bread - dough - pastry The art of making bread involves elements of intuition, of skill and practice, of play and creativity. Having a bread turn out the way you want it to turn out has to do with chemistry, and then again with feel and touch. Jeffery Alford & Naomi Duguid   For me one of the most rewarding moments in the kitchen is slicing into a freshly baked loaf of bread. Successfully baking your own bread, especially sour dough breads, takes some experience. I've been baking my own bread for over 30 years now but in the beginning many a loaf found its way uneaten into the waste. If you've never baked your own bread this is not the place to start. Get yourself a good bread cookbook and be patient. One proud day you'll know just from the feel of the dough if you've added enough liquid or if it has been properly kneaded. Start with simple yeast breads and when you get the hang of it, then move on to greater things. Who knows, you may become so enthused that you buy a mill and grind your own. BTW I don't have a bread machine; they have nothing to do with feel and touch. A lot of valuable and useful information can be found at the following links: http://breadnet.net/resource.html http://www.moglitronik.de/sauerteigfaq/ (Deutsch) http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/breads/sourdough/ http://www.angelfire.com/ab/bethsbread/sdMenu.html http://www.joejaworski.com/bread1.htm Unless otherwise specified, all my bread recipes use freshly ground flour. Freshly ground flour reacts differently than commercial flour, therefore the flour to liquid proportions may vary if you're using a commercial (whole wheat) flour. farmer's bread olive shortbread pumpkin bread rosemary focaccia steamed chinese flower rolls white dinner rolls