Bread Baking Tips - How to Make Artisan Breads

            Artisan breads are all the rage today. They have foreign sounding names, healthy ingredients and a characteristic thick chewy crust. Everyone wants to make artisan breads. Just remember that the baker is the artisan, not the bread. With practice you can be that artisan.

            If you work through my DVD series you will become an artisan bread baker. You will be able to take any loaf. Look at it. Look at the list of ingredients and go home and make that loaf in your oven. You will be able to use any combination of grains, add nuts, seed, cloves of garlic, olives or whatever you want in your loaf. You can use flax seed oil, molasses, eggs, milk - anything you want. You can start with a sour sponge. You can color the loaf by adding non flavored caramel coloring.

            A thick chewy crust can be made in your home oven. First, spray the loaf with cold water for 30 seconds when you put it in the oven. Bake at high heat - 450 for half the time. Then bake at 300 for the remaining time. Leave the loaf in the oven at 225 for 45 minutes to dry out. Finally, take the loaf out of the oven and let it sit for a few hours to come to room temperature. Or eat it right then.

            Just remember, the baker is the artisan not the bread. There are no shortcuts to becoming and artisan bread baker. Last but not least. Bread baking is a craft. You will never know it all. There is always more to learn.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - It's "ALWAYS THE YEAST".

            Having problems with your bread rising?  It is "ALWAYS THE YEAST".  When you purchase a two pound package of active dry yeast or a one pound package of instant yeast, also known as bread machine yeast, proof it. Put two cups of water at 110 degrees in a bowl. Actually measure the temperature of the water with a candy thermometer. Sprinkle in one tablespoon of yeast. Do not stir the yeast. After five minutes the yeast should start to bloom, blossom, grow, foam, froth and bubble. At seven minutes the yeast should look like the picture.  If the yeast does not bloom, consider taking it back to the store. It may very well be bad or sub-par yeast.

            Bad or sub-par yeast is more common than you might think. It is not your imagination if all of a sudden your bread stops rising like it used to, or comes out undercooked in spots, seems doughy, takes longer than usual to rise or seems to have "clumps" - most of it rises, but some spots are dough balls. Your first reaction might be to think you did something wrong. That's natural, but if you have been making bread for years and all of a sudden things just stop working, let me tell you right now in no uncertain terms that the problem is the yeast - period! It is not you. It is the yeast. Either the yeast is sub-par or you did not soak it at the right temperature or you did not use enough. I assume, since you are an experienced baker, that you soaked your yeast and used enough and again it is the yeast itself - period!  I promote bread baking and don't like to see the novice or anyone else discouraged because of bad/poor quality yeast.

            Recently, I had to purchase yeast at three different stores to find good really active yeast. After purchasing two one pound packages of name brand instant yeast, my bread did not rise well, was doughy and seemed under cooked. The yeast did not proof. The same store had only one package of active dry yeast on the shelf and it was punctured. I took the yeast back and purchased a one pound package of a lesser known brand name instant yeast. It worked, but did not proof and gave me a slower rise than I was used to.

            I went to a national membership store and purchased two one pound packages of the other name brand instant yeast. My bread did not rise well, was doughy and seemed under cooked. The yeast did not proof. I took it back. Again, it was not my imagination. The yeast was not the good really active yeast that I was looking for and was used to working with.

            I went to another national membership store and purchased a two pound package of national brand active dry yeast. It proofed really well. It was good yeast and really active. Again I have great fully risen loaves with a fast rising time. Thank God I'm not a beginner. How easy it would be to get discouraged if you happened upon bad/slow rising yeast.

            This experience is not that unusual. The last time I purchased yeast, I ended up with a bad two pound package of name brand active dry yeast - it did not proof at all. As a matter of principle I returned the yeast and got my money back. In all these examples the expiration dates, when given, were good. The bags were not punctured. The yeast was not active enough for my liking. The frequency of finding bad/slow rising yeast being sold to the unsuspecting consumer is higher than you might expect. The results can be so damaging to someone getting started.

