Comments on: Ciabatta catastrophe – how do you measure up?

By: V

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:50:03 +0000

Just stumbled across your blog. I guess this is not very timely, but if you are still interested…

I was told that bread making is by feel. You don’t add the flour based on quantity and weight (it’s just a general reference), but by how the dough feels. I took a seminar given by King Arthur Flour a while back on artisan breads, and their dough was very, very wet, but the result was probably what you were looking for. Chewy, and full of holes. So check out their website
http://www.kingarthurflour.com
Good luck!

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:39:00 +0000

I got a kitchen scale this past summer and love using it for baking bread. Even when I recipe uses cups, I generally covert it into weight measurements- it takes the guess work out of it.

By: Coffee Machines

Coffee Machines — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:34:00 +0000

I have never really got the knack making bread. Such a shame, it’s my favorite food :)

By: kat

kat — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:59:00 +0000

I do both depending on the recipe. For example in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day they specifically tell you to dip your measuring cup into the flour & then flatten it with a knife.
I’ve often wondered with my other recipes though if the reason they don’t turn out is my measuring utensils aren’t right.

By: Allen

Allen — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Ben: Owning a scale is such an important thing — glad to see you’re forcing yourself to measure or else we wouldn’t get any of your recipes!

Peter G: Thanks — it’s definetly tricky converting different weights and measures across countries, but it adds a fun challenging dimension :-)

Peter M: Hmmm, the weather is warming up and it may have been a bit warmer on disaster day.

Erin: Hooray — another scale owner! Ahhh, it’s not green nor gooey. I don’t even like the photo … guess this means our friends at TS would love it? Will have to test this out … :-)

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:05:00 +0000

I just bought a kitchen scale. A pink one of course. This is a very good point that most of us take for granted.

Your bread does look good! If this is your best “kitchen disaster” Allen than I’m not impressed ;) I mean, come on…it isn’t green and it doesn’t look like a “pet accident” ha ha…

By: Peter M

Peter M — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:23:00 +0000

Allen, I do believe the weather can have an affect on bread making too. Was it a dry day on disaster day and humid when you triumphed with Ciabatta?

By: Peter G

Peter G — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:06:00 +0000

I weigh mine with electronic kitchen scales. It can be a very confusing thing especially as each country has its own definition of a cup etc…A cup of flour is not the same as a cup of water (I learnt this the hard way)…Overall yuor bread does look good though.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:15:00 +0000

Something that looks as insignificant as weight vs volume can be the difference. I hate measuring, but now that I have to write down my recipes I find myself using my scale and measuring cups a lot. I guess it is a good way to learn :-/