Artisan bread

The formula for any number and weight of loaves, in grams, as baker’s percentages of the flour rows and as shares of all the flour (counting the flour in a levain or rye sour), with the true hydration and salt. The process cards give the mixing, bulk, folds, proof and bake at a 24 °C dough, and the notes say what is particular to the style. Links open the formula in the bread tool and the levain build in the sourdough planner.

About ninety breads, each with its formula, the process step by step, the techniques that make it, shaping, scoring or finish, the bake and what tends to go wrong. Filter by tradition (French, Italian, German, Nordic, British and Irish, Jewish and Eastern European, Middle Eastern, South Asian, African, East Asian, the Americas, modern sourdough), by leavening (commercial yeast, levain, rye sour, lievito madre, sweet stiff starter, chemical, steam, unleavened), by method (hearth, tin, flatbread, griddle, steamed, fried, boiled then baked), by enrichment, flour, difficulty and total time — or search. Among them: the sourdough family (country, San Francisco, whole wheat, spelt, einkorn, emmer, seeded, baguette, ciabatta, focaccia, sandwich loaf, bagels, English muffins, brioche, pizza, discard crackers); rye breads from Roggenmischbrot and Vollkornbrot to pumpernickel, rugbrød, Borodinsky and ruisleipä; French, Italian (with panettone, pandoro and colomba on lievito madre), German, Nordic and British breads; challah, babka, bialys and bagels; pita, lavash, barbari, sangak, naan, roti, paratha, puri and injera; milk bread, shokupan, mantou and bao; pandesal, pão de queijo, bolillo, tortillas, Cuban bread, cornbread, popovers and Boston brown bread.

Set the number of pieces and their weight for grams. The formula opens in the bread tool like the styles do, a levain build opens in the sourdough planner, and Plan bake day plans the bread back from when it goes in the oven. Process times are for a 24 °C dough; the fermentation steps follow the dough temperature set on the Bake-day plan. The library is loaded only when you open it.

Enter a straight dough — all the flour, water, salt and yeast mixed in one go — and choose a preferment:

Choose how much of the flour is prefermented, the preferment’s hydration, and when you want it ripe and at what temperature. The tool splits the dough into the preferment and the final dough, keeping the totals the same, works out the preferment’s yeast for that time and temperature, and lists how long it would take at other temperatures. Final-dough yeast is cut in proportion to the flour already fermented — a starting point.

Scalds — tangzhong (cooked to 65 °C), yudane (boiling water, rested overnight) and the rye Brühstück — gelatinise part of the flour’s starch so it holds more water: a softer, moister crumb that keeps. The tool gives the flour and water to use and what is left for the dough.

Starter care and the levain build for a recipe are in the sourdough planner; this tab is about choosing and using a starter.

Set when the loaf goes in the oven and the dough temperature. The plan works backwards through the preferment, autolyse (or fermentolyse, with the leaven in), mixing (Rubaud or slap-and-fold by hand, stand or spiral mixer, each with its development target and the windowpane test), optional bassinage, the folds (stretch-and-fold, coil folds, or lamination then coils), bulk, preshape, bench rest, shaping, proof at room temperature or a cold retard, preheating and the bake. Times come from the style at 24 °C and scale with your dough temperature. Choose A library bread to plan the bread picked in the library instead, from its own steps. Print gives a clean timeline; Add to calendar downloads an .ics file with an alert at each step; reminders can beep while the page is open.

Bulk timer and aliquot jar: press Mixing done and the tool counts down to each fold and the end of bulk. Put a little dough in a straight-sided jar, mark the level, and enter the reading now and then: the tool shows the rise against a target that depends on the dough temperature.

Step drawings for a boule, a bâtard and a baguette, and the poke test. More shapes and techniques draws three-, four- and six-strand braids, round, knotted and kaiser rolls, bagels, the pretzel twist, épi, couronne and fougasse cuts, a tin loaf, how a pita forms its pocket, pleated buns, and the lye bath, boiling and steaming set-ups. Scoring patterns — single ear, two parallel cuts, cross, square, hash, wheat stalk, leaf, spiral and baguette cuts — each with the blade angle, depth and what the cut does.

Dutch oven, combo cooker, stone or steel with lava rocks or a wet towel, or a sheet with a cover: the preheat, the steam phase (lid on), the dry phase, the internal temperature when it is done and how long to cool, for the chosen style.

Tick what you see — dense, gummy, tunnels under the crust, flat, tight crumb, pale crust, no ear, blowouts, sour or bland, or for other breads wrinkled bagels, torn braids, pita without a pocket, tough flatbread, soapy quick bread, a slow rich dough, a rye with a hollow under the crust or wrinkled steamed buns — and the likely causes appear ranked, each with a drawing of the crumb it tends to give and what to change. Drawings of six typical crumbs are below, and what tends to go wrong with the bread picked in the library.

French T, German Type and Italian grades side by side, rye types, US flours by protein, strength (W), how whole wheat, rye, spelt, einkorn and durum behave, and a starting hydration for a blend.