Comments on: Bread for Survival & Comfort: Five Recipes You Can Make Today

By: Bernie

Bernie — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 15:39:19 +0000

In reply to Ron Brown.

Hi Ron, I will try it, and when I do, I’ll post it on the blog and link to this article!

By: Bernie

Bernie — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 15:36:41 +0000

In reply to Gaye Levy.

I’ll try that Gaye, I’ve got half and half as well, may use that with water. Thanks for the ideas!

By: Ron Brown

Ron Brown — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 09:20:43 +0000

In reply to David Brown.

Thanks Dave. I just Googled “How much does a cup of flour weigh?” and came up with the following. One cup of flour (be it white, all-purpose flour OR bread flour OR whole-wheat, brown flour) weighs 4.5 ounces. That equates to 128 grams.

Of course, by kneading the dough with your hands and thumping the loaf to see if it’s done you can do away with the need for cups and scales and thermometers altogether. You begin to know what it feels like, what it looks like, what it smells like. It just takes a few years of experience, LOL.

By: Gaye Levy

Gaye Levy — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 04:12:51 +0000

In reply to David Brown.

Very nice to meet you, David Brown. I was the one that tested the frozen yeast by the way. And I agree, weighing is best. That is what I do when I make soap and it becomes a habit after awhile.

Gaye

By: David Brown

David Brown — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 03:43:39 +0000

Nice article. Ron Brown is my father, and I didn’t know he was writing this. I have worked in pizzerias for many years making handmade bread and dough, as well as years of experience with many kinds of yeast making homemade beer, mead, and other fermented drinks. Didn’t realize the family history. On the topic, I don’t recommend adding the salt to the yeast mixture. Salt kills yeast, makes it harder to proof. You can actually use much less yeast (half) if you let it set 10-15 minutes before adding the flour so it can eat the sugars and multiply. Same as Ron Brown proved with the frozen yeast experiment. Stir the salt into the flour instead, so it gets added with the dry ingredients. And try warm milk (less than 110 degrees, too hot kills yeast) instead of water. No sugar needed in this case. Final tip, weight the flour, don’t measure. Everyone measures flour wrong.