The Design Community Hub

c/bakers

25

nina834•7h ago

Six months of bench work finally paid off on my croissants

I started baking croissants back in January and the first few batches were just dense, greasy blobs. Layer separation was nonexistent and they looked like sad dinner rolls. I kept at it, adjusting the butter temperature and lamination technique each time. Yesterday's batch had that honeycomb interior I see in bakery photos. The layers actually popped and flaked apart when I broke one open. Anyone else have a specific recipe or method that finally clicked after lots of failed tries?

12

uma896•14h ago

My neighbor Frank finally convinced me to try sourdough starter after years of hating the idea

Tbh I used to think sourdough was just a pretentious trend with all that feeding and discarding nonsense. Then last week my neighbor Frank brought over a loaf he baked from his 3-year-old starter and it was the best bread I've ever had. He explained how the wild yeast actually makes it easier on your digestion and showed me his simple feeding schedule. Now I'm on day 5 of my own starter and I'm already planning my first bake this weekend. Has anyone else here converted from yeast packets to sourdough recently?

22

diana55•18d ago

Just hit batch number 500 this morning and I'm a little shook

I've been tracking my batches since I started baking from home last year, and apparently I've made 500 loaves of sourdough now. My kitchen counter has permanent flour stains that won't come out no matter what I scrub with. Has anyone else hit a random milestone like this and realized how much bread you actually go through?

28

lucaslane•18d ago

PSA: My stand mixer started smoking halfway through a 10 pound batch of dough yesterday

Turns out the grease in the gears had completely dried up after 8 years of heavy use and I had to spend 3 hours taking it apart to clean and re-lube it, anyone else ever dealt with a mixer locking up like that?

16

wendysmith•18d ago

Bought a fancy new piping tip set that came with 50 pieces and I only ever use 3 of them

Wasted $40 on a huge set from a brand I can't remember last month because the star tip I actually use keeps getting clogged and has this weird burr on the edge, has anyone found a good single tip that actually holds up?

34

kai_stone99•19d ago

I tried cold fermenting my pizza dough versus same-day and the difference was huge

Been making pizza at home for about 6 months and always just mixed the dough up a few hours before baking. Last weekend I let a batch sit in the fridge for 48 hours and the crust came out way crispier and had that real chewy texture. Anyone else notice a big jump in quality after refrigerating their dough overnight?

8

avery721•20d ago

Tried a glass loaf pan against my old metal one and it's not even close for crust development

I've been baking sandwich bread for about 4 years now and always used a dark metal loaf pan. Last month I grabbed a glass Pyrex loaf pan on clearance for $6 at the grocery store, just to see what the fuss was about. The difference in bottom and side crust was night and day. My metal pan gives a nice golden crust all around. But the glass pan produced a much thicker, crispier crust on the bottom and sides, almost like what you get from a commercial bakery. The loaf also rose about an inch higher because the glass holds heat better and gives that initial burst of oven spring. Has anyone else switched between pan materials and noticed a big difference in how the bread turns out?

7

lucaslane•20d ago

Wasted $40 on a fancy silicone banneton that just stuck to everything

I thought upgrading from my old floured cloth basket would be a game changer, but that silicone one just made my dough glue itself to the sides like a nightmare. Ended up tossing it after 3 tries and went back to my trusty $10 cane basket with rice flour. Anyone else regret splurging on those modern baking gadgets too?

21

coleman.derek•20d ago

Had a lady return a cake yesterday because she said it was 'too moist'

She argued with me for 10 minutes at the counter in my shop in Cincinnati that moist meant undercooked. How do you even argue with someone who thinks a perfectly baked vanilla sponge is raw?

-3

theamason•20d ago

That one Tuesday where every batch of sourdough came out perfect

Had a rough Monday last week in my shop in Tulsa, three loaves collapsed and I was ready to toss everything. Then Tuesday hit and every single loaf came out with that perfect crackle and crumb... I even had a regular named Betty say it was the best she's had in 5 years. Has anyone else had those random perfect days that make you forget the bad ones?

3

the_taylor•22d ago

Spent 3 hours trying to find why my sourdough wasn't rising

I made a new starter batch last week and it just sat there like a pancake for days. Turned out I was using water straight from the tap in a new town with heavy chlorine. Took me way too long to realize I needed to let the water sit out for an hour first. Anyone else had a dumb water issue mess with their bake?

19

blaker75•23d ago

Overheard a pastry chef say she chills her dough twice

I was picking up supplies at Restaurant Depot last Tuesday and heard this older woman telling someone she chills her pie dough before mixing the fat in, then again after. Tried it that weekend with apple pie. First chill keeps the butter from smearing during mixing, second relaxes the gluten so it doesn't shrink. First batch came out flaky and stayed flat in the pan. Any of you tried this double chill method or got a better trick for tough crusts?

12

burns.brooke•24d ago

Warning: Two different buttercreams back to back taught me a lesson

I made Swiss meringue buttercream for a cake last weekend and it came out silky smooth and held up perfect in the heat. Then I tried American buttercream for cookies the next day and it was grainy and greasy no matter how long I whipped it. The Swiss version took longer but the texture was way better and it wasn't as sweet. Has anyone else found that American buttercream just doesn't work well for piping details?

4

diana_bell74•24d ago

My stand mixer nearly walked off the counter yesterday

I was making a double batch of bagel dough and my KitchenAid actually hopped about 4 inches towards the edge before I caught it. Had no idea that 6 cups of bread flour could make the thing dance like that - my wife still won't stop laughing. Anyone else's mixer try to escape mid-knead?

