KellyC

I love the smell of freshly baked bread. Since I have a lot of time to spare recently I've decided to take up baking and fill my house with this wonderful smell.

I have a few questions I'd like to ask to get me started.

1) Pizza stone/baking stone - What's a good stone? I just went to Target to look for one and they only have one for $13.99, which comes with a dough roller and pizza cutter. I don't trust cheap products so I didn't buy it. I saw online there are several different types, and some goes well over $50. I want to get a good one to save myself the hassle of trial-and-error so is there any recommendation?

2) Yeast - turns out there's a bunch of kind and I don't know which one to use and for what purpose. Is there a difference between the ones that come in a small package vs the one that comes in a jar?

3) Flour - All-purpose flour vs bread flour? Is there a really good brand that I should buy? Can I use bread flour to make pizza dough?

The bread I want to bake should look like a loaf, crispy on the outside, lightly sweet and moist and fluffy on the inside and can be eaten as a stand alone snack, or with meat and even jam. Does that make sense? I'll move on to other types of bread eventually but that's my #1 goal.

Thanks!

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