If you bake a lot of bread, you've almost certainly come across directions to fold the dough. In times past, bread recipes instructed you to punch down the dough after it had fermented, though now bakers are generally directed to "deflate" the dough. Folding accomplishes the same goals as deflating, but with some added benefits.

Folding is a technique that's more often used with wetter, or more hydrated, bread doughs, as well as doughs that have been underdeveloped for some reason or other. Doing this procedure does two things: it redistributes air/gasses and evens out temperature, and it aligns/develops the gluten structure. Deflating only accomplishes the redistribution element of folding, but that's really all that's needed for less hydrated doughs. Folding is always used as part of the fermentation stage. Generally, you'll proof the dough for an hour (first rise), fold it, then let it proof (rise) for another hour or so. An under-developed, wet dough can be fermented for many hours with multiple folds.

Now that's artisan bread.

To fold, first flour your work surface fairly well. Turn your dough out onto it and pat out most of the gas. I like to work left to right, top to bottom, but use whatever directions work for you as long as you hit all points of the compass. Take the first side, stretch it out and fold it onto the middle of the dough. Repeat this for the opposing side, then do the same thing to the top and bottom. To finish, get you hands under the dough and turn it over so that the smooth side is on top. Then put it back into whatever proofing container you're using and let the dough finish proofing. Check out the gallery below for images matching the directions.

Some microwave meals can be an exercise in following instructions. I'm perfectly capable of following the instructions - if, that is, I read them.

I was recently sent a bunch of Amy's frozen meals to sample. My reviews will be coming to Slashfood soon. I have lots of experience with Amy's products and I love them. I've been a longtime Amy's evangelist and that was before they sent me free stuff.

I had not, however, tried their hot breakfast cereals. To cook the lunches, I always ignore the instructions such as "make a 1 inch slit in the over-wrap" (did I bring my ruler to microwave?) and simply open the side of the over-wrap. I cook each meal for five minutes regardless of the recommend cook time and have never had a problem.

Well, it turns out the breakfast cereals cook for a different amount of time. The first one I tried was the Rolled Oats Hot Cereal Bowl. The directions said to cook for 4 minutes. I took that to mean all the breakfast cereals cook for 4 minutes. Not so. The Cream of Rice requires 3 1/2 minutes. In the photo above, you can see what happened at 4 minutes - a breakfast cereal eruption.

Am I the only one to ignore microwave directions?

Pim, of Chez Pim, is not exaggerating when she says that Pad Thai is one of the most popular and well-know Thai dishes out there. But despite its popularity, the noodle dish is often simply eaten in restaurants, picked up from takeout places or even cooked from a mix instead of being cooked from scratch at home. Pim has generously provided her readers with a complete and detailed how-to guide for making Pad Thai at home. She guarantees that it is just about foolproof if you follow her specific directions, and since she has a photo to go along with every step in the recipe, doing so should not be difficult in the least.

Pim also mentions several common Pad Thai mistakes that you should avoid, just to ensure you get perfect results, and reassures readers that the sauce can be made in advance, which provides a shortcut for later preparations of the dish.