Neat idea, I'll have to try it next time I do the challa dough. Nancy

Carol, My apologies for not getting back to you as promised but it looks like you were in real bakers' hands! I have been busy making a float for the Garparilla Parade today. It paid off because my grandbabies won "Best of the Wagon" entries. Anyway, I made my dough yesterday and my first loaf from the Master Recipe today. It was perfect! To your original question, as our baker friend above said AND page 21 of the book says: Loaf has a soggy or gummy crumb (interior): Check your oven temperature with a thermometer. Make sure you are allowing the dough to rest for the full time period we've recommended. Your dough may benefit from being a litter drier. For the next batch, increase the flour by a quarter cup or decrease the liquids a little and check the results. If you're baking a large loaf (more than 1 pound), let it rest longer, and let it bake longer by 10 to 15 minutes. One final word of advice: if you're finding the breads just a little gummy, don't slice or eat your loaves when they're still warm. We know, hot bread has a certain romance, so it's hard to wait for it to cool. But waiting will improve the texture and when cool, the loaves don't compress so easily when cut. A sharp brad knife will go right through cooked crust and crumb with minimal compression. Again, I know the experts here have given you excellent guidance. Cathy

I tried doubling a bread recipe once, and doubled the yeast amount, and it was a mistake. The bread was way too yeasty, and didn't behave well. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I did, too late, look up how to double a bread recipe and found out you don't double the yeast. According to the same King Arthur Baker's Companion that the above recipe came from, "You can increase the size of most bread recipes simply by doubling, or tripling all the ingredients. The exception is the yeast; if you increase the amount of yeast at the same rate you increase everything else, you may find yourself with a lot of dough on your hands and not enough time to deal with it. For example, by the time you've shaped the eighth loaf, the first may be well on its way to doubled in size. Most home bread bakers prefer to stick with 1 tablespoon of yeast for up to eight loaves, and giving the bread a longer, slower rise. Not only does this improve the flavor, it slows down the rising dough so that you can work with the dough more effectively." Hope this helps. I'm glad you are enjoying the recipe. I need to make it again - it's been a long time. Sally

Linda, If you want to convert a bread machine recipe to a made by hand recipe, try this: in a bowl - put in the water or other liquid called for add in the yeast, whisk to dissolve, let sit 5-10 minutes to "proof" the yeast and made sure it is viable add any sugar, honey, maple syrup or other sweetener called for in the recipe, stir well add half of the flour called for in recipe, add salt and mix well, stirring with a strong spoon or heavy duty whisk also add in any dry herbs or spices now add in any butter, oil, or other fat called for - if melted butter, make sure it is only just warm, not hot - add in any egg(s) listed in recipe add in rest of flour and any other ingredients, chopped herbs, nuts, dried fruits, cheese, etc. stir well with spoon or mix with your hands until dough is a rather shaggy mass turn out dough onto a clean, floured flat surface and knead for 8-10 minutes adding only small sprinkles of flour if the dough sticks to your hands and the kneading surface [if you forgot those nuts, cheese, or raisins, you can knead them in now] when dough has been kneaded sufficiently it will come together into a nice firm ball (rather than a shaggy mass) and spring back when poked with a finger grease or oil a large bowl (or use the one you mixed in), put dough in, turn it around in the oil to grease the top of the dough and turn it oiled side up in the bowl; cover with a bowl cover (shower cap type), plastic wrap, or wax paper, then cover with a clean kitchen "tea" towel (dampened with hot water if you are making whole wheat bread) and set the dough to rise until doubled in bulk turn out dough, knead 2 minutes, divide into portions according to recipe or not - form loaves and put in greased loaf pans or not - cover again with wrap, and let rise until doubled in bulk preheat oven, bake bread until done, let cool at least a few minutes before cutting - and enjoy!