Any serious bakers out there? Need help with mixer advice

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  • carol57
    carol57 Member Posts: 3,567
    edited November 2013


    mcgis, lots of us wear vinyl food-service gloves or the better-fitting latex or latex-substitute gloves for light-duty protection. Good old rubber gloves when we need something thicker that will offer better protection. I bake a lot and prefer to knead artisan bread by hand, and I've discovered that I can use a cotton glove over my compression gauntlet, and a sock (with foot cut off) to cover my sleeve. I flour the heck out of them and nothing sticks when I'm kneading, nor does anything soak through to my compression gear. Then I toss them in the wash for the next time I'm kneading.

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  • ktym
    ktym Member Posts: 2,637
    edited November 2013


    mcgis, agree with carol57. I often will do something not quite as good, I keep an old sleeve for messy cooking and take my glove off for short periods. Then just take off the old sleeve, throw it in the wash, and put on the newer better sleeve right after I'm done cooking. The compression isn't as good but with my neuropathy I can't put too many layers between the knife and my hand, I can't feel enough to be safe.

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  • carol57
    carol57 Member Posts: 3,567
    edited December 2013


    I did some baking today. First time to try stenciling the loaves. It was a great LE day, because my arm did not bug me at all, even when hand kneading!


    image

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  • mcgis
    mcgis Member Posts: 291
    edited December 2013


    carol, those look too good to eat! glad it was a good day.

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited December 2013


    Pretty, pretty!

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  • ktym
    ktym Member Posts: 2,637
    edited December 2013


    Carol I'm so impressed! No wonder kira sent me to you for baking questions!

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  • Binney4
    Binney4 Member Posts: 8,609
    edited December 2013


    Carol, how beautiful! Was it difficult? Such a lovely touch on such an "everyday" food--I love it! You could live on bread and beauty, y'know?


    Binney

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  • carol57
    carol57 Member Posts: 3,567
    edited December 2013


    I find making bread to be incredibly rewarding, and fortunately I have lots of friends and family who gladly accept gifts of it so I can experiment and practice to my heart's content without eating it all! And DH has world-class metabolism!


    Binney, it's not hard to do at all. The hard part was cutting the stencils. I moistened the dough so the plastic would stick a little and then used a popsicle stick to help keep the edges down as I tapped a mini sieve above. Then, peeled the stencil away very carefully (I put little tabs on them to help with that). Unfortunately, neither the flour nor the cocoa powder sticks well to the bread after it leaves the oven, and from some reading I understand that's always the case. So it's lovely to do this for presentation (or a photo!) but the effect doesn't last long if the loaf is wrapped or as it's being cut. Next weekend I'm going to see what happens if I mix flour with an egg wash and paint the resulting paste onto the stencil, and then sprinkle flour on top. I scoured the bread-making cyber universe for a solution like that, but nobody's talking about it. In March I'm going to return to bread school, for a 4-day whole-grain class followed by a 2-day practicum for just shaping, slashing, and decorative touches like stenciling, so if I don't figure it out by then, I'll have a great resource to consult.


    I love everything about making bread--the feel of the dough coming to life, the art of shaping and slashing the loaf, the smell, the taste. I've been experimenting from time to time with gluten free versions for some cherished family and friends, but so far it's not been the same experience at all. But I have not given up!


    I can immerse myself in a bread project and just forget about LE. Now that's the real gift of a pastime we're passionate about!

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  • ktym
    ktym Member Posts: 2,637
    edited December 2013


    Carol I was wondering about the stencil too. When we went through with the real estate agent what was to be our first house, the owner had bread baking in the oven and a fire in the fireplace. It was a cold rainy day. Oh man, we fell in love with the house driving up, then walk in to the smell of baking bread and a fire. SOLD! It was so predictable a reaction, what they tell sellers to do--the smell of something good in the oven. So we laughed about falling for it, but, oh it worked.

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  • hugz4u
    hugz4u Member Posts: 2,781
    edited December 2013


    Oh my.... that bread picture is so enticing and to find a hobby that makes you forget about LE.....Well thats a double WHAMMY!


    My sis is teaching me the 5minute artisan bread recipe that is on you tube. You make it in a bucket and can store it in the fridge and cut off as you need it. It is also known as the 40 cent loaf. I know that kind of bread here on this gourmet bread thread might be like swearing... but its a start for me to at least learn how to make a loaf and it is so affordable and smells great. You can add anything to the recipe. I would like to make it so when friends are sick I can send some over with homemade soup.

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