2H2B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details

This book gave me a great start

https://www.amazon.com/Beard-Bread-James/dp/0679755047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466123896&sr=8-1&keywords=Beard+on+bread

I like to use Bread Illustrated, he's got about every type you'd like.

4 Quart non-enameled

4 Quart Enameled

I know they're not terribly high-end, but I like Lodge.

I've had amazing results with this knife for a third of the price:

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-47547-4-Inch-Fibrox-Handle/dp/B00093090Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1323642803&sr=1-1

One of those linens for baguettes if you bake those. And maybe a nice pizza stone for other types of bread?

Stock up on different kinds of flour too! Or maybe even a grain mill if you want to make your own flour!

FYI, same price for the kindle version right now as well.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F8H0FNW

Happy to help! The links below are pulled right from my amazon order history.

I don't have a picture of the pre-proofed dough, unfortunately, but I would say that it filled about half of the proofing basket. The baskets themselves are 9 inches, however.

Kasskonnen KK-010 Round Brotform, 9-Inch, Light Brown https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002O1WD94/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_AiyCyb48RH107


Regarding the Dutch oven, it is a 4 quart Lodge.

Lodge P10D3 Pro-Logic Cast Iron Dutch Oven, Pre-Seasoned, 4-Quart https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001DJVGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_9hyCybK8EK52P

Other than cooking time, it shouldn't effect the taste or texture much. You may have to use a Couche during the second rising. If you have a tea towel or other linen towel, you can use one of those instead. Same method as with forming baguettes. I noticed below, you said you've been trying to build up enough confidence to tackle a baguette. It's not hard, really. GIve it a go, you won't be sorry. Personally though, I find a baguette a bit hard crusted for a sandwich.

Percentages in baking are just a way to establish a ratio between the flour and the other ingredients. This is an alternative to expressing things as specific quantities. It's useful because it doesn't demand that a batch be of any particular size. You could start with 10 grams of flour or 10 kilos.

There are baker's scales (I have this one) that provide for this way of doing things. You plop the flour on, hit "%" (which establishes "100%") and then measure all your other ingredients based on that starting point.

You may be interested in this book "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes". Essentially, you make the dough on the weekend, break off a piece here and there, shape it, and throw it in the oven.
http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutionizes/dp/0312362919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333294847&sr=8-1

I bought the Bread Revolution Book and did the basic loaf which turned out fabulous. A bit on the dense side, but that's to be expected.

This Victorinox works well for me. Costs around $40.

This is the pan. It's a deceiving height. I would say the loaf was an inch and a half or so above the lip. I hope this helps!

USA Pan Bakeware Aluminized Steel Loaf Pan 1140LF 8.5 x 4.5 x 3 Inch, Small, Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029JQEIC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MFinDb9WTH7M6

Ken Forkish suggests Saf Instant Yeast, this is the one I ordered from Amazon.

I also prefer Google Play Books, but it's been the same price Kindle for awhile now.

SAF Instant Yeast. I got it off amazon. Now that I’m using it I’m never going back to other yeast.

Here’s a link

I am one of the bakers at a new bakery in Kansas City. We do mild sourdoughs and refer to Josey Baker's book a lot.
We also use Tartine's book

Here is the mobile version of your link

Recipe is based on Bread Illustrated with some adjustments made for high-altitude.

I use this one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00VEKX35Y/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You bet.

Lodge Pro-Logic P10D3 Cast Iron Dutch Oven, Black, 4-Quart https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001DJVGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9GkCxb6BQXA8D

Check out: http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutionizes/dp/0312362919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312813772&sr=8-1 and the related books. They have it all figured out.

$1 more, 4 times as much as one of those little jars.


https://www.amazon.com/Saf-Instant-Yeast-Pound-Pouch/dp/B0001CXUHW

Yep. I didn't have a starter to work with unfortunately. Used this stuff http://www.amazon.com/Saf-Instant-Yeast-Pound-Pouch/dp/B0001CXUHW

I have two more questions. Sorry for being a total newbie.

First, the entire concept of disturbing bread in between proofing and baking sounds crazy to me. In every recipe I've made, I'd let the bread proof on an aluminum pan and then carefully place it in the oven to bake. I thought that if the CO2 built up during the proof gets released, you'd get a flat bread. Is proofing there to build up the flavor or to shape the bread? What happens when the dough falls 6 inches? Do you get decent bread from it?

Also, I've read a bit about proofing directly in a cold dutch oven and adding 10 minutes to the baking time. I don't know if this will work well, but it does overcome the problem of placing bread in a ridiculously hot oven.

Right now, I'm leaning toward this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-EC4D43-Enameled-Island-4-5-Quart/dp/B004QM8SK2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411910565&sr=8-2&keywords=enameled+cast+iron+dutch+oven

Although I could save some money with this and line it with aluminum foil, as you suggested.
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Pro-Logic-P10D3-Dutch-4-Quart/dp/B0001DJVGK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411912940&sr=8-1&keywords=lodge+cast+iron+4+quart