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Weekend Bakery

The place for the ambitious home baker

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You are here: Home / About Us

About Us

501 Comments

Weekend Bakery

Weekend Bakery wants to offer and share information, tips, techniques, recipes and tools for the ‘professional’ home baker, with an above average interest in the art of artisan bread making. Weekend Bakery points to the fact that a lot of people, like us, concentrate their baking activities around the weekends and holidays. The moments you look forward to, thinking about what recipes to try or which favorite loaves to bake.

Weekend Bakery is serious about artisan bread making. We have our own ‘at home micro bakery’. Making bread in small quantities with time and attention will deliver great and rewarding results. So why not try and make your own too? It’s a hobby with great benefits for your mind as well as your body. Making good bread appeals to all your senses. Working with dough can be your own form of meditation. Your body can seriously benefit from the bread you make.

So there are lot’s of good reasons to make your own. Maybe you’ve already discovered them. So if you are serious about good bread making, Weekend Bakery is the place for you. Get your hands stuck in a piece of dough and smell the aroma of your own sourdough starter.

Our Artisan At Home Bakery

We are passionate home bakers. We have been sharing our quest for good food and especially good bread for over 18 years. We love sharing our homemade bread and recipes with friends and family and everybody who’s truly interested. We are especially enthusiastic about the ‘artisan’ way of baking. Traditional methods, few ingredients, lots of taste. It’s amazing and rewarding to discover you can make a wonderful bread with just flour, water and salt and a bit of homemade sourdough.

Our Bakery Tool Shop

We are proud to offer a range of bread baking tools that are perfect for the home baker and small bakeries. All bread baking tools are made within the European Union and of the highest quality. And there’s some very original sweet baking stuff too. Plus we ship all over the world. Come and take a look and get inspired to bake!

Things we love to bake and make

There are some items that we have really ‘made our own’ over the years. Next to our “Pain Rustique’ and Pain au Levain’ that has an ever growing enthusiastic following, we have perfected the art of croissant making and baguette baking. We also make traditional Dutch specialties like suikerbrood (sugar loaf) speculaas, cinnamon buns and roggebrood (rye bread). We love making our own pizza and flatbreads. We also make our own marmalade from the Sevilla oranges when in season and like to experiment with chocolate and caramel too and love to roast our own coffee beans.

Besides the baking

We love to travel. Our favorite destinations are Italy, France, Norway and Canada. Favorite cities: New York, Venice, Amsterdam.
Also fond of (outdoor) cooking, the Italian kitchen, Indian and Japanese food and much more…

Happy baking from Weekend Bakery!

Ed & Marieke
Netherlands

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The coming months we will take a break from answering comments on our Weekend Bakery site.

Due to recent events our priorities have shifted and we need to focus on what matters most and give attention to our family and people who need us.

Comments

  1. Kevin Garland says

    September 29, 2017 at 23:28

    Help! Ive been baking beautiful breads from the levin I made, using Tartine as my cookbook guide. I have to be away for five weeks. How can I keep it alive and healthy?

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      October 4, 2017 at 21:05

      Hi Kevin,
      We would suggest to refresh it just before you go, put one halve in your freezer, the other halve in your fridge, and upon your return see which batch survived best.
      Hope it will be OK.

      Reply
  2. lida Wegkamp says

    September 1, 2017 at 16:14

    Hallo Marieke
    heb jij misschien ervaring met een foodprocessor? ik ben opzoek naar een goede en krijg verschillende antwoorden! een goede kookwinkel zegt, cuisinart uit Amerika, ander zegt magimix en er is ook nog een dualit, maar die zou ook niet zo goed zijn.

    kun jij mij er iets over zeggen?

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      September 7, 2017 at 15:52

      Hallo Lida,
      Sorry voo de late reactie. We hebben zelf een magimix, al een aantal jaren, en deze voldoet prima, is stevig en mooi maar het schoonmaken vind ik gezien de vorm van de kommen met de randen wel een beetje gedoe (ook al gebruiken we hem echt niet dagelijks). We hebben ook wel goede dingen gehoord over Kenwood. Met deze en andere machines hebben we zelf verder geen ervaring. Op sites zoals keukenmachineshop vindt je wel heel veel reviews met opsommingen van plus- en minpunten van mensen die de verschillende machines gebruiken. Misschien goed om dat even te bekijken.

      Veel succes ermee!

      Marieke

      Reply
  3. Marta says

    August 7, 2017 at 01:12

    Hello,

    I have studied your website and baked my first 4 loafs with you (3x pain naturel and 1x wholewheat levain). The first results were great but I noticed that the bread does not raise like the first 2 loafs did, and definitely not like on your photos.

    I suspect the reason is I do not feed my sourdough correctly. I am just so confused about amounts and times for feeding. Could you tell me what is your schedule and quantities for using your starter? Like you, I bake on average once a week. So when do I take it out of the fridge, feed it, put back in the fridge? And does it change with the flour type (I tried wholemeal wheat and ‘white’ wheat but it does not seem to matter that much)?

    Thank you very much in advance!
    M.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      August 17, 2017 at 19:41

      Hello Martha,
      Have you seen our posting on the subject? www.weekendbakery.com/posts…asy-steps/
      Like you we keep our culture in the fridge. We use whole rye and love to use it for its great properties as a culture. If you want to bake, get it out one day in advance. If it has been left in the fridge for a week or longer you always need to refresh it first so it will be ready and active the following day. So refresh it the day before you make the preferment / poolish. Usually we maintain around 120 to 150 grams of culture. After baking we replenish the culture with equal amounts of water and flour and get it back to the level it was before the baking. Again, you need to let it ferment for a day at room temperature before putting it in the fridge to be stored there until the next baking weekend.