            Again, it is "ALWAYS THE YEAST". Salt has no function in your bread other than flavoring the bread - if you have a problem you can rule out the salt.  Sweetener is optional, you don't need any at all - if you have a problem you can rule out the sweetener.  Oil is optional also - rule out the oil.  Flour types do make a big difference, but that's another story.   If you don't know if your problem is yeast or flour, make a sample loaf of white bread using any type of white flour - you will rule out flour as your problem. Again, it is "ALWAYS THE YEAST".

            I know bread baking to be a craft. It takes time and experience to become an artisan bread baker. Here is something I have found that shows you will never know it all. There is always more to learn. When you first buy a bag of yeast and proof the bag that is not necessarily the end of the story. It has been my experience that some bags of yeast that do not proof well are sub-par and that other bags will proof better over time. Some yeast companies claim that the foaming that we look for while proofing is from additives and does not affect the rising properties of the yeast. Who knows what to believe? That is where experience in the craft comes into play. To be safe, I hunt down fast acting yeast that proofs really well and I get consistent results. I suggest that you do the same. When I find a really active batch, I have been known to purchase several bags. They are sealed well, don't need to be refrigerated and will keep arguably almost indefinitely.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - USING ENOUGH YEAST?

            Are you using enough yeast?  Try using 50% more yeast.  Years ago a packet of yeast measured a full tablespoon.  Today a packet of yeast measures less than two teaspoons.  That's right - years ago there was 50% more yeast in a packet.  Pricing pressures have forced companies to reduce package size in a variety of industries.  A year ago, my favorite yogurt came in an 8 ounce container; today it is in a 6 ounce container.  The cost is still the same.  Why do they call it inflation when the packages get smaller? Go figure!

            The major yeast companies contend that today's yeast is more active and therefore, not as much yeast is required to make a loaf of bread.  This may be true, but I have found that using more yeast gives me a bigger fuller loaf of bread and the bread baking process takes considerably less time.  All my recipes use one full tablespoon of yeast or one and one half packets of yeast.  Try it and see for yourself.  No more letting the dough rise covered, in a warm place, etc.   No more waiting more than an hour for dough to rise.  With more yeast, second rising time is generally only 30 minutes.  Using more yeast really works - much faster rising times and bigger fuller loaves.

            A good rule of thumb is one full tablespoon of yeast for every 4 to 4 1/2 cups of flour.  If your recipe calls for a tablespoon of yeast make sure that you use a full tablespoon or one and one half packets of yeast.



BREAD BAKING TIPS - BUYING YEAST

            I always buy my yeast in quantity. The price difference is incredible and it lasts for well over a year when stored properly. You do not need to refrigerate and unopened package. Just keep it in your pantry. Don't let it get too hot or too cold.

            A quarter ounce packet of yeast cost about 75 cents, US, in the grocery store. A two pound loaf of bread uses one and one half packets of yeast. That is a yeast cost of more than one dollar, US, per loaf. You may as well buy your bread at a bakery. The quarter ounce packets are just too expensive.

            Yeast is less expensive when purchased in four ounce jars, but still costs too much. A four ounce jar contains 16 quarter ounce portions of yeast. A quarter ounce portion of yeast costs about 55 to 50 cents, US. The yeast required to make a two pound loaf of bread costs about 75 cents, US.  This is still no bargain by anyone's standards by anyone's standards.

            Active dry yeast is available in two pound packages.  Two pounds of yeast is 32 ounces of yeast or 128 quarter ounce portions of yeast.  The cost of a two pound package is about three dollars, US, in a membership store.  Three dollars divided by 128 portions gives us a cost of 2.3 cents, US, a packet/quarter ounce portion.  Since we use one and one half quarter ounce packets per loaf, that would be about 3.5 cents yeast cost per loaf.  What a cost savings!   Buying yeast in quantity is the only way to go. Compare the price:   YEAST COST - OVER ONE DOLLAR PER LOAF vs. 3.5 CENTS PER LOAF!  That is 1/28th the price!

