Rev 1.00, last revised: 15-Nov-05
Most of my recipes have a revision number and the date last modified at the top; as does this page. This is so that I can keep track of my changes, and you can easily see if you need to get a more recent update. The revision number is two parts, the part to the left of the decimal is the major revision number. It starts at 0, and increments upward to a maximum of 9. The numbers to the right of the decimal are the minor revision numbers and increment from 00 to 99.
The initial version of any recipe will always start out as a main rev number of "0" and a minor rev as ".10". Once I'm done with it, the major rev number becomes "1" with a ".00" suffix. Any changes after that will most likely be grammar and so on, and not substantive recipe changes. If the recipe does change more than a tweak, I increment the primary version number to "2" and so on. Usually I have older versions chain-linked to the current one.
In addition, one may find this text:
[Caution: This recipe is still under construction--steal at your own risk!]
This means that the recipe is still being tested and will most likely undergo random changes at erratic intervals. Don't call me if you swipe it to make for company and it comes out all messed up. Too bad! That's your problem not mine...
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I post my recipes on the web for myself, my kids, my grandkids, and my cooking/baking friends. Anyone reading them is welcome to steal them and use them as they wish. The caution is simply to let you know that it's still being worked. So beware...
Some final words; if, in the process of making one of my recipes, you discover an error, omission, or better way of doing things, please, Please, PLEASE contact me and let me know. Also, if you have a recipe that you think I'd like to work on and post, please send that as well.
Over time I've converted my bread recipes so that they are a single sheet for printing. The very first page is a summary suitable for those of you--and myself--that already know what & why you're doing. That way you get the salient info in a single sheet. The longer, drawn out, more gruesome details can usually be found in the pages that follow.
No, not all of my recipes have been thusly converted...I'm working on 'em. If you need a specific one formatted like that, drop me a note and I'll do it right away.
For various reasons I nearly always bake into a COLD oven! For some reason this seems to offend baking purists. If you're one and this ticks you off, I suggest you read elsewhere...
Those that insist that ONLY pre-heating for hours on end to incredible temperatures monitored to 3-decimal places and carefully implemented through the use of stones, bricks, tiles, or other similar items are doing so only to try to impress you with their arrogance. I've found that baking into a cold oven ALWAYS yields a taller, lighter bread with improved oven spring and a better crust.
I've rewritten most of my recipes to accommodate a cold start. The reader is, of course, welcome to alter that as they see fit. As to why? We live in and out of an RV for various times of the year. Although it's not something we do often, we can find ourselves parked hundreds of miles from paved roads. I can't afford to run an oven for hours for preheating when a propane refill can be so hard to come by. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that except for less oven spring, there's decidedly no advantage to baking into a hot oven.
Have I ever done it so that I might know whereof I speak? Yes! Of course! I have many recipes that I divide into 2 or more loaves to bake. The second one always gets done in the hot oven. And I can always see the distinct difference in size, loft, and crust. You may wish to give this a try yourself.