I bake all my own bread, mostly due to food allergies but also because there is nothing better than a fresh loaf of bread just out of the oven.

My experience and conclusion was largely the same as the author. I found the brevity of many recipes frustrating, which led me to study the details of bread making.

The type of four, how much yeast, salt and water. How the water amount varies for so many reasons in a home kitchen.

Making 4 loafs a fortnight gives plenty of opportunity for iteration and learning. And over time I was able to develop a good understanding of dough hydration and how that affects the end product, and how it can make kneading and handling the dough easier or harder. There is a sweet spot.

This also led me to adding oil to a dough. Which acts to keep the gluten chains from getting too long and chewy, thus making the dough short.

It’s also how you make a great pizza dough.

From there I started experimenting with different flours, because I had to if I wanted bread. Running low on bread flour I added semolina, and also made a pure semolina loaf.

The main thing I’ve learned is there is a lot of leeway in the recipes that still produces tasty food. I’ve made some incredible and some woeful loafs that all taste great.

I still prefer specific recipes in metric, but I find more and more I’m reading into what the ratio of ingredients is doing and why.