It's a bit of a challenge, planning dough backwards. You know what time you want to eat. You know roughly what sort of dough you want to make, but most recipes and dough calculators make you work the other way around: start now, follow the steps, and eventually you'll end up with dough that's ready at some point in the future.
So I made this planner to do the obvious instead. Tell it when you feel like eating, and it works backwards from there, figuring out when everything needs to happen, and giving you all the recipe details along the way.
It also knows that you won't always be available. You might be asleep, at work, or just not particularly interested in dealing with dough at 11pm. You can block out those times and it'll move the process around, so the bits that actually need you to do something happen when you're available.
The app comes with a few basic (or even pretty decent) methods, and an editor allowing you to make your own. The sections below cover some of the critical, or slightly less obvious features. I hope that anything else you'll be able to figure out as you go along!
The bar
The bar under the start time is the whole plan from the first step to the oven, drawn to scale.
Green is hands-on work.
Orange is a rest at room temperature and blue is a rest in the fridge.
Striped time is extra rest added because of an away period. It's where the plan differs from the method.
The grey band under the bar is your away time.
Hover over any part of the bar for the step, its length and when it starts. On a phone, slide a finger along it.
Start!
When you're ready to begin, press Start! in the top card. The settings column goes away and the page shows only what you need to make the dough. If you need to tweak something, like the hydration or the salt, press Adjust plan to bring everything back.
Away periods
Add the hours you can't do anything, and tick the days they apply to. Use this period switches one off without deleting it.
How the planner uses them
It works back from the oven time. If a hands-on step would land in an away period, it moves to the latest free time before it, and the rest that follows is made longer to fill the gap. Rests are only ever lengthened, never shortened, so the method's times are a minimum. The extra time shows striped on the bar and is noted on the step.
Long rests. If a room-temperature rest grows by an hour or more, and to at least half again its normal length, a note under the start time suggests the fridge, and can be swapped with a button press.
None of these changes will ever move the oven time you select.
Methods
A method is the list of steps and times the planner follows, so it's worth setting up your own.
Steps. Untick a step to drop it.
Room or fridge. Toggle that indicates if the given rest should be done at room temp or fridge temp.
Lengths. Can be entered as hours and minutes, or modified by dragging the grips on the editor bar, which snaps to 5 minute increments. The tooltip shows both steps and when the second one now starts.
Start and Oven boxes. The two boxes at the top of the editor, above the bar, are for planning only, so you can see clock times while you build. Changing either resizes the range, and adjusts rest periods to compensate.
Description. An optional note on what the method is for. Hover over a method in the list (or touch it on a phone) to read it.
Saving.Save method keeps your changes, Save as copy keeps them as a new method and leaves the original alone, and Export makes a file for sharing, which can be loaded with Import.
Backup files
Everything is kept in your browser. The file icon at the top right can also save it all as a file, to back it up, move it between devices or share it.
Save a copy makes the file: on a phone it opens the share sheet so it can go to Files or Drive, and on a computer it downloads. Open a file loads one back.
Starting over. At the bottom of the file panel, Restore starting methods puts the built-in methods back, and Reset everything clears all saved data on this device.
Cloud sync
If cloud sync is switched on for this copy of KneadBy, the file icon at the top right has a Sign in with Google button. Signing in is optional. Once you're in, your methods, away periods and settings are kept in your own account and match on every device you sign in on.
Everything still works without it. Your data is always kept in this browser too, so KneadBy works offline and while signed out.
Only you can see it. Each account holds one private copy. Nobody else can read it.
If two devices disagree. KneadBy asks which copy to keep rather than choosing for you.
Signing out keeps your data on the device and leaves the cloud copy alone. Delete my cloud data removes the cloud copy and your account for good.
Privacy
KneadBy doesn't run ads, analytics or trackers of any kind, signed in or not. This is what actually happens with your data.
Signed out. Nothing about you is collected. Your plan, methods and settings live only in this browser, on this device.
Signing in. Sign in with Google is handled entirely by Google's own sign-in system - KneadBy never sees or stores your password. Once signed in, Google shares a unique account ID and your email, so KneadBy can tell your data apart from anyone else's.
What's stored in the cloud. The same content as a saved backup file - your methods, away periods and settings. Nothing about how you use the app, no history, no analytics.
Who can see it. Only you. The database's own rules restrict each account's document to that account alone - nobody else can read it through the app.
Deleting it.Delete my cloud data in the file panel permanently removes your cloud document and disconnects your account. Signing out alone just stops syncing - it leaves the cloud copy as it is. You can also remove KneadBy's access at any time from your Google Account's own security settings, independently of the app.
We'll walk through the app step by step - this should just take a few minutes. Feel free to actually fill things in as we go: whatever you set becomes your real plan. Skip anytime if you'd rather explore on your own.
One quick thing
Everything is saved in this browser automatically, on this device. Sign in with Google from the save icon (top right) any time to sync it across every device you use.