      Hope this helps you a bit.

      Happy sourdough baking!
      More tips on sourdoug baking:www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ough-tips/

      Reply
      • Marta says

        August 26, 2017 at 20:41

        Hello,

        Many thanks for your answer!

        I have done some more reading and would like to share with you that on Mike’s sourdough website ( www.sourdoughhome.com/index…ngastarter ) the advice what to do before the starter goes in the fridge is quite the opposite. He says:

        Again, the key success strategies are to feed the starter until it is doubling between feedings, to fill the cleaned jar no more than 1/2 full, and to refrigerate immediately after you feed the starter.

        I followed his advice and I am very happy with the results! I guess there is no one way of doing, but maybe you will find it interesting and try. It saves some work 🙂

        Best
        Marta

        Reply
        • Weekend Bakers says

          September 2, 2017 at 08:35

          Hi Marta,
          Thank you for sharing this with us. It is great this method works well for you, because it indeed saves some work.

          Happy sourdough baking!

          Reply
  4. Ricardo says

    August 2, 2017 at 21:23

    I´m just in love with your iniciative. Be sure I´m learning and making a lot of bread and Weekend Bakery is helping a lot!
    Thanks and BEst Regards,

    Ricardo from Brazil

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      August 9, 2017 at 20:21

      Thank you very much Ricardo, great to read you find it so useful.

      Greetings from Holland,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  5. Stephanie baker says

    July 28, 2017 at 18:44

    . I’m wanting to bake a malted loaf like one that uses malted barley flour. But cannot get hold of any and wandered if I could sprout my own buckwheat dry it and grind it and then use it ….would this be the similar process that they use to make malted barley flour ? Please forgive me for asking.
    Thanks
    Nicolette

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      August 3, 2017 at 20:26

      Hi there,
      In principle you can sprout any grain with the same process. But we understand (not from own experience) buckwheat groats have to be treated slightly different. They have to be rinsed several times and soaked for only 20 minutes. You can find this information in the Tartine no 3 book by Chad Robertson. This book contains a lot of bread recipes with sprouted grains.

      Good luck with it!

      Reply
  6. eric Kampfraath says

    July 22, 2017 at 15:28

    Hoi Ed & Marieke,

    Ik stel me even voor ik ben Eric en ben in mei gestart met ons bakkerijtje. Ik heb diverse opleidingen gedaan in België en in Nederland (Bakery Institute). Nu de vraag, gerezen toerdeeg daar heb ik problemen mee, heb versmering in de croissant.
    Ik begin bij het begin.
    1. Bloem is op 4 graden (ascorbinezuur vrij)
    2. water is op 4 graden.
    3. Boter is op 4 graden deze boter is van debic Top tourage.
    4 de kneedtijd is ongeveer 4 minuten (weinig gluten vorming)
    5. Leg het deeg 15 minuten in de koelkast (rust)
    6. Vouw de toerboter in. Uitrollen tot een lap van 20 bij 40 de helft lamineer ik met boter.
    7.Geef een halve toer en rol deze uit tot 1 cm.
    8. Geef een toer van drie en leg hem in de koeling 20 minuten
    9. daarna 90 graden draaien en geef weer een toer van drie.
    10. Dit herhaal ik in totaal 4 keer.
    11. Het gerezen deeg gaat voor een nacht in de koeling.
    12. Na deze nacht rol ik hem uit op de gewenste dikte 3,5 mm
    13.Modeleren en bestrijken en laten rijzen en afbakken op 210 graden 14 minuten.
    Nu het volgende, ik weet dat het toerdeeg niet te warm mag zijn kort voor het modeleren is het toerdeeg 14 graden. Maar toch versmering. Kan het soms liggen dat ik het deeg teveel op en neer laat gaan door de machine waardoor dit gebeurd.
    Moet ik het meer met de Franse slag doen, daar bedoel ik mee dat ik te veel stappen maak om tijdens het toeren op de dikte te komen van ongeveer 8/9 mm als ik hem dan vouw is het deeg ongeveer 3 cm. moet ik van 3 cm gelijk naar bijvoorbeeld 1,5 gaan en de volgende stap ongeveer 1 cm, waardoor de boter geen kans heeft zich te vermengen met het deeg?
    Het is een heel epistel, maar zie je antwoord graag tegemoet,

    Met vriendelijke groet,

    Eric

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 30, 2017 at 21:21

      Hallo Eric,
      We vrezen dat we je niet goed kunnen helpen, omdat we zelf alles met de hand doen en geen machine voor het toeren gebruiken.
      Wij houden ons aan het recept zoals hier beschreven:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…roissants/
      We denken wel dat je zeker een punt kunt hebben dat je de lagen door instellingen en te veel handelingen kunt beschadigen, de temperatuur lijkt niet de oorzaak.
      Hopelijk kan iemand met ervaring met deze machine je nog verder helpen.

      Succes ermee!

      Reply
  7. Paul Smith says

    July 16, 2017 at 10:13

    Hi Ed and Marieke, what a wonderful site you have put together, as a beginner I have found it totally absorbing and very inspiring.

