8 Bread Baking Tips From Pro Bakers

[@the_bread_code]

Hope you have fun watching this. Linked Kristen and Matthew in the description, including the previous interviews. Also added chapters so that you can skip to the parts that interest you the most! Also sorry, this was recorded with my old camera :-).

[@matthewjamesduffy]

Wow-what a great memory! We moved a few months ago to expand the micro-bakery and baking studio and seeing that kitchen space brings back some baking memories. Lets do this again in the new year, thanks for sharing.

[@kenfairfax4933]

There is one absolutely KEY factor that I have learned about the hard way that I have not seen addressed in your videos: the EXACT shape of the banneton. I have two bannetons for baking batards. They are the same length, the same width, and the same height. They are even the same width at the base and at the top. Despite that, one of them consistently produces loaves with better oven pop and better crumb. Why? Looking closely at the two bannetons, I can see that they have different profiles. While both the base and the top of each banneton have exactly the same dimensions, one of the bannetons follow a rounded, "fatter" profile as it expands from the base to the top (think of a wide letter "U"). The second banneton moves from the base width to the top width via an opposite arc -- staying narrower near the bottom before widening out quickly near the top (think of a skinny "U" that flares out at the top). The banneton that stays narrow longer before widening near the top consistently produces higher loaves with a better crumb.

[@MJA5]

so much knowledge from experience! Great to hear these bakers freely give advice, thanks for presenting them

[@isabelab6851]

This is fantastic! Thank you! Love your guests..and I have learned a lot from them. Great video

[@helenjohnson7583]

It always helps to have the info shuffled and run by us in a different format like this. Thanks for doing this!

[@alwynn2233]

I love this last question because my entire reason for learning how to make sour dough is to make a 100% wholewheat organic sour dough and also an authentic Lithuanian sour dough Black bread. I just received my red rye malt from Ukraine because it is one of the ingredients needed. I have so much to learn. Fermenting my 5th loaf of sour dough from bread flour right now.

[@catpawsandplay]

This is an amazing eye opening video! Thank you for this. I also love your poster. Can i ask where can I also get it too? Hehehe thank you!

[@alwynn2233]

I watched your video about starters components and noticed my starter is floral and sweet smelling. Now I am fermenting Matthew’s beginner sour dough recipe right now, it’s my first time trying it.

[@ExperimentalistBrewing]

This was great, I'm aways worried about over proofing my dough in the fridge, but now I'm less worried about that!

[@ekcs3941]

Great insights, def valuable having people like you though talking about the different flours and how that impacts the bread, because so much info is very North America based it was very hard as a beginner to work out why my local British/european flour wasn't producing the same result!

[@DamselflySnaps]

Such good info as always. Thank you for this!

[@santolify]

So informative! Thank you!

[@hyeenae]

Thank you for providing and collecting other bakers' insights. One thing to improve on the viewing experience would be to level all audio. In whatever cutting software you use, there would be a levels-meter to indicate the volume in dB. It would be great, if all segments (especially your commentary in between) would be on even ground.

[@matthewzarzycki2602]

I took a shot with using butter milk with water. 67% hydration, 2/3 water, 1/3 buttermilk. GREAT flavor!

[@carlboehm3858]

I will try the method of mixing with the stand mixer ... Adding at different times ... Thank You for your content, I am improving my bake with every episode

[@toddfrans1492]

Great information…wow…learning so much

[@alexischavez3238]

FIRST! And thank you so much for another video!🥳

[@kentsel]

ah bruh she passed me , Im second comment now

[@jj9501]

Some days I'm so motivated to make the best sourdough and to hear all these differences even a starter can make 😂.

[@simplybeautifulsourdough8920]

Love the point that is the air pocket that's being cut buy the whole grain fibers, not the gluten itself. Next time I work with a higher percentage whole-grain, I will spend more time working the dough to develop gluten.

[@trijezdci4588]

You won't even get air bubbles large enough to burst because of some bran particle. The most common and typical scenario is too little water in the dough. Bran contains dietary fibers that evolved in nature to soak up as much water as possible upon the first rain that comes along and then keep that water for the embryo of the plant not to die for lack of water because once the enzymatic processes have started the embryo cannot go back into hibernation. The bran has an immense water absorbing capacity for this reason. But it takes a long time, several hours. Most bakers go by their instinct developed from working with dough made from white flour and stop adding water when the dough consistency seems right by white flour dough standards. But then the bran slowly absorbs the water and the dough gets very stiff and dry. In the process it steals the water from the gluten forming proteins which then weakens the gluten. So you get a compact crumb and a dry bread. What you need to do is add far more water (about 90% and more, depending on the flour) and give the dough enough time to absorb it. The key is to ignore your instinct. The dough will feel far too runny. Don't worry. After 10-12 hours of soaking it will have absorbed all that water and then its consistency will be just like a dough made from white flour with 60-65% water. Stretching and folding should be done after the dough has absorbed the water. Then ideally you use long fermentation. You can either do a long autolyse and add your starter afterwards, or you can add so little starter that it will take so long to ferment that there is enough time to absorb the water before the yeast starts producing CO2. About 1-3% starter for fermenting at room temperature should do, 1% in summer, 2% in spring & autumn, 3% in winter.

