The BLBW Method

The Bakers Dozen - Artisan breads have 13 steps

The professional bread community all use the same 12 steps for making any bread.

As you work your way through our recipies you will find that all of them follow this same basic process with one addition. The BLBW method is an Artisan method which means it uses a 13th Step, the Autolyse, within the mixing step.

Scaling Ingredients:

Measure out your ingredients

Mixing:

Combine your ingredients into a uniform dough.

menu_book The BLBW method uses a two part sponge mixing method in which a portion of the water and flour are combined with your starter to create a sponge, after which the remaining ingredients are added and autolysed before kneading.

Autolyse:

Allow the flour to achieve full hydration, then Knead

Bulk Fermentation:

Rest dough until about double in size

Punching:

Press all the bubbles gently but firmly out your risen dough.

Scaling:

Divide your dough into smaller pieces (if necessary).

Rounding:

Round the dough into a ball.

menu_book The BLBW method replaces rounding with folding your dough into thirds for an easier process.

Benching:

Let your dough rest for 15min.

Makeup and Panning:

The dough is shaped into loaves and then placed in pans or on baking sheets

In these recipes we are primarily working with pan loaves, the makeup process will be nearly identical for each recipe. This is to help you form skills and muscle memory as you work your way through the book. All of them can be baked on a sheet pan or other flat pan liberally coated with flour or cornmeal if needed or if you prefer.

Final Proofing:

Let your dough rest until about double in size. See more in depth info in the Kneed to Know section on Proofing

Baking:

Bake it 'til it's done! Always check the recipe for proper bake times and temperatures. If in doubt, always err on the side of baking your bread for slightly longer as *underbaked loaves can be overly chewy or even gummy. Bread will temp at 190-195 degrees Fahrenheit when it is fully baked.

Kitchen thermometers can typically be found for around $5 but you can also thump the bread, turn the loaf out of the pan and give it a good solid tap on the bottom of the loaf, if it sounds hollow it's done!

menu_book *Underbaked does not refer to raw sections of dough in an otherwise baked loaf. Raw dough can cause severe illness and should never be eaten.

Cooling:

Remove your bread from the pan immediately after baking, let your bread cool at room temperature until completely cool. You can use the inside of your wrist to check if the bottom of the loaf is fully cooled before storing. Cooling in a refrigerator will stale your bread prematurely. Cutting into your bread while warm can cause the bread to become gummy.

Storing:

If you (and/or your family) will be eating the quantity of bread you made in the next week, slide that bread *whole into a plastic bread bag, twist tie and leave it at room temperature. These sourdough bread recipes will typically stay fresh and mold free for 7 days at room temperature. Never store bread in a refrigerator as this will stale your bread prematurely.

If you've made extra bread for upcoming weeks, double bag the extra bread *whole and FREEZE until you need more bread. The most complicated thing about this step is remembering to thaw the extra bread, at room temperature, the night before you need more bread.

list_alt Keeping your loaf whole is always the best way to maintain freshness, whether you store it at room temperature or in the freezer. If it's more convienient to store sliced just be aware it will stale faster and be more prone to freezer burn.