            You might say to yourself that I will never use that much yeast. You don't have to - it pays for itself. Here is another way of looking at it. Once you have made three loaves of bread the rest of the yeast is free. Follow the logic. One two pound loaf of bread uses one and one half packets of yeast, at a cost of over one dollar. After making three loaves of bread using yeast purchased in quarter ounce packets you have spent over three dollars on yeast.  You could have bought a two pound package of yeast for the same three dollars and would now have 123.5 quarter ounce portions left. You could make 80 plus loaves of bread with the yeast left over and not spend another cent on yeast.

            Will it keep? Yes. I have kept yeast for over a year and it was still good. I store my yeast in the freezer once opened. A two pound package of yeast comes in a foil bag. Fold/squeeze the air out of the bag and seal the top with a clip of some sort. The type of clip used to seal an opened bag of potato chips works well.

            When making bread, take the yeast out of the freezer, use what's needed and put the yeast back immediately. Exposure to air, oxygen, and temperature will steal the life of the yeast. If you forget and leave the bag out open on the counter over night, part of the life of the yeast will be lost. Get it out, use what's needed, fold the air out of the bag, seal the bag and then return the yeast to the freezer right away.

            Instant yeast, also known as bread baking machine yeast, comes in one pound packages and goes for about the same price as active dry yeast.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - BAKING ISSUES & STONES

            Baking stones are fun to experiment with, but rarely needed in bread baking. I only use a baking stone to stop the bottom from burning when making a large loaf that requires extra baking time.

            Baking stones are sometimes misunderstood. Years ago, a friend of mine bought a pizza stone. The directions said to make the pizza on the stone and then put it in the oven. That completely defeats the purpose of the stone. The whole idea of the stone is to preheat the oven with the stone in the oven to get the stone hot. The stone has mass and holds heat. Baking stones, pizza stones and oven bricks all perform the same function. The theory is that you will get a better crust.

            When using a baking stone, in your home oven, you are trying to simulate a brick oven. Stones are great, but you can make "artisan" loaves in your home oven without using a stone. You can get a crusty loaf by varying the temperature at different stages of baking - first hot, then normal, then leaving the bread in the oven at low heat to dry out. When a loaf is finished baking it out gases hot vapors and wets itself. That is why bread comes out of the oven crispy and then the crust seems to soften as it sits for a while.

            The only time I use a baking stone is when I'm making a huge loaf. When the baking time is so long that the bottoms would otherwise burn. The stone retards the cooking on the bottom of the loaf. When I have bottom burning issues, I use a stone.

            I make a seven pound loaf on a deep dish dark coated pizza pan. It looks like something out of the middle ages. I bake the loaf for 52 minutes. I use a stone to stop the bottom from burning because the loaf takes so long to bake. I also put a tin foil shield on top of the loaf, after 15 minutes, to stop the top from burning.

            Even pizza does not require a pizza/baking stone. I use a dark coated pizza pan. Pan color really makes a difference. When making a loaf of sandwich bread I always use dark pans - never the silver pans. If you use silver bread baking pans, the bottoms of the loaves will not cook properly. I don't even own silver pans.

            Position in the oven also affects the bottom. If you want something darker on the bottom then lower it in the oven - closer to the element in your electric oven. If you want less dark then raise it in the oven. If you have top burning issues, cover with tin foil after the loaves are browned to your liking.

            Baking stones are great to experiment with, but very rarely required in bread baking. You may discover how to make your perfect loaf. I use mine only for bottom burning issues due to extended baking times on large loaves.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - ACTIVE DRY YEAST vs. INSTANT YEAST

            In my opinion, active dry yeast produces better more consistent results for home bakers than the newer instant yeast. Active dry yeast has been around since WW II. Active dry yeast needs to be "activated" by soaking it in warm water when making bread. Active dry yeast can be used when making bread by hand, using a bread machine or using a mixing machine.

            Instant yeast, also known as quick yeast or bread baking machine yeast, has been around for about 15 years. Instant yeast was developed with commercial baking in mind, not the home baker. Instant yeast is added to the dry ingredients in big mixing machines at commercial bakeries. Instant yeast is also added to the dry ingredients in a home bread machine.