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 23, 2017 at 11:24

      Thank you Paul for letting us know, very much appreciated.

      Happy baking from Holland,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  8. Kristin Keough says

    July 13, 2017 at 15:41

    Dear Ed & Marieke,

    I am 15 year old Kristin from Hong Kong! I love your blog and your recipes, I use them all the time 🙂 I have a few of your books too and I absolutely love them!

    I am writing a beginners guide to baking for a big school project and was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me, so I can hopefully use it in my guide! It won’t take too long, so if you could answer the questions, it would mean a lot to me and will really help me out with my project. The information you give me will be used for educational purposes only, and I will also make sure to cite you as a source and give you full credit.

    Here are the questions, you can answer them in whatever way you would like!-
    What is the hardest technique to master in baking in your opinion? ( whisking, kneading etc..)
    Do you have any tips for food photography/editing based on your personal experience with your blog?
    What are your biggest tips/advice for beginners who are just starting out with baking?
    What are the ingredients and tools you always have on hand for baking?
    Since I will be creating my own recipes in my guide, what advice do you have for me? I have never created my own recipes, and have only ever followed other recipes online. How can I ensure that the recipe I create works?

    Kristin K.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 23, 2017 at 11:23

      Hi Kristin,
      We will try and make time for your questions soon.

      Greetings,

      Marieke

      Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 31, 2017 at 11:24

      Hi Kristin,
      The hardest thing to master is constantly bringing all techniques together and achieve consistency in baking. You can find our most important tips here:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…king-tips/
      We would advice to buy a good food photography book that speaks to you and also the web is full of tips much better than we could ever achieve, because we are not professionals on the subject, we just like doing all these things ourselves as a hobby.

      Our best tip for novice bakers is find a good recipe you like and make it over and over until it is perfect, make notes and understand the process and only change anything if you can explain why you want to make that change.

      For baking we cannot do without two essential tools which are a scoring tool (we developed one ourselves see: www.weekendbakery.com/websh…-lame.html
      And also a dough scraper to aid you to lift, cut, move, stretch, fold and shape your dough.
      Like these ones: www.weekendbakery.com/websh…apers.html

      Creating your own recipe will always involve starting with the experience of the recipes you already used and use your experience and understanding of the process with that . There will always be a need for the basic understanding of how bread baking works, you cannot do something completely different just because you want to make an original recipe. There will always be certain amounts of flour, water involved and some form of development and fermentation of course. Start with what you want to achieve and work your way back.

      Good luck with your project!

      Reply
  9. Zoe says

    July 10, 2017 at 02:01

    I am elated to have found your wonderful blog. Please keep up the inspiring work!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 17, 2017 at 12:03

      Thank you so much Zoe, it sure is our intention to do so!

      Happy baking from Holland,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  10. Cristian says

    July 2, 2017 at 01:59

    Please post a recipe for Eierkoek

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 7, 2017 at 19:07

      Hi Cristian,
      Please keep in mind: The eierkoeken you can buy in bakeries and supermarkets in Holland contain ammonium carbonate. The original version should be made with this ingredient as a raising agent. A lot of recipes you find on the internet do not include this ingredient, they use baking powder instead. We do not have a recipe for you at the moment but if you google ‘Dutch egg cakes’ or Dutch eierkoeken’ you will find several recipes in English, though most of them will only use baking powder and not ammonium carbonate, leading to a different result.

      Reply
  11. Morag Docherty says

    July 1, 2017 at 13:53

    “Hello Folks”

    Have just found your website, and have started the first stage of your Croissant Recipe. I have been making my own breads for years, and look froward to doing much more along with you. “Cheers Morag” From “The Mull of Kintyre”

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 7, 2017 at 18:55

      Hi Morag,
      Greetings to your beautiful country from the low lands. Hope the recipe has turned out well. We do advice to give it a few tries to get the feeling for the process and the dough and this way it will get better and better. The smell of the dough and the baked goods is a reward all on its own, we can never get enough of it.

      Happy pastry baking!

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  12. Hanna says

    July 1, 2017 at 12:04

    Hi,
    thank you for your explanation. Realy very helpfull. I explored what puff pastry means for the first time. I will try but now brioche is on my schedule. Some small problems at the beginning ( to much liquid probably) but I managed and now it is in fridge. Getting bigger:)
    You are my inspiration!!! Live with baking is magic for me, thanks to you!!:) Regards firm Gdansk
    Hanna

    PS: what temperature should have melted butter when added to other ingridients of brioche?

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 7, 2017 at 18:47

      Hi again Hanna,
      Thank you so much for your kind words. And it is best to add the melted butter when it has cooled down (hand warm is OK), so when you combine it with other ingredients like egg it will not solidify it. When you melt butter, you do not need to make it hot, just warm enough to melt.

      Reply
  13. Hanna says

    June 11, 2017 at 14:10

    Dear Ed & Marieke,
    here is Hanna, fan of your fantastic website and blog. I have one receipe of a rhumbar tarte and one ingriedient ist all-butter puff pastry. Could you tell me – is it the same pastry like for croissants? Or tell me pls where I can find it on your blog. Thank you:) Hanna

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      June 17, 2017 at 09:59

      Hi Hanna,
      Thank you for your very kind words. At the moment we only have a version for ‘rough puff pastry’ (see: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ff-pastry/) but we also want to add a puff pastry recipe to our website.
      It is fun and fast(er) to make and requires less accuracy and time than making puff pastry.
      Puff pastry dough is basically the same process as croissant dough but without the added yeast and sugar in the dough and with more layers, so it does not need proofing, only chilling in between the rolling and folding stages.
      One option we can give you is to use the one day version of our croissant recipe, leave out the sugar and yeast, carry out step 1 and 2 and instead of three turns you make 6 turns to get to 729 layers (these layers give this pastry its name ‘mille-feuille’ because it gets close to 1000 layers) and then use it as described in your recipe. See: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…nt-recipe/
      But in the future we want to do it right and post the exact recipe of course.

