Hi Duke,
Great to read about your purchase. We must check it out too. Think we know which one you bought. We have been to Banff and Canmore quite a while ago and there must be some nice home bakers there we hope.
In general people in Canada / British Colombia are very nice and welcoming to Dutch people, often sharing stories about family and ancestry, is our experience.
Maybe you can start a small ‘baking together’ group or share some of your bakes with neighbors. That will ‘teach’ them 😉

Wishing you all the best and new baking friends very soon!

Ed & Marieke

Hello Ed & Marieke !!

Thank you SO MUCH for your reply and suggestions/links!
I purchased a collapsible proofing cabinet from Amazon a few months ago. I now can control the bulk proofing temperature and humidity more precisely. It even has a timer.

As you mention, I will have to experiment with baking time to get good “even spring”. Making the poolish the night before baking is what I like – but I must not over-proof the poolish!

If I could find bakers – like yourself – in the mountains, like in Banff, that was willing to share some tips, that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, not all people are as kind as you two are! Thanks again!! God Bless …
— Duke

Hallo Fatma,
Wat ontzettend aardig dat je de tijd neemt om ons te laten weten dat je zo blij bent met de spullen en het bedankje.
Dat waarderen we enorm.

Heel veel bakplezier gewenst!

Marieke
WKB

Hello Duke,

Being so very much not in the mountains ourselves, we can only image the challenges of baking at high altitude.
We can recommend taking a look at these tips about adjustments when baking in the mountains, because there are a lot:
www.theperfectloaf.com/how-t...-altitude/
www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn...ude-baking
So, it could be that all kinds of things need adjustment, from baking time, to adding more liquid and less starter. The higher you are baking, the more adjustment is needed.
For your situation it would be ideal to have a proofing cabinet with added moisture. If you google a bit, you can also find people who have made their own proofing cabinets.
If you have a steam oven, you could use that to help with the proofing in a more moist environment.

Wishing you all the best and improvement of your results with some of the tips.

Greetings from the Low Countries,

Ed & Marieke

No joy yet with high-altitude baking of dutch oven artisan bread – sour dough or otherwise. Any tips would be appreciated. Then I can follow your sourdough bread recipes. TIA ..

Hello Petra,
Yes, sounds like a good plan to tackle the dryness with some milk (or egg wash, but maybe you do not want to use egg). Normally we do not proof them overnight and give them their first egg wash right after shaping and arranging them on the baking sheets. So we do not have exact experience with your process, but it is always best to make sure the pastry dough is protected from drying out. Hope some moisture does the trick and the croissants will be excellent.

Thank you for your kind words and for liking and using our recipes.
Enjoy your Holiday baking and the festive season with your family.

Seasons greetings from tiny Holland to beautiful New-Zealand 🎄🥐

Ed & Marieke

Hallo Eelco,

Je ervaring met Zeeuwse bloem bij het broodbakken kunnen wij helemaal begrijpen. Deze bloem bevat minder zetmeel en wat meer vocht dan gemiddelde tarwebloem en heeft juist een heel laag glutengehalte. Daarom is deze bloem van ‘zachte tarwe’ perfect voor koekjes en cake, maar eigenlijk niet geschikt voor brood.

Voor goede ‘broodbloem’ moet je op zoek naar (harde) tarwebloem met een wat hoger eiwit- / glutengehalte van 12 tot 13 %. Met geschikte bloem zul je zien dat het je een veel beter resultaat krijgt wat betreft brood.
Ons advies zou zijn om eens goede (biologische) tarwebloem bij een molen te gaan halen.

Wat betreft de 40 gram gluten die je aan gewicht overhield na het uitwassen: In de kauwgum-structuur die je overhoudt zit nog steeds veel vocht. Als je het zou laten uitdrogen kom je het dichtste bij het werkelijke glutengewicht.

Hopelijk heb je hier wat aan.
Veel plezier met bakken!

Hello Anne,
That is high praise thank you. We did not know about these snowballs, but you probably mean these njam.tv/recep...eeuwballen
The recipe I found is from Dominique Persoone, the famous chocolatier from Belgium. I think it is important to use the ‘fondantsuiker’ to get the right structure / consistency.

Sneeuwballen. (snowballs from Ghent, Flanders)

Hallo Onno,
Dank voor je aardige woorden!
Ja, dat klopt helemaal en daar is een goede reden voor. Natuurlijk bevat echt 100% volkorentarwemeel veel vezels en is het gezond. Maar als je alleen dit meel gebruikt krijg je ook een vast en compact en zwaarder brood. Je moet daar van houden natuurlijk. Met een combinatie probeer je het beste van twee werelden te krijgen: En voldoende vezels en een mooi brood met open kruim en een lekkere bite. Het recept wat je op het oog hebt heeft al een heel mooi hoog percentage volkorenmeel (tot 65%) en je krijgt een brood dat heel prettig eet: www.weekendbakery.com/posts...esembrood/
Voor ons hoeft het dus niet 100%, maar als je dit wel wilt dan kun je vanwege het nog hogere percentage vezels nog wat extra water toevoegen (niet meer dan 20 gram) omdat volkoren meer water opneemt.
Het is ook leuk om beide versies eens te bakken en ze met elkaar te vergelijken.

We wensen je veel plezier met het bakken en je zoektocht naar je eigen ideale brood. Laat weten hoe het gaat!

Ed & Marieke

Hello Lori,
Happy to get your comment.
Seeing your name Groenheide, it sounds very much from ‘low countries’ origin 🙂
It is wonderful to connect with other bakers around the world and share recipes, tips and general enthusiasm for a hobby and skill that is so rewarding.
Please ask if you have any questions regarding our recipes.

Enjoy your baking,
Ed & Marieke

Hello John,
We have bought many speculaas spice mixtures of better quality over the years. They are all slightly different and of course they never mention the ratio and amount of the different spices.
The base is always cinnamon – making up about 50% of the mixture.

Traditional, all of the mixtures have nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Depending on the ‘brand’ part or all of the following spices are also added in smaller quantities: all spice, coriander seed, mace, cardamom, aniseed or star anise and (white) pepper.
We know it is difficult, but to recreate the spice you love the best, you need to recall, next to cinnamon, which spices you also remember that made up the mixture you love. Aniseed is very distinctive for example and (for us) it ads a sweetness we really like, but there are many speculaas spice mixes without it. The amount of cloves is also very decisive for the end result, it can be overpowering, so amounts are important. It also makes a big difference how fresh and potent your spices are.
Our suggestion:
Start with a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and koriander and then add one of the other spices and try that in your speculaas.
There is no other option than experimenting until you find your favorite mixture, but that is also the fun of it hopefully.

Best of luck with it and enjoy your baking!

Ed & Marieke

Hello Ted,
Thank you for noticing and letting us know.
We found a teapsoon on the conversion page and corrected it 🙂

Wishing you a great (baking) weekend,

Ed & Marieke

Very handy conversion calculator.
Thanks,
Ted