            Control of temperature is the key to successful baking at home or commercially. In commercial baking the big mixing machines create friction and produce needed heat. When making bread at home in a bread machine the heating element turns on during the mixing process and adds the needed heat to activate the instant yeast. When making bread by hand, if you use instant yeast, there is not enough heat in the process to produce big full loaves, even if you soak the instant yeast in warm water. Instant yeast and active dry yeast are not the same. Active dry yeast was designed for home baking. That is why I use and recommend the old standard active dry yeast. When using active dry yeast I am in full control of the bread baking process and I get consistent results.

            Most home bakers in Europe are using instant yeast for hand bread baking and bread machine use. I do not recommend instant yeast for home baking by hand. Can a whole continent be doing it wrong? Who knows? I have heard stories of people in the UK preheating their flour before making bread. That is indicative of temperature problems when using instant yeast. You do not have to preheat flour when using active dry yeast.

            In the US, two major brands of yeast are available - Red Star and Fleishman's. Red Star sells a two pound package of the good old fashioned Active Dry Yeast. That is what I use and recommend. Fleishman's sell a two pound package of what they call Instant Active Dry Yeast. Is it instant yeast or is it active try yeast? Again, who knows? I have found that the good old fashioned active dry yeast produces better more consistent results in home baking.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - COLORING YOUR LOAF - DARK BREAD

            I make a really nice dark pumpernickel rye bread. I use organic rye pumpernickel meal, bread flour, garlic, molasses and ground caraway. I grind my caraway in an electronic coffee grinder. If I make a regular rye I don't grind my caraway. Once you grind caraway the grinder is no good for coffee anymore. The caraway leaves a flavor that will ruin the coffee.

            Back to the rye bread, it is a dark colored loaf. The coloring does not come from the pumpernickel meal or the molasses. I add two table spoons of non flavored caramel coloring. That is the trick to dark bread - period. Non flavored caramel coloring is a food service product. I buy it in gallon jugs, like molasses. It comes in smaller containers also. It's something you will have to look for. It's not a typical grocery store item. Non flavored caramel coloring is a concentrated product. A little goes a long way.

            I read years ago about some special dark rye flour from Minnesota or North Dakota that you need to make a dark loaf. There is no dark rye flour out there that will give a dark loaf. The molasses won't give you a dark loaf either. I have added instant coffee among other things to color my loaves. Food service knows what they are doing. It's just food coloring. Industry also uses food coloring to make egg bread. A small amount of egg yellow food color goes a long way. It is also a concentrated product, just like non flavored caramel coloring. I buy it in a 32 ounce bottle. I use 1/4 tsp of egg yellow food coloring in a two pound batch of sweet rolls.

            If you have kids and want to have some fun. Buy some food coloring and let them add it to your next batch of bread. Red, green, blue, the kids will either love it or just not eat the bread. It is just a fun thing to try.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - ARTISAN SPONGE STARTER

            Sponges are used as starters in most artisan breads. If you have never used a sponge starter you will be pleasantly surprised with the results. Your loaf texture and feel will be softer, like a sponge. That's where the name comes from. It is a really nice tool that every baker should be familiar with. By the way, your crust can still be thick and chewy and crusty with a spongy center in your loaf.

            To make a sponger starter mix equal parts of cold water, bread flour and a small amount of yeast. I use 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast per 2 cups of water and 2 cups of bread flour. Mix thoroughly and then cover the bowl with a plate and let sit at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours. You can mix it with a wooden spoon every once in a while if you like. There are no fixed rules on sponges. You can make a quick starter by using equal parts warm water, bread flour and 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast. Let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so. You will have a quick sponge to add to your next batch of bread.

            You can experiment with your sponge if you want. Try using less yeast. You can also keep the sponge in the fridge. You can not mess it up whatever you do, but the optimal sponge will peak at time of use. Yeast is an organism. Its activity will peak at some point in the baking process. Heat, the quantity of yeast used and the time sponge sits are all variables. If you use warm water it will peak sooner. If you refrigerate the sponge it will take longer. Just like bread rising, it will rise to point and then peak - the rising will stop. If you peak the yeast you will get oven shoot while baking. If you miss the peak you won't get any oven shoot. Just experiment. It's fun. It's all part of the learning process.