      Hope it gives you some options for your recipe, but by all means also check out recipes for puff pastry.

      Good luck with it and happy pastry baking!

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  14. Charles says

    May 27, 2017 at 16:27

    Hallo Ed en Marieke,
    Ik woon al jaren in West Canada en kon nooit ergens een echt goed smakende croissant kopen. Dus besloot ik om het eens zelf te proberen met een recept van Anna Olson. Dat voldeed. Maar toevallig kwam ik op deze site terecht en probeerde jullie recept met een enorm goed resultaat. Dank aan jullie voor de schatkist aan kennis, hulp en recepten die via deze website nu gebruikt kunnen worden. Ik denk dat jullie me aan een nieuwe hobby hebben geholpen!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      June 1, 2017 at 21:59

      Hallo Charles,
      Wat leuk een Nederlandse comment te krijgen uit het mooie westen van Canada. Geweldig leuk te lezen dat ons recept zo goed bevalt. Ook hier in NL is zelf bakken ‘the way to go’ als je een echt lekker vers en boterig croissantje wilt eten.
      We hebben ook nog heel leuke en lekkere andere recepten met dit croissant-deeg. Misschien heb je ze al gezien?
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…x-raisins/
      en
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…y-caramel/

      Happy pastry baking!
      Groetjes uit de lage landen,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  15. Don Laucirica says

    May 25, 2017 at 23:08

    Ed & Marieke

    What a great web-site!! You and your site are the ideal for the home baker with more than a casual interest in baking artisan bread. Now I’ve just got to figure out adjustments for baking at altitude (6000 ft / 1800 meters).

    Thanks

    Don L.
    Colorado Springs

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      May 31, 2017 at 21:30

      Hi Don,
      Thank you for your very kind comment. Living almost below sea level we do not know the challenges of high altitude baking from experience, but you have to take pressure and moisture into account of course. Maybe this link is useful for you:
      www.kingarthurflour.com/learn…aking.html

      Good luck with it and happy high baking!

      Ed & Marieke
      The low countries

      Reply
  16. Jonas Rosenstok says

    May 9, 2017 at 20:47

    Hi Ed & Marieke,
    Love your website, it really helps me develop my baking skills and try new things.

    Question: are you familiar with the (huge) wholewheat “Grand-mère” sourdough bread made by the “Vlaamsch Broodhuys”? I would love to know how to approach that flavor and texture. I don’t want to make a bread that size (oven too small) but absolutely love the taste. Any ideas?

    Keep up the great work!
    Jonas

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      May 15, 2017 at 11:35

      Hi Jonas,
      Great to read your comment. We are somewhat familiar with this loaf, but have not tasted anything by VB in a while now. It is a bread made with whole wheat flour.
      Maybe you could try and make something like this miche and instead of the small amount of whole rye in this recipe, substitute that for whole wheat too:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…g-a-miche/
      If you want to reduce the size make sure to reduce the oven time too of course. A loaf of around 750 g is 45 minute oven time, 1 kg around 55 minutes. Make sure to reduce the oven heat when you think your loaf crust has reached the desired color, especially in a small oven with heat close to the surface of the loaf.

      Do not know if it comes close but it will be tasty and fresh we are sure.

      Enjoy the baking!

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
      • Jonas Rosenstok says

        July 5, 2017 at 11:31

        Dear Ed & Marieke,

        Thanks for the reply, I cut the recipe in half and and reduced bake-time and it came out great, I love that recipe! Proofing went a bit quicker than recipe predicted despite 24 deg C but I guess that just depends on the starter.

        New question for you: I know you’re called “Weekend Bakery” but I would love to be able to bake during the week as well. I noticed there’s basically three “moments in time” where you’re active with most breads: (1) preparing the poolish or preferment, (2) mixing kneading, S&F and shaping the dough and (3) baking. For me, morning-hometime is usually shorter than evening-hometime, so it would work to do preferment in the morning, spend the evening mixing, autolyse, kneading, S&F and shaping, then proof in the fridge and bake straight out of the fridge the next morning. So for the question: are there recipe’s on your site that are particularly suitable for this kind of timetable? Are there adjustments to make in the amount of preferment or does the fridge-overnight-retard work with the same recipes?

        Thanks for the great website!

        Greetings, Jonas

        Reply
        • Weekend Bakers says

          July 13, 2017 at 14:58

          Hi Jonas,
          Yes, you can use several of our recipes for your method, both the sourdough and hybrid recipes.
          We can recommend starting with this one:
          www.weekendbakery.com/posts…n-naturel/
          or this hybrid one:
          www.weekendbakery.com/posts…-rustique/
          The two first phases are straightforward, the little bit of challenge will be in the third phase to get it right. The depends on the amount of sourdough combined with the fridge temp and time to get it right.
          For the sourdough version you just stick to the amounts the first time and see how it develops in the fridge. For the hybrid with the yeast in the dough we would suggest starting with maximum half of the yeast in the final dough when retarding it in the fridge. After one or two takes you will already know how to tweak it to get it to the right stage to bake in the morning.

