I kept losing all my rise after scoring and it turned out my bench knife had a tiny burr I never noticed. I spent 4 evenings testing hydration, temperatures, even different flours before I grabbed a magnifying glass and saw the nick. Has anyone else had a tool issue that set them back for days?
I made my nephew's cake on Saturday and ran short on time so I grabbed a can of store frosting as backup. Used it on half the cake just to see. The homemade batch took maybe 15 extra minutes but tasted way better and held up in the fridge without turning into a mess. The canned stuff got all grainy and slid off the layers. Has anyone else done a side by side test and regretted the shortcut?
I used to grease and flour every pan for 10 years until one bad batch of sponge cakes stuck anyway, then I switched to parchment rounds and suddenly every cake comes out perfect in under 2 minutes of cleanup, anyone else make that switch and never look back?
My oven was running 50 degrees hot without me knowing and that little gauge stopped me from wasting another 6 hours of lamination work, has anyone else found their dial is way off from what it says?
I weigh my flour every time for this cinnamon roll recipe I've been making for years. Last week I decided to scrape the inside of my KitchenAid bowl after mixing and weighed what stuck to the sides and the paddle. It was 22 grams. 22! That's like almost 2 tablespoons of flour just gone. Found this out by accident when I was cleaning up. Has anyone else actually measured how much dough gets left behind in their mixer?
For the first 5 years I baked bread, I just guessed at water amounts and wondered why my loaves were hit or miss. After a failed batch for a wedding order in Portland last spring, I finally bought a decent scale and started tracking hydration percentages. Now I weigh all my ingredients down to the gram and my crumb is way more consistent. Does anyone else find that even 5 grams of extra water can mess up an entire batch?
I started a new sourdough starter last Tuesday in my Brooklyn kitchen. Fed it twice a day with organic rye flour and filtered water, kept it at 78 degrees in the oven with the light on. After 8 days it still looked like wet paste with zero bubbles or rise. Threw the whole jar in the trash this morning. Anyone else ever have a dud starter that just refused to take off?
Last Thanksgiving I watched my 82 year old grandma make her famous apple pie. She used her hands to mix everything, no mixer or food processor. She told me the trick is to barely add any water and let the dough rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. I tried it last week and my crust came out flaky for the first time ever. Has anyone else learned a simple trick from an older baker that changed their baking?
I was digging through my pantry last night and spotted a jar of yeast I bought back in March. Checked the date, popped some in warm water with sugar, and barely any bubbles. That stuff is basically dead after half a year even sealed. Has anyone else tested old yeast against fresh and noticed a huge difference?
We lost power for almost 48 hours during that big ice storm back in February. My starter was sitting on the counter and I didn't think to put it in the fridge or anything. By the time the lights came back on it had this weird pinkish layer on top and smelled like nail polish remover. I tried feeding it anyway but it never bubbled again after that. Has anyone else lost a starter to a power outage or am I the only one who made that mistake?
I see people on here saying they knead for 15 minutes straight when really all you need is a few stretch and folds over a couple hours. I switched to just 3 sets of folds last month and my crumb opened up way nicer. Has anyone else noticed this making a difference?
I see everyone raving about those expensive Danish dough whisks, but I bought one from a local kitchen supply store in Portland and I'm not impressed. It cost me $150 and it does the same job as my old wooden spoon for mixing dough. The metal handle gets cold in my hands and the wire loops bend after a few uses with stiff bread dough. I went back to my $5 spoon from the thrift shop and my sourdough turns out just as good. Has anyone else regretted dropping cash on hyped-up baking tools?
After 6 months of use they got all greasy and sticky no matter how I washed them, and my croissants started spreading out flat instead of rising up, has anyone else had better luck with a specific brand or am I just stuck on parchment forever?
At the county fair bake-off last fall this woman looked at my entry and said 'you didn't really make that, you probably bought it from a bakery.' I had proof of my starter I'd kept alive for 8 months but she wouldn't even look at it. What do you do when someone dismisses your work like that?
I was at the Oregon State Fair back in 2017 for a sourdough competition, and the heat in the tent was brutal. My dough kept overproofing because nobody told me the tables were right next to a convection oven exhaust. That day I started using a thermometer to check my bench temps before mixing, and it saved me from ruining a lot of batches since. Has anyone else had a recipe tank because of a weird venue setup?
I finally got a sourdough loaf that actually rose like it was supposed to. It took 4 attempts over 2 weeks and my first three were flat like pancakes. Turns out my starter needed feeding twice a day for a full week before it was strong enough. I used a local flour from the mill down the street and that helped too. The crust cracked open just right and the inside had those nice airy holes. Has anyone else struggled getting their starter active enough for a good rise?
I learned to bake from my grandmother in the 90s and she sifted flour for everything, even cookies. For years I did the same, sifting every batch no matter what I was making. Then about 5 years ago I took a class at a small bakery in Portland and the instructor just dumped flour straight into the mixer without a second thought. I asked her about it and she said for cookies and quick breads it barely makes a difference, just whisk it a bit. Now I only sift for cakes or when I'm combining dry ingredients with something lumpy like cocoa powder. It saves me at least 10 minutes on a big baking day and I honestly can't tell the difference in most things. Has anyone else dropped an old habit like this and found it works fine?
I visited Tabor Bread during my trip to Portland last month and I just don't get the hype. I waited 25 minutes in line and the croissant I got was barely warm, more like room temperature honestly. The texture was good but not worth $6 and a long wait in the rain. I think people get caught up in the vibe of the place instead of judging the actual food. Has anyone else found a famous bakery that just didn't deliver for the price?
I was baking a vanilla layer cake for my niece's birthday and the center dropped every single time no matter what I did. Turned out my oven was running 25 degrees cooler than the dial said, so the edges set but the middle never cooked through fast enough. Has anyone else had an oven thermometer save their sanity after weeks of ruined cakes?
I went with the butter because my sourdough starter was almost dead, and now I'm eating plain toast with fancy butter wondering where my priorities went, has anyone else been broke but still insisted on the good ingredients?
Saw this gorgeous wooden dough whisk from that Scandinavian kitchen store on 4th Avenue. Cost me $200 and you know what, it does the exact same thing as my $8 plastic one from the grocery store. The handle already has a tiny crack after 3 months. Anyone else blow money on a tool that looked pretty but ended up being junk?
I had this starter I'd kept alive for like 3 years back in Portland. Never had a problem, even when I forgot to feed it for two weeks straight. Then I moved here to Denver a month ago and it went totally flat. Wouldn't rise, smelled like acetone, the whole deal. I was convinced it was the altitude or the tap water or something. But I finally caved and bought a cheap digital scale to measure my feedings exactly instead of eyeballing it. Also started using bottled spring water for a week. Now it's doubling in 6 hours again. Guess I was just being sloppy. Anyone else's starter act up after moving to a different city?
Had to heat it up to 78f exactly and threw the bowl in my oven with the light on, now it's doubling in like 4 hours, anyone else's kitchen just naturally too cold for fermentation?
I was just pulling a loaf out of the oven and counted back through my notebook. Started keeping track in March of 2020 when I first tried it. 500 loaves. That's like... way more than I ever thought I'd make. Most of them went to neighbors or the freezer. But seeing that number in my own handwriting felt different than I expected. Has anyone else ever counted up and surprised themselves?