Wednesday, November 11, 2015

New series: "The Science Behind..."


During my long hiatus from this blog, I've been thinking about the direction The Bread Maiden will take in the future.  I still like having all my favorite recipes in one searchable place, and I have enjoyed sharing my bread-baking journey and my adventures in baking for my church's monthly Communion observance with my followers.



At this point, I've been baking bread for nearly ten years, and I've learned a lot in the process.  I enjoy sharing my knowledge at my Bread Camp, and I'd like to share it in a more useful way here too.  



Therefore, I'd like to try out a new blogging format that will delve deeper into the science behind my recipes.  I want to break down the recipes and explain why they work.  In doing so, I hope readers will be able to see why each step matters, what steps DON'T matter, and how they can tweak the recipes to make them work better.  


Everyone likes and needs different things. I have a friend who lets her bread rise overnight and then bakes it in the morning.  How can she adapt a recipe that calls for a rise of only two hours?  Or another friend want to incorporate more whole grains. How can he adapt a recipe that calls for bread flour?  In order to satisfy those who care about such things and those who only want the recipes as they are, I'm going to divide what used to be a single bread post into two separate posts: 1) the ingredients and process, or what most people would consider the "recipe," and 2) a post explaining the "why" behind the recipe.  Each "why" post will be tied to a specific bread recipe post.  I'll be using more bread math, but don't be scared!  There's really only two equations you will need.


I hope you enjoy this new format and tell me what you think!


(no recipe in this post, sorry! If you'd like to make the recipe these pictures are from, check out this post)

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