          Good luck with it and happy baking!

          Reply
  17. Johnny Richard says

    May 9, 2017 at 06:11

    Hi Ed & Marieke

    A big thank you for your very helpful article on starting a Rye Sourdough Starter. I had tried many times to make a starter in the past without success, but with your help I now have a nice active, fruity smelling starter to work with. 🙂

    My question is this: I keep my starter in a glass jam jar, and I leave the cover loose when it is at room temperature for feeding or use. But I store it for about a week at a time in the refrigerator between bakes. When it is in the refrigerator, should I still keep the cover loose? Or is it OK, to tighten it. I noticed if I leave it loose, the very top layer of the starter gets dried out during the week. I have just been removing the dried part when I take it out for warm up and feed prior to my baking sessions. But would it be OK to just tighten the lid while it is in the refrigerator so it would not dry out on top?

    Thanks again for your help.

    Happy Baking,

    Johnny

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      May 15, 2017 at 11:26

      Hello Johnny,
      Thank you very much that sounds excellent. What we do ourselves is cover the jar with a double layer of clingfilm with a plastic band to hold it in place. So no lid. It is a solution that works very well for us, the culture does not dry out but is also not closed off absolutely airtight.
      Maybe you can give it a try too. Otherwise we would advice to focus on keeping the cover on the jar in such a way the culture does not dry out.

      Happy sourdough baking!

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
      • Johnny Richard says

        May 17, 2017 at 03:08

        Thank you ! I will give that a try.

        Reply
        • Ali says

          June 5, 2017 at 11:10

          Hi Johnny,

          Yes, it’s surprising how much moisture can be lost to the dry atmosphere of the refrigerator through even a small gap!

          Instead of a jar with a one-piece screw top lid – which can be hard to leave loose by just the right amount – I use a preserving jar and separate lid and sealing band. This way, the lid with its rubber seal is always resting on the glass edge of the jar. The band is screwed on just enough to stop the lid falling off the jar, but any excess gases can vent.

          Hope that helps
          Ali

          Reply
          • Weekend Bakers says

            June 12, 2017 at 18:13

            Thank you Ali for sharing your method, sounds very good!

            Reply
  18. Yvan says

    May 4, 2017 at 00:10

    Found your site after weeks of puttering with packaged sourdough cultures of one description or another (and white flour). Kudos for your clear instructions and photos for the scratch rye flour starter. It took my mixture longer than 24 hours to produce conspicuous signs of growth. You address this clearly and succinctly in your post. I’ve gone from gym sock, to alcohol, to hints of yeasty. Bubbles and a mousse like texture. Looks like I’m on the right track. Look forward to trying some of the recipes. Thank you for sharing your passion and your expertise.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      May 10, 2017 at 12:19

      Hi Yvan,
      Thank you for your kind words and sharing your experience. Very glad you moved away from the ‘gym socks’ and hope you will experience the more fruity tones.
      To start with we want to recommend the Pain Naturel: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…n-naturel/

      Let us know how it goes!

      Reply
      • Yvan says

        June 4, 2017 at 15:50

        Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get beyond the “wet dog / vinegary” stage with my starter. Very active, but no “sweet & sour” yet. Patience or a change in procedure?

        Reply
        • Weekend Bakers says

          June 12, 2017 at 09:31

          Hi Yvan,
          Maybe a change of flour (even a new sack of the same brand) could also bring about some change. You can also try to keep the starter a little more liquid and refresh it a bit sooner than you do now. This helps to minimize the alcohol content which will help reduce the overall acidity of the sourdough.
          Also see our tips on the subject here: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ough-tips/

          Good luck with it!

          Reply
  19. Kaat says

    April 28, 2017 at 23:11

    Beste Ed en Marieke,
    Bedankt voor jullie geweldige recepten. Ik bak 2 wekelijks diverse broden van jullie. En allemaal lukken ze goed.
    Mijn vraag is, zou ik in plaats van de kaneelbroodjes de vulling ook kunnen veranderen naar een hartige vulling? Of is het brooddeeg recept echt bedoeld voor een zoete vulling?
    M.v.g, Kaat

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      May 2, 2017 at 15:25

      Hallo Kaat,
      Heel leuk je comment te lezen! Wat betreft de kaneel broodjes, er zit natuurlijk suiker in het deeg, dus die zou je weg moeten laten voor een hartig recept. We hebben wel een hartige versie die je hier kunt vinden (vooralsnog een Engelstalig recept):
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ie-danish/
      Ook heel erg lekker, leuk om te maken en heel geschikt om er je eigen draai aan te geven.

      Veel bakplezier,

      Ed & Marieke
      Weekend Bakery

      Reply
  20. Eduardo Oliveira says

    April 24, 2017 at 02:18

    Amazing online resource for the novice and seasoned home baker. I was very impressed with the quality of the material you´ve managed to display on the site. Thank you for making my life as a newcomer to the art of bread making a lot easier and please keep up with the great work!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      April 28, 2017 at 15:13

      Thank you so much Eduardo for letting us know. We are very pleased we can be a part of your baking adventures. Hope to inspire you some more in the near future!

