Lessons Learnt!

Some important lessons i learnt by trying out the same things again and again and which i sometimes forget to mention in the recipes.

• Whole wheat flour is the stone ground whole grain flour i got from safeway. The chapatti/roti flour is not all whole wheat and also has some content of farina which usually increases the hardness of the crust or the bread or cake.
  
• For first try of any recipe, use all purpose flour.
• For softer crusts, use milk instead of water for the yeast mixture.
• The dough after rising is usually very sticky to handle. Use a well floured surface and well oiled hands to knead the dough.
• If the crusts keep coming out hard inspite of the above tips, then you might be overbaking. Each oven is different and the baking times vary. I used to check every 5 minutes after the first 20 minuted of baking to be sure of the timing.
• I usually bake all breads and cakes on the lower shelf of the oven and all pizzas on the upper shelf.
• I use wax paper for breads/cakes/muffins/cookies and Parchment paper for pizza for lining. 

Will add more tips after some more thought.