            Now you have a sponge starter. To make a loaf with your sponge simply substitute starter for flour and water in the recipe for your next loaf. The sponge is equal parts water and flour so it is easy. If you use one cup of sponge starter in your next loaf just decrease the recipe by 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water.

            If you were to let the sponge sit for a few days and feed it every three days some more flour and water it would sour and become a sourdough starter over time. When I make pizza dough in my bread machine I leave the dough I don't use in the machine for a few day and let it ferment (sour). I use it in the next batch of bread that I make. Sometimes I just pull the remaining dough out of the bread machine and use it to make another pizza.

            Give it a try. Experiment. Bread baking is a craft. You will never know it all. There is always more to learn.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - WHOLESOME INGREDIENTS

            Ingredients are just as important as the crust, look and texture. I make a nice rye loaf using a pumpernickel meal. Any meal for that matter is good. Meal is high in fiber. Meal is just coarse ground flour with nothing removed. You can make your own meal with a flour mill that has a course setting.

            Stone-ground whole wheat flour is one of my favorites. Any stone-ground flour has more nutritional value that a commercially milled flour. Commercial milling uses steel grinding wheels. The wheels heat up in the grinding process and bake off some of the nutritional value. That does not happen with stone-ground. The stone grinding wheels don't heat up.

            Unbleached flour is better than bleached. Flour is bleached using chlorine. That's what makes it white. The food value is removed for storage and fed to farm animals. Food value is added back when the flour is latter sold to the consumer. We know it as all purpose flour. Adding the nutritional value back is called enriching. Unbleached is more natural. Never removing in the first place and not having to add back.

            Gluten content of flour is also important. Bread flour has high gluten/protein content - fourteen grams of protein per cup. All purpose flour has 11 grams of protein per cup. The high gluten/protein content is what gives us a big full loaf. You pay more for high gluten flour. You need it in bread baking. All artisan breads use high protein, high gluten flour.

            For sweetener don't use refined sugar. Again go natural with honey or molasses. Honey for whole wheat - molasses for rye. Use vegetable oil or olive oil. No animal product. Use water and no milk. Use no eggs. Salt is a must, but you can use sea salt or some other substitute.

            Think nutrition, fresh and wholesome. Buy fresh ingredients. Flour from a small health food store may have been around for a while. Ask if it is fresh. Special order your flour or get it from a food broker. From a food broker it will be fresh. Their product does not sit on the shelves long.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - WHOLE MILK MOZZARELLA FOR PIZZA

            It is getting harder and harder for the consumer to find good mozzarella cheese for making pizza at home. I live on the west coast and I now have to special order whole milk mozzarella cheese. All the stores are carrying is skim milk mozzarella. The skin milk cheese does not melt properly and has no pull. If a novice tries making a pizza with skim milk cheese they will be disappointed and think that you can't make good pizza at home. I make better pizza than I can buy. Hot, fresh, the way I like it from my own oven.

            Ask your store to carry whole milk mozzarella cheese. If you have to, special order it. I just bought a case today that I had to special order. It cost me $50 for four 5 lb bags. I freeze it. When I am ready to make a pizza I take a bag out of my freezer and smash it with my rolling pin to break up enough cheese to use. It works fine. The cheese is just going to melt anyway.

            I have had problems getting good parmesan cheese also. Some brands have no flavor and don't melt in cooking. The shredded parmesan seems to be ok, but again it depends on the brand.

            We consumers need to be more assertive with our local stores. If you have a problem in your area getting quality cheese, go in and talk to the manager and ask them to stock better quality cheese. It's out there. Complaining never hurts. If they won't stock good whole milk mozzarella or good parmesan cheese then start looking around. Once you find a source you will be set. Look in your phone book yellow pages for food brokers, wholesalers and distributors. Make some phone calls. If they are not into pizza supplies ask who in your area is.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - Elusive Oven Shoot or Oven Spring

            Oven shoot or oven spring is elusive. It's part of the craft of bread baking. Look at the picture to the left. It is a good example of oven spring, also known as oven shoot. I put a one cup measuring cup in the picture to give you some perspective on the size of the loaves.  Both loaves have good oven shoot. They are two pound loaves. I made the dough in my bread machines. They were baked for 22 minutes at 375 degrees in my home oven. These loaves are light and make good sandwich bread. My kids love white bread. It's great for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I like white bread for simple Swiss cheese and mustard sandwiches.