      Greetings,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  21. Paul Kuijpers says

    April 6, 2017 at 19:52

    Beste mensen van WeekendBakery,

    voor het eerst met desem aan de slag; maar het gaat niet zoals ik het wil; inmiddels mijn desem gisteren na 2 dagen koelkast gevoed met 30gr meel en 30gr water en warm weggezet; het is nog beter gerezen dan vorige keer; wat me opvalt: voorheen met gist was het 1 uur wegzetten afgedekt en het rees de pan uit; nu 2 keer stretch & fold en 50 minuten wegzetten afgedekt en er gebeurt helemaal niks ?!?! Gisteren het deeg wat klaar was maar nul gerezen 25gr desem toegevoegd; handmatig 20 minuten gekneed, gestretched en gefold; heel elastisch deeg maar na 20 uur rijzen nul rijs.
    Geef me nog een tip: ik snap het 2 keer laten rusten zonder rijs niet omdat er niets zichtbaar gebeurt.
    Met vriendelijke bakkersgroet, Paul.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      April 11, 2017 at 09:32

      Beste Paul,
      Hou ‘oud’ is (was) je desem toen je het voor de eerste keer ging gebruiken?
      En welk recept ben je aan het proberen?

      Reply
  22. Christina says

    April 2, 2017 at 19:43

    Thank you for your terrific recipe for croissants. We moved our family from Toronto to Massachusetts three years ago, and it is very difficult to find a satisfying croissant here. I am afraid that we are a bit spoiled. My first batch with your recipe is in the final proofing stage. Regardless of the outcome your communication style has allowed for me to access much deeper intimacy with my croissant process. Yours is the second recipe that I have tried since trying a partial sourdough recipe from Tartine bakery (my family enjoyed them but they were clearly just the beginning). I have become passionate about bread as a form of meditation and fruitful activity through my four year old’s two year cancer treatment.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      April 7, 2017 at 18:42

      Dear Christina,
      Thank you for your kind words and moving message. Baking has many meanings to many people and from your words we can understand it is often so much more than just the production of bread. We recognize the things you say, partly form personal experience. Baking is a constant and joy bringing factor in our lives, still after many years, always looking forward to the creating and sharing.

      Wishing you and your family all the strength and positive energy needed and wishing you many happy baking moments.

      Greetings from Holland,

      Marieke & Ed

      Reply
  23. Vince says

    March 24, 2017 at 20:14

    Hi – I’m from Australia and have used your recipes for years ( baking bread in my wood fired oven).

    I will be in Amsterdam end March and would love to visit your shop. What are the shopping hours and is it close to the town centre.

    Kind regards
    Vince

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      March 30, 2017 at 13:56

      Hi Vince,
      Sorry for the late reply. We are in the East of Holland now, so quite a long way from Amsterdam. We recently moved. We do not have an actual store, just a web version.
      We can recommend some addresses for you that might be worth a visit:
      nl.pinterest.com/weeke…nch-spots/
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…kers-list/

      Hope you have a lovely time here in Holland!

      Greetings,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  24. Janet says

    March 22, 2017 at 16:12

    I’m so excited to have stumbled on this sight! I want to learn to make
    Good Italian crusty bread. I started with no knead method, and I’m
    Amazed how great my loaves turned out! But I love to get into more bread and pizza bakeking.
    Need better tools.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      March 27, 2017 at 20:14

      Hi Janet,
      Thanks for sharing. Hope you will find what you are looking for soon and we can inspire you with some of our recipes too. You can also check our shop for tools, we do sell a pretty awesome scoring tool for instance: www.weekendbakery.com/webshop/en/

      Happy baking!

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  25. Monique Jansen says

    March 19, 2017 at 13:49

    De aanhouder wint. Met veel dank aan jullie voor de fantastische (!) recepten, de desemstarter en het duwtje in de rug bij het croissantrecept. Vandaag aten we de pain rustique, croissants (3e poging gelukt) en raspberry tart.
    Ik ben fan!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      March 23, 2017 at 22:48

      Hoi Monique,
      Wat fantastisch te lezen! Heel blij met je enthousiasme en het feit dat onze recepten zo bevallen. En de croissants en derde poging een succes…dat klinkt heel bekend!
      Met het croissantdeeg kun je overigens nog meer leuke en lekkere dingen maken (vooralsnog in het Engels deze recepten):
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…x-raisins/
      &
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…y-caramel/

      Heel veel bakplezier!

      Reply
  26. Mark says

    March 3, 2017 at 00:41

    If you feed and place a starter in the fridge, and 3 or (?) days later decide you need to bake, what is the current state of the starter? Should I immediately feed it or allow it to come to room temperature and see the results in say 6 – 8 hours before feeding?

    Love the site and all the info.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      March 8, 2017 at 22:12

      Hi Mark,
      Thank you very much.
      If you use it within 3 days or even 5 to 7 days you do not need to refresh it first, you can use it straight from the fridge. Then feed it again, leave for 12 to 24 hours to get active again and then store in the fridge. If you did decide to refresh your starter after 3 days in the fridge, you should do so one day before using it (refresh and leave at room temp until use the next day).

      Happy sourdough baking

      Reply
  27. Ben Quispel says

    March 2, 2017 at 10:39

    geweldige site !

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      March 6, 2017 at 20:07

      Veel dank Ben!

