"Julianne" > wrote:

> I have recently started baking bread without the breadmaker. Does anyone
> care to post their most useful tips? Thanks in advance.
>
> j


That's a big question!

To start, I'd find one source of information, probably just one formula and
stick with for quite a while until you are very comfortable with it and can
consistently produce bread with which you are happy. It's very easy to get
confused by, seemingly, conflicting information. I've been baking sourdough
bread for a number of years now and am still working, more or less, with the
formula I started with. It's amazing how many minor changes can be made to
the same base formula that will result in noticeable differences in the end
result. Also, when you do get to the tweaking stage, you might want to
change just one thing at a time.

Pay attention to the dough! There are so many things involved in bread
making that are hard to describe in print. Many of them relate to the state
of the dough at various stages, like kneading and rising. Paying close
attention to the dough during the process and comparing it to the end result
is probably how you will get that down. Along these lines, when a recipe
says something like, "let it rise for two hours or until doubled in size"
don't even pay attention to the time part of the instructions, just wait
until it doubles.

Most importantly, have fun. Chances are that even your mistakes will be
pretty good eating.

Good luck,
-Mike