The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Michael Fuhrman's blog

Michael Fuhrman's picture
Michael Fuhrman

After years of reading these helpful blogs, I am reaching out for help.  For the past 20 years, I've been baking bread in my home kitchen.  Recently, I started using a Blodgett gas oven with a metal deck 30x42 at a local church to see if I can dramatically increase production and still maintain the quality I seek.  My initial goal is to move from 4 to 8 loaves in my Dutch Oven at home to 50 in the Blodgett gas oven.  The idea is to start a small bread shop in my hometown.  I've baked a couple of patches of pain de campagne at 78% hydration in the Blodgett oven. While the loaves exhibited the oven spring and maintained the taste, the crust failed to achieve that deep rustic look.  Instead, the loaves came out ashy.  Very disappointing.  

I've inserted a pan filled with hot water at the point the loaves went into the oven (temp. 450F) and sprayed the loaves with a hand-held bottle but to no avail.  The loaves just don't have the Dutch Oven look I get at home.  

Can I achieve that deep, dark reddish/blonde crust in a Blodgett oven?  I've attached an image of my first attempt in the church oven.  

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