      Reply
  28. Harean Hettiarachchi says

    February 22, 2017 at 08:04

    Dear Ed and Marieke,

    Subject: Looking for workshops/courses in Bread in Amsterdam
    ——————————————————————————

    I love your videos! I remember just being glued to the screen watching your high hydration doughs being worked lovingly. For about 8 months I’ve been on a mission to take up my game in sourdough having started slow, but now, with a second hand deck oven i picked up, i just turned out 24 loaves a week in the last two weeks and i hope to take that up all the way. I’m based in Sri Lanka, and I’ve given myself a target of June to be making & selling at least 40 -80 loaves a weekend. Bread has become a… happy obsession. :). For better or worse, my learning is trial and error, slow, learning from forums and wonderful bakers such as yourselves.

    I plan to be visiting some dear friends in Amsterdam for a week or so towards the 2nd half of this year (my weekday job wont allow me longer 🙁 ) and was hoping to attend a course or workshop on bread. By which time I’m hoping i’ll have made at least 750-1000 loaves of sourdough including white, 50% Whole wheat, millet, as well as baguettes, will have been getting solid feedback and improving. I don’t use a mixer still, preferring to teach my hands the feel; building muscle memory of handling different doughs.

    I certainly look forward to visiting and trying your bread, and was wondering if you could suggest where i could find a week long course/workshop in bread to help me improve even further.

    Thank you,
    Harean

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 27, 2017 at 14:40

      Hello Harean,
      So great to read your story. Your enthusiasm for baking is shining through and we hope and expect you will do very well with your bread baking activities. yes, it will be a challenge to make so many loaves and not use a mixer, but you can use different techniques and time of course to help you to make it less intensive.
      It is also a bit of a challenge to help you with your question about a good week long course.
      We do have an overview of people who offer baking workshops all over Holland. See: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…en-volgen/
      The page is in Dutch, but we can suggest contacting Pane Lento in Amsterdam (specializes in sourdough) to start with and also The Bakery Institute in Zaandam (offers more professional courses). A lot of people offer short one day workshops for beginners and that’s not what you are looking for. Plus it needs to be in English of course for you to understand.
      Hope this will help you on your way and good luck with everything!

      Greetings from Holland,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  29. Jaap says

    February 20, 2017 at 20:41

    Hallo.
    Vol entousiasme jullie site bestudeerd.
    Nu sinds drie weken elk weekend 3 á 4 broden aan het bakken.
    Één rijsmandje geleend en één cakeblik gebruikt, verder gevormd op de plaat. We hebben een 90cm oven met een grote pizza steen.
    Het rijsmandje gaat perfect, dus die ga ik ook wel aanschaffen.
    Ik heb geprobeerd om een grote ronde kom te gebruiken om te laten rijzen. Maar al smeer ik de kom in met olijolie en dan bloem, dat werkt niet. Dus zullen het diverse mandjes worden.
    We wonen 15 minuten bij molen de Zandhaas vandaan, dus ook dat is geen probleem.
    Een paar vraagjes.
    De ene keer gaat het maken van de zuurdesem beter dan de andere keer.
    En hoe krijg ik het voor elkaar dat bv de zonnepitten op het brood vast blijven zitten. Ik bestrooi de broden voor ze de oven ingaan met diverse zaden en of maanzaad, maar naet bakken en het snijden zit er niets meer op.

    Hartelijk dank.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 26, 2017 at 21:40

      Hallo Jaap,
      Wat leuk je comment te lezen. Je enthousiasme voor het bakken is duidelijk! De Zandhaas is een fantastische molen, die kunnen we van harte aanraden.
      Bij zuurdesem is het van belang om een vast ritme aan te houden en goed in de gaten te houden wanneer je het ververst voor gebruik. We hebben wat tips verzamelt die wellicht van pas kunnen komen: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…m-bakkers/
      Wat betreft de zaden: je moet je brood vochtig maken (met borstel) en het brood in de zaden duwen. Hopelijk gaat het dan beter, al zal er altijd wel iets van af vallen.

      Succes ermee!

      Reply
      • Jaap says

        February 28, 2017 at 07:13

        Marieke en Ed,

        Bedankt voor de reactie.
        Weer heerlijk brood gebakken.
        De zaden blijven veel beter “zitten”.
        Tot nu toe gebruikte ik het desem dat ik die week gemaakt had en start elke maandag een nieuwe.
        Nu heb ik het voor het eerst in de koelkast gezet.
        Kijken hoe dat gaat.
        Door jullie site heb ik er een nieuwe hobby bij.
        We eten weer brood, en niet van die “slappe hap” waar je eigenlijk alleen beleg eet.
        Dankjulliewel.

        Reply
        • Weekend Bakers says

          March 1, 2017 at 22:20

          Fijn dat het werkt Jaap!