            Every once in while you will notice your loaves seem to magically shoot up while baking. Why? It's not magic at all. It's part of the craft which you will only learn with practice. There is an optimum time to put your loaves in the oven. The yeast needs to be in its most active stage to get oven shoot. It has to be on the up swing. If you let your dough sit and rise, you will see it rise vigorously to a point and then the rising slows. The activity of the yeast will increase to a point and then become less active. To get oven shoot you need to bake your loaf when the yeast is on the up swing. You will only learn how to get oven shoot over time. Just being aware of oven shoot or oven spring is a start. Make a mental note the next time one of your loaves turns out like the ones pictured. I found that it helped me to keep a log while learning bread baking. I had a spiral notebook and recorded my bread baking experiments. That's part of the scientific method used in laboratories and in industry.

            I can get oven shoot consistently because I monitor the temperature of my bread baking through out the process. Home bread baking is all about temperature. To make the loaves pictured, I first made a sponge. I took equal parts warm water and flour and some yeast. Mixed them together and let them sit for an hour before adding my sponge to my bread machines. I substituted equal parts water and flour for sponge in my recipe. My dough was really active at the end of my first rise when I put my loaves in the oven. I did not bother with a second rising at all. My loaves were in the oven after a mixing period of about 30 minutes and a first rise of about 30 minutes. Remember it's a craft. There are no absolutes. Think about it. No second rising to get these beautiful loaves and I did not knead by hand. My bread machines did all the work. I just get the credit.

        These loaves are white bread which is not fashionable today. The flour is bread flour. Bread flour is high protein, unbleached and fresh. It's fresh because I buy a commercial product in 50 pound bags. I use olive oil and honey. No milk or eggs. No animal products. When you make your own bread you decide what ingredients to use. Next time you make a loaf compare it with the picture. Learn the basics of bread baking and build your skills from there to become an artisan bread baker. Learn right from the start. There are not short cuts to becoming an artisan baker.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - About Flour

            Flour is the most important ingredient in a loaf of bread. You get what you pay for with flour. You pay more for high gluten content, unbleached flour, stone ground flour and freshness.

            Flour is grown all over the country and the world. Some areas produce high gluten content flour. Spring and winter wheat are known to have high gluten content in some areas like Montana, North Dakota and Texas. When a farmer brings his wheat to market it is tested for gluten content and then packaged and sold according to the test results. Soft wheat has a low gluten content and when milled is sold as cake flour. Wheat that tests out at 11 grams of protein per cup is milled and sold in grocery stores as all purpose flour or to restaurants and hotels as general purpose flour. Flour that test out at 12-14 grams per cup is milled and sold as bread flour. The best of the best wheat tests out at 14 grams of protein per cup and above and brings in the most dollars for the farmer. It is known as bread flour/high gluten flour. Some brand names I'm familiar with are Power Flour, Full Power, Kyrol, and Montana High Gluten. I currently use a Pendleton Mills product called "Power High Gluten Flour". I live in the northwest and that is what my supplier carries.

            The Power Flour I use is unbleached and enriched. Unbleached is a real plus. The all purpose flour you buy in the grocery store has been bleached with chlorine bleach to make it white and to remove all the nutritional value for storage. Before it is sold, the nutritional value is added back and the flour is then enriched. I always buy unbleached and freshly ground flour. Commercial bread flour gets to market fast and is sold quickly. It is a fresh product. I don't mind the mill enriching my flour. They know what they are doing and are adding all good things. They actually enhance the flour. Vitamin C, Niacin, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Folic Acid and enzymes to improve baking are added to my Power Flour. The only thing this product is lacking is that it is not stone ground. Stone ground is best because commercial flour mills use steel wheels in grinding. The wheels heat up and bake off some of the nutritional value in the grinding process. Some purest baker's will grind their own flour fresh as needed. I personally prefer commercial bread flour. It's fresh and it's done right.

