From Autolyse to Shaping to Cold Proofing, great bread depends on great technique.
We’ve compiled expert tutorials and videos to help you work smarter with your dough—whether you’re fine-tuning fermentation or learning to fold.
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.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
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!
Chef Matthew James Duffy gives a breakdown of what makes our Challenger Bread Pan the perfect vessel for making bakery quality bread at home.
Built to help you bake your best bread, this quick guide will walk you through tips for unboxing, handling, and lifting your pan, so you can start baking your very first loaf. Because the Challenger Bread Pan is made from solid cast iron, which contributes to optimal baking conditions, we recommend lifting each piece separately to work around the weight of the pan.
We know you want to keep your Challenger Bread Pan looking as beautiful as the day it arrived, but keeping your pan clean and properly seasoned has other benefits, too. Seasoning refers to the process of baking oil onto cast iron. Your Challenger Pan comes expertly pre-seasoned with grapeseed oil that’s been meticulously applied so that you can start using your pan right away. To keep your Challenger performing beautifully for years to come, it’s a good idea to re-season it from time to time.
Our Challenger Cast Iron Care Kit has everything you need to keep your pan looking and performing its best. The Bamboo Brush has stiff bristles to sweep away any crumbs, flour, or dried food. The Chainmail Scrubber removes stubborn spots, food debris, and superficial rust. The Grapeseed Seasoning Oil provides a fresh, all-natural seasoning layer that keeps rust at bay, while giving your Challenger Pan a beautiful patina.
Today, we’re walking you through why and how to clean and season your Challenger Bread Pan. We’ll be using the Challenger Cast Iron Care Kit.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
A coil fold is a simple method of building dough strength that relies on surface tension and gravity.
The slap and fold technique is a way to build strength in very high hydration doughs.
The lamination method is a way to build strength and structure in dough.
The 10” fold is our own, Jim Challenger’s simple way to build gluten from inside the Proofing Box.
Adding toppings to your bread is an easy way to add flavor, nutrition, and a decorative flair to your loaf.
Porridge is a great way to add extra flavor and tenderness to your loaf.
The lamination method of adding inclusions is a great way to evenly disperse small add-ins to your dough mix.
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!
Built to help you bake your best bread, this quick guide will walk you through tips for unboxing, handling, and lifting your pan, so you can start baking your very first loaf. Because the Challenger Bread Pan is made from solid cast iron, which contributes to optimal baking conditions, we recommend lifting each piece separately to work around the weight of the pan.
We know you want to keep your Challenger Bread Pan looking as beautiful as the day it arrived, but keeping your pan clean and properly seasoned has other benefits, too. Seasoning refers to the process of baking oil onto cast iron. Your Challenger Pan comes expertly pre-seasoned with grapeseed oil that’s been meticulously applied so that you can start using your pan right away. To keep your Challenger performing beautifully for years to come, it’s a good idea to re-season it from time to time.
Our Challenger Cast Iron Care Kit has everything you need to keep your pan looking and performing its best. The Bamboo Brush has stiff bristles to sweep away any crumbs, flour, or dried food. The Chainmail Scrubber removes stubborn spots, food debris, and superficial rust. The Grapeseed Seasoning Oil provides a fresh, all-natural seasoning layer that keeps rust at bay, while giving your Challenger Pan a beautiful patina.
Today, we’re walking you through why and how to clean and season your Challenger Bread Pan. We’ll be using the Challenger Cast Iron Care Kit.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
Pre-shaping helps tighten the dough up before the final shaping and bake.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
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.
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.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
Most scoring mistakes come down to three things: depth, blade angle, and placement.
Scoring a boule should be simple. It’s all about symmetry.
Your dough is ready to score. Grab your curved lame – Baker Greg Wade demonstrates the best ways to score a batard.
Learn why bakers score dough, and which tools you’ll need to get started.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
A boule is a traditional round loaf, and is a great shape for beginning bakers to try.
A batard is one of the most iconic oval sourdough shapes. Here’s two easy shaping methods.
Perfect Your Crust with the Challenger Inversion Method.
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.
It’s all about timing. When you add starter to your dough affects the flavor of your bread.
Understanding starters, and the role they play as the leavening agent in bread.
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!
Stenciling is the extra step to make your bread look even more beautiful.
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