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From Starters, Scoring, and Stenciling — to Autolyse, Mixing, Folding, Pre-shaping & Bench Rest, we’ve got your baking techniques covered. Whether you’re a beginning, advanced, or obsessed baker — Jim Challenger, James Beard Award winner Greg Wade, and other celebrated bakers will guide you through step-by-step instructions and videos to help you improve your baking.
Please email us at techniques@challengerbreadware.com with your comments and questions.
Here’s an in-depth look at what happens during an autolyse, and why it’s a key step in the bread making process.
Some helpful tips from Heather over at Leavenly on how to adjust your sourdough baking to suit a high-altitude.
Chef Matthew James Duffy gives a breakdown of what makes our Challenger Bread Pan the perfect vessel for making bakery quality bread at home.
The 10” fold is our own, Jim Challenger’s simple way to build gluten from inside the Proofing Box.
The lamination method is a way to build strength and structure in dough.
The slap and fold technique is a way to build strength in very high hydration doughs.
A coil fold is a simple method of building dough strength that relies on surface tension and gravity.
This method of adding inclusions is great for larger add-ins, such as nuts, olives, or dried fruit, and couldn’t be easier to do!
The lamination method of adding inclusions is a great way to evenly disperse small add-ins to your dough mix.
Porridge is a great way to add extra flavor and tenderness to your loaf.
Adding toppings to your bread is an easy way to add flavor, nutrition, and a decorative flair to your loaf.
Pre-shaping helps tighten the dough up before the final shaping and bake.
There are several indicators in a baked loaf that can help you understand if you are proofing your dough for the correct amount of time.
Sourdough proofing times can vary greatly depending on the environment. Here are a few simple and reliable ways to check for the correct proof in your dough.
Learn why bakers score dough, and which tools you’ll need to get started.
Your dough is ready to score. Grab your curved lame – Baker Greg Wade demonstrates the best ways to score a batard.
Scoring a boule should be simple. It’s all about symmetry.
Most scoring mistakes come down to three things: depth, blade angle, and placement.
A batard is one of the most iconic oval sourdough shapes. Here’s two easy shaping methods.
A boule is a traditional round loaf, and is a great shape for beginning bakers to try.
What do you do when you want enhanced flavor and texture in your bakes, but don’t have a sourdough starter ready to go? Make a poolish!
Understanding starters, and the role they play as the leavening agent in bread.
It’s all about timing. When you add starter to your dough affects the flavor of your bread.
Learning to know when your starter is at its peak and ready to feed is going to take a little time and a little patience, along with some observation.
Stenciling is the extra step to make your bread look even more beautiful.
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