[@mattmallecoccio8378]

Hendrik, I am assuming that before you refresh your starter you want to let it come to room temp. Am I correct?

[@MichaelRei99]

I’m one of the people that uses Fahrenheit. It’s much more accurate than Celsius which is a benefit to me . And I don’t care about getting ridiculously open crumb either. I’m more interested in enjoying my bread than showing it off. Finally I really don’t like much sour in my bread I prefer dairy notes. I’ve been pretty happy with the skills I’ve developed with your help and the help of others.

[@DANVIIL]

A tip for those thinking about a mixer. Avoid the KitchAide mixers. Their gears are made out of plastic and break. Look on eBay at all of the replacement gears for sale. I had a Braun, their high end unit and I ended up replacing it with an Ankarsrum and have been very pleased with its excellent design and performance. The design is over 60 years old and the design is fool proof with a 1" or 25 mm direct drive belt. It really is as close to hand kneading as a machine can be. I only use a mixer if I'm making over 3000 grams of dough or I feel lazy. Thanks for the information.

[@jj9501]

For a second I got excited....till I saw the price 😂. Kenwood is more my price point I guess 😆

[@61mab]

Started making my starter with Rye flour, now I'm using bread F. think I'm going to switch to whole wheat after this vid. and a re-viewing couldn't hurt :-)

[@KD-np2pr]

How long a dough can proof in the refrigerator seems debatable and is perhaps dependent on the type of flour used or the hydration maybe. I routinely make a sourdough loaf and leave it in the fridge to bake later. I've gone as long as five days proofing in a 39 degree F fridge with no discernible change in the loaf.

[@DamselflySnaps]

Can you interview Guy Frenkel from Ceor bread?

[@boomish69]

You should use a lapel mic or some kind of ear piece when in the kitchen , it’s possibly the worst place to record sound apart from a bathroom, the reverberation cascades around the room creating horrible resonant frequencies that makes it not nice to listen to. Just a top tip for you, as ever thank you for these tips , they are fantastic..

[@kamikaza3334]

Gluten Tag!

[@pebayou.3380]

Gluten tag , there is missing an S on your Dark/ blue tshirt :))

[@majkrou]

One question though… what is inoculation? 🙈

[@carnicavegirl7214]

He totally has ADD 😂 same bro

[@binwaelle1138]

I try 10 time is not working bread maby I come your house to teach me

[@frankfurter7260]

This is very interesting and I’m sure these people make delicious bread but neither is a pro baker. Possibly pro instructors or KZbin creators. Words matter and we live in an age where people keep abusing them. Pro bakers create bread at scale for customers and they do it day in and day out and with great consistency. If you continue with your online bread business you will experience what it means to be a “pro baker.”

[@matthewjamesduffy]

Hey Frank, thanks for your response. While I have never considered myself or given myself the title of a "pro baker" I have over 15 years of professional cooking and baking experience. This includes sous chef for Daniel Boulud and baker in a Relais and Chateaux property once rated Canada's best hotel and listed in the top 100 restaurants in the world. I've trained at the French Pastry School, King Arthur Flour alongside Jeffrey Hamelman and the San Francisco Baking Institute and I have worked in bakeries in Germany, Ontario, and Vermont. I am currently a fulltime baking instructor and program coordinator for a Baking and Pastry Arts Management Progran and often host classes for the Bread Bakers Guild of America. Through the semester we bake hundreds of breads weekly, including a large bake for a community outreach program. In the past I have baked for several farmers markets in Toronto and Stratford and while I am not doing markets anymore at home I run a micro bakery, baking naturally leavened breads and panettone. While my micro bakery is small maybe one day I will scale it to the size of a "pro baker". Happy baking.

[@frankfurter7260]

@@matthewjamesduffy “ While I have never considered myself or given myself the title of a "pro baker" “. May want to mention that to the guy that made the video. You seem to think my comment had anything to do with your skill level. It did not. Happy baking, regards.

[@matthewjamesduffy]

@@frankfurter7260 If you earn a living baking does that not make you a professional?

[@matthewjamesduffy]

@@frankfurter7260 That is actually not what I think at all... regardless I wish you a safe and happy holiday.

[@roychastain2958]

Frank Furter, What is your definition of "Pro Baker"? Watching various bakers on KZbin and elsewhere I definitely put Kristen in the "Pro" category. I hadn'y found Mathhew until now but looking through his offerings and seeing his history the word "Pro" certainly comes to mind.

[@BenMyerson-um8me]

Third!

[@SuperZl0]

Off topic, but dude, pay attention to ur posture

[@kentsel]

seconds like first view first comment ehhehehehehehe

[@voidremoved]

celsius vs fahrenheit makes me sad, can't we have both? Am I the only one who uses both? Celsius is for outdoor temperature.... But I use Fahrenheit for probably everything else... Baking, vaporizing my weed... Even indoor temperature I prefer Fahrenheit... I use Celsius to set my fridge and freezer, and for checking outdoor temp... Fahrenheit for everything else. It brings me peace and I sleep like a babe every night.