15

thompson.xena•25d ago

My sourdough starter got moldy after 2 weeks of neglect

So I went on a trip to visit family in Austin last month and completely forgot about my starter sitting on the counter. When I got back, there was this fuzzy green spot on top. I tried scraping it off but the whole thing smelled funky. Should I just dump it and start over or is there a way to salvage it if I catch it early enough? Has anyone successfully saved a starter that grew mold?

2

margaret_lane•25d ago

Rant: People who don't let butter come to room temp before creaming

I was at a bake-off last Saturday in Austin and watched this girl dump cold butter straight from the fridge into her mixer. She kept wondering why her cookies came out flat and greasy. It takes maybe an hour to soften butter properly on the counter, 30 minutes if you cut it into cubes. She had 4 batches fail before someone told her. How do yall handle customers or friends who rush this step?

14

robinl90•25d ago

Hit my 500th sourdough loaf this morning

I started baking sourdough back in March 2020 like everyone else. Three years later I'm still at it and this morning I pulled my 500th loaf out of the oven. I keep a little notebook where I write down dates and how each loaf turned out. The first one was a dense brick that my neighbor's dog wouldn't even eat. Now I've got a starter named Bertha that I've kept alive through two moves and a power outage. The 500th loaf came out with a perfect ear and good crumb structure. Felt good to hit that number even if it took way longer than I thought. Anybody else track their bake count or am I just too into the details?

28

quinn_kim45•26d ago

Just realized I was overproofing my sourdough for months

I kept getting flat loaves with no oven spring, and I thought my starter was weak. Then I watched a baker at a shop in Portland time her bulk ferment by feel instead of the clock, and it clicked that I was letting mine go way too long. Has anyone else had to unlearn the "double in size" rule for proofing?

30

betty_fisher5•27d ago

Pro tip: Stop proofing your dough on the counter

I baked bread for like 5 years before I figured this out. Always set my dough on the kitchen counter to rise, and it would take forever and come out dense. One day last January, my wife left the oven light on after cooking dinner, and I just left the bowl in there by accident. That loaf rose in half the time and had way better oven spring. Turns out my counter sits around 65 degrees, but inside the oven with the light on it stays closer to 78. I felt like an idiot for not checking before. Now I use a cheap wireless thermometer to track the dough temp, and it made a bigger difference than switching flours ever did. Anybody else have a dumb slow proofing habit they finally broke?

28

dixon.nathan•28d ago

I don't get why everyone insists on weighing flour for cookies

I've been baking for about 15 years now, mostly at home but I did a short stint helping out at a small bakery in Ohio. Every baking group I'm in online swears by weighing ingredients. But half the cookie recipes I grew up on used cups and turned out fine. Last week I made two batches of chocolate chip cookies back to back, same recipe, one by weight and one by scooping and leveling cups. They came out nearly identical. The weighed batch was maybe 2% more consistent but not worth pulling out the scale every time. Has anyone else done a side by side and found the difference is overblown?

18

the_gray•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: Letting dough rest overnight is way overrated for most home bakers

I tried that long cold ferment for my sourdough last weekend, left it in the fridge for 18 hours like the blogs say... my loaf came out flat and gummy. I've been baking for about 4 years now, and I find a good 2-hour counter rise gives me a better texture every time. Maybe it works for fancy artisan shops with controlled temps, but in my 70 degree kitchen? Not so much. Anyone else find that long rests just don't deliver the hype?

15

wrenh79•1mo ago

Baked my first wedding cake this weekend. It actually held together.

I've been doing cakes for about 2 years now, mostly birthdays and baby showers. A friend asked me to do her small wedding cake for 30 people. I was terrified it would lean or crack. I used dowels and a cake board between each of the 3 tiers for the first time. The bottom tier was 10 inches, middle was 8, top was 6. It sat straight for 5 hours at the reception. I almost cried when I saw the photos. Has anyone else had that first big cake moment where you just waited for it to fall?

0

milam42•1mo ago

Burned a batch of croissants because I forgot to rotate the tray

I was at my kitchen counter last Tuesday, halfway through baking 24 croissants for a weekend market order, and got distracted by a phone call from a client. By the time I came back, the bottom tray had been sitting too close to the back element for a full 12 minutes. I pulled them out looking like charcoal briquettes, had to toss the whole batch and start over at 10pm. Has anyone else ruined a big batch over something as dumb as forgetting to rotate?

21

riley595•1mo ago

My neighbor June changed how I think about sourdough starter

June is 73 and has been baking bread since the 70s. I told her how I was stressing over feeding my starter twice a day and keeping it at exactly 78 degrees. She just laughed and said she keeps hers in the fridge and feeds it once a week, sometimes two. She pulled out a jar that had been sitting for 10 days and baked a loaf that was better than anything I've ever made. Made me wonder if all the complicated rules are really necessary. Has anyone else tried a more relaxed approach with their starter?

14

taylor_barnes59•1mo ago

Showerthought: That 'fresh' baking yeast in the grocery store is almost never worth it

I read a test from Serious Eats that compared fresh cake yeast to the standard dry packets. They found fresh yeast loses about 30% of its activity after just 10 days in a home fridge. That surprised me because I always thought fresh was somehow better for flavor. Last week I bought a block from Publix that had a sell-by date 5 days out and my dough took 3 hours to double. I will stick with dry yeast from now on. Has anyone else noticed a big difference in rise times with fresh yeast?