Bread for Christmas dinner in the form of French epi rolls, and an extra loaf for leftovers sandwiches. This French bread is basically the same as the lean bread recipe, except not as hydrated. The extra stiffness makes it easier to shape for baguettes, or in this case baguettes snipped into...

I haven’t yet mastered how long to proof my breads before baking, so I decided to do a test to understand what happens when a loaf is over-proofed. The results from this experiment weren’t at all what I expected. But before the punchline, here’s some background information....

My Mom’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to show up with bread in hand for her and my sister. I hadn’t made Reinhart’s French bread since Loaves 11 and 14. I had a few minor issues with those, but I’ve learned so much since then that it seemed pretty easy now (and...

As the first step in my new Scientific Method for Learning How to Bake Great Bread (there is no acronym for this), I’m comparing the three flours that I’ve been using – Whole Foods Organic, King Arthur, and Gold Medal. I made three versions of 1/3 size batches of the French...

This is a follow-up attempt from Loaf 11, my French baguettes that only tasted okay. This time I used the same recipe, but corrected what I thought were the errors from last time. The dough came out too sticky again, so I added a bit more flour until it became tacky. I handled the dough more...

The recipe from “Artisan Breads Every Day” for French Bread is very similar to the Ciabatta recipe, without oil or stretch and folds. I was excited to try this so I could use the baguette pans that Sarah gave me. The end result looked nice (with some exceptions noted below),...