King Arthur Baking Book

I’ve got this one, but prefer using whole grain flours. Do I NEED the KA Whole Grain Baking one?

Due to magical thinking, I now have 30# of whole wheat, mixed grain, and bread flour…and no plans to use any of them until daytime.highs are below 70°F. HOPING that WHITE whole wheat flour returns to KA or TJ’S by then!

We use ours a lot. Do you make sourdough? There are some very good recipes that use the discard, including my favorite, Triple-Chocolate Sourdough Waffles.

1 Like

What I’m asking is if there’s enough difference between them to make purchasing the second worthwhile. I haven’t made sourdough but would like to. I live alone so am unlikely to use up discard.

If you do want to try sourdough, you could use Maggie Glezer’s firm starter. It gets refreshed only a few days before baking, so there is much less discard.

1 Like

My experience is that you should learn on “regular/popular” sourdough first. Then you have a better sense of how doughs behave and when you adapt recipes to use firmer starters, you’ll be more confident.

That would be up to you. It’s not just sourdough recipes; in fact, I made the lemon-raspberry cake that’s on the cover. Had to purchase WW pastry/cake flour, but it was worth it.

My first sourdough was Maggie Glezer’s firm sourdough starter. This was some 16 years ago. After some time I got careless with the measurements, and the starter died on me. So I created a second one, and have since been very careful with the measurements (10 g starter, 30 g water, 50 g flour) for replenishment. My starter has now been going strong for 15 years. If you can learn on one type of starter, you can learn equally well on another.

1 Like

Wow 15 years old! Older than my cat, LOL!

1 Like

My starter may be older than your cat, but it needs much less care!

Sure, but to always remember to take care of it, needs a certain discipline. Respect on that.

How about when you are away on vacation?

The firm starter lives happily in the refrigerator for months at a time. In order to bake with it, you have to refresh it 3-4 days in a row, until it increases in volume by a factor of 4 within 8 hours at room temperature. Then you save a bit for the next bake, and get your dough ready. C’est tout.

2 Likes