          Reply
  30. Jolanda says

    February 18, 2017 at 18:10

    Beste Ed & Marieke,
    Wat een mooie site hebben jullie. Ik heb het volkoren zuurdesem brood dit weekend gemaakt en het is met jullie tips en filmpjes heel goed gelukt. Bedankt daarvoor. Ik las nog een paar van jullie recepten die ik graag wil proberen en vroeg me af waarom het zout soms gelijk wordt toegevoegd en soms pas na een eerste keer mixen en rusten. Alvast bedankt en veel succes met de site.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 22, 2017 at 09:37

      Hallo Jolanda,
      Dank voor je comment en leuk te lezen dat het zo goed gelukt is. Wat betreft het toevoegen van het zout: Het is een keuze voor een bepaalde methode in combinatie met een techniek. Het werkt allebei, maar ze hebben allebei een heel ander eindresultaat, ook al gebruik je hetzelfde meel. De methode waarbij je het zout pas later toevoegt heeft bijvoorbeeld als voordeel dat de gluten ontwikkelen zonder (zwaar) kneedwerk en dat het meel of de bloem al voor-hydrateert (hierna wordt hte een technisch verhaal). Dit effect, vooral in combinatie met de ‘stretch & fold’ techniek, zie je later terug in het kruim en de korst van het meer rustieke brood dat je hiermee krijgt. Een andere methode levert weer een resultaat met fijner, zachter kruim en dunnere korst bijvoorbeeld. En iedereen heeft zo zijn eigen voorkeur, dus het is leuk om uit te vinden wat bi je past en welk type brood je uiteindelijk het lekkerste vindt.

      Veel bakplezier!

      Reply
  31. marjan van den Berg says

    February 8, 2017 at 23:56

    Hallo, ben beginnend, ik zou graag het precieze recept voor de starter van jullie willen krijgen. Het mislukt me steeds. Ik heb biologisch roggemeel en gebruik gewoon leidingwater. Het is nu winter. De temp is in huis snachts lager en ik heb hetelucht verwarming komt uit roosters op de grond. De 2e dag bubbelt het flink, maar zakt in de loop van de tijd terug. het gaat ook niet kapot. groetjes Marjan van den Berg

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 12, 2017 at 17:48

      Hoi Marjan,
      In het begin kan je veel activiteit zien omdat er meerdere soorten giststammen in je potje zitten waarvan sommige wat sneller zijn en sommige wat langzamer. Naar mate de lacto bacteriën je desem zuurder maken zullen een aantal van die stammen niet kunnen overleven omdat ze niet zuur-resistent zijn. Uiteindelijk blijft er, als het goed is, een giststam over die wel kan overleven en mogelijk wat langzamer is dan de stammen van het beginproces. Hoe snel of langzaam deze is, is afhankelijk van welke stam je ‘gevangen’ hebt. Ze zijn in ieder geval altijd veel langzamer dan de gist uit een pakje.
      Je kunt door gaan met dit proces maar je kunt er ook een potje naast opstarten en kijken hoe dat gaat.
      Ons recept voor een rogge desemcultuur kun je hier vinden (vooralsnog Engelstalig want we zijn van oorsprong een Engelse website, maar hopen steeds meer te vertalen): www.weekendbakery.com/posts…asy-steps/

      Succes ermee!

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  32. Dziadziu says

    February 5, 2017 at 20:25

    Hi Marieke and Ed

    I think I just experienced my first bag of flour become rancid. My baguette recipe calls for an ounce of bolted whole wheat flour just for flavor, but my baguettes had developed an “off” taste. I had five pounds of whole wheat flour on hand ( half of it frozen) . It was over a year old and when I compared the two with my nose the unfrozen flour was destined for the trash. I’ll have to buy less or bake more! Live and learn.

    Dziadziu

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 9, 2017 at 22:14

      Thanks for the honest sharing Dziadziu. We have to admit we have thrown away some flour in the past, because we did not use it in time. The ‘use before’ date for whole wheat flour is months, so it is indeed better to plan and not buy too much.
      Hope you will never have off tasting loaves again of course!

      Greetings,
      Ed & Marieke

      Reply
  33. Anneke Detemmerman says

    February 4, 2017 at 13:30

    Beste,

    hoe kan je commerciële gist in een recept vervangen door zuurdesem?
    Hoe doe ik dit bijvoorbeeld in jullie NAAN recept?

    Alvast heel erg bedankt voor je antwoord!
    Groeten
    Anneke

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 9, 2017 at 09:32

      Hallo Anneke,
      Je kunt niet zomaar gist vervangen door zuurdesem zonder ook het recept zelf te veranderen. Het belangrijkste hierbij is dat brood op basis van zuurdesem veel langer de tijd moet krijgen om te rijzen en dat elk zuurdesem weer anders kan zijn. Commerciële gist is zo gemaakt dat het bestaat uit de ‘snelste gisten van de wereld’, je eigen desemcultuur bevat andere gisten die in elk geval langzamer zijn, maar ook tussen culturen onderling kunnen grote verschillen voorkomen, afhankelijk van het meel dat je gebruikt en de gisten die je in je potje gevangen hebt.
      Zie ook onze tips hierover: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…m-bakkers/

      Wat betreft het naan recept: Je kunt de ingrediënten van dit recept aanhouden en dan de methode van het recept voor zuurdesem pitabroodjes aanhouden:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…abroodjes/

      Succes ermee en veel plezier met bakken!

      Reply
  34. Russell Emery says

    January 30, 2017 at 08:51

    Hi Ed & Marieke
    Thanks for your advice, worked perfectly…more of your recipes being tried now…
    Thanks from a happy amateur in Oz!
    RE

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 3, 2017 at 21:06

      Thank for the feedback, very glad we could help.

      Enjoy the baking and sharing down under!

      Greetings from the low countries

      Reply
  35. Patrick Taaffe says

    January 26, 2017 at 21:01

    Enjoyed your site. Thank you and please keep me upto date
    Especially interested in trying to improve Scoring my Bread all methods are well received

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      January 30, 2017 at 18:28

      Hi Patrick,
      Thank you very much. Have you seen our scoring tips?
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…onfidence/

      Reply
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