            The real value of high gluten flour is in the baking. High gluten flour produces bigger fuller loaves than AP flour. The Gluten is the "glue" that holds the dough together and allows the gas produced by the yeast to stretch the air pockets to the fullest without breaking. You need to locate a source for high gluten flour to advance in your bread baking and become an artisan baker. It is a must!

            A good example is pizza. I made a pizza with AP flour recently because I was out of bread flour. It was not all as good as I am used to making. The crust was just not right. It did not taste right to me and it did not have the right chew. I make pizza like the best pizza shop and this was sub-par. A lot of people have never used bread flour in pizza and probably think you just can't make really good pizza at home. Wrong! Also, the "bread flour" sold in five and ten pound bags in the grocery store is not what I'm talking about. Sometimes I think it is no more than AP flour with gluten added. It stiffens up too soon when kneading and is just not the real thing. Any flour can be used by the beginner for making bread. An artisan will only use the best available. You can't go wrong with a 50 pound bag of commercial bread flour. Again, the most important ingredient in bread baking is the flour.

BREAD BAKING TIPS - Pizza: Thick Crust vs. Thin Crust

            Thin crust pizza is default pizza. If you don't know what you are doing you will end up with thin crust pizza by default.

            I was raised in Upstate New York. Thin crust pizza was very popular. New York City is famous for their thin crust pizza. On the other hand, Chicago is famous for their thicker crust deep dish pizza. Thick crust vs. thin crust is all about personal taste. Producing a thick crust vs. thin crust pizza is about how and when you make the dough. I have had people ask me for my secret dough recipe. Dough is dough. There is no secret to dough. Dough is flour and water and yeast and salt and maybe some oil and maybe some seasoning.

            Yeast baking is a craft. There are a number of variables in making pizza. The type of flour used makes a big difference. The temperature of the dough making and storage are variables. The amount and type of yeast are variables. The time from mixing and kneading till the pizza is put into the hot oven is a variable. All variables relate to the type of oven used. There are many types of commercial ovens and then there is the basic home oven. The amount of oil used to coat the pan, whether or not a corn meal coating is used and the temperature of the oven are all variables. Whether you use a pan at all is based on the type of commercial oven and whether or not you use a stone and peel in a home oven. There are many variables. You have choices based on your hardware - the oven, pan, stone, etc.

            It's really not that complicated. You get what you get. I advise people going into the pizza business to start with the oven. The pizza you will be serving is based on your choice of oven type and size. Home ovens are home ovens. Gas vs. electric does not matter. Commercial ovens run a lot hotter than home ovens and may heat up to 800 degrees. They are really hot because they need to serve customers fast. Home ovens don't need to get that hot because we can wait a little longer for our pizza.

            Back to thick vs. thin. In a commercial operation it's all based on work flow. Same thing goes at home. A lot of pizza shops don't make their own dough. They buy their dough. It shows up once a day in the morning in trays with lids holding six balls of dough. Shops that do make their own dough make it once a day early and store the dough for later use in the same trays. When it's time to make a pizza they take a ball of dough and press it out on a pan or hand toss it or just spread it out by hand and put on the ingredients and into the oven. The work flow I have just described generally produces a thin crust pizza. The yeast in the dough becomes partially played out over time and therefore the dough won't rise that much in the oven. To make thin crust at home I make my dough in the morning and let it sit in the fridge all day before I make my pizza. If I wait till the next day I will get a really thin crust pizza. Some pizza shops keep dough for a few days. These are thin crust operations.

            I call thin crust default pizza because a novice who does not know how to work with yeast and does not activate the yeast properly will end up with a thin crust pizza and very happy - by default. When I make thick crust pizza, I use freshly made dough. I prefer thicker crust pizza. It's just that simple and it's faster to make at home. I make the dough, make the pizza, eat the pizza - no waiting.

            For pizza shops it's about work flow and marketing. There was an advertising battle going between two really large pizza chains. One claimed to have fresh dough, the other aged dough. It went to court and they are probably still fighting now. No way of making dough is better than another. It's based on personal taste and the work flow of the operation. You can make either thin crust or thick crust at home in a home oven. It's all about personal taste. It's also about knowing the craft of yeast baking. If you don't know the craft, you will produce thin crust pizza by default.

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