The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Getting the "feel" of the dough

shansen10's picture
shansen10

Getting the "feel" of the dough

Today I baked 10 loaves in my simple gas oven, 4 at a time, and I am not displeased with the results.  They are for donation at our church tomorrow; we provide food for those in need once a month.  My motives in baking were also selfish in that the more I bake, the better baker i  become.  6 loaves are from the formula for "White Bread Plus" in Joy of Cooking, and 4 are Sourdough Bread from Sourdough Cookery by Rita Davenport.

They are far from perfect, but the more I bake, the better feel I get for the dough, the better sense I have of when the dough has been kneaded enough, risen enough to go in the oven, etc.  I use a stone and an internal oven thermometer.  I was able to time these so that I started baking 2 loaves, then 4, then 4 more.  No crumb shots, as they are to be donated tomorrow.  Smell is heavenly!  I tried to upload a photo, but it failed; don't know why.

Next November I plan to attend a baking class at John C Campbell Folk School in North Carolina - hope to learn a lot.  They say they will have an outdoor wood-fired hearth built by then, which fascinates me.

Shansen10

Comments

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Well done  Shansen10

I used to have trouble uploading pics you have to reduce the size to 800 x 600 would like to see pics if you can master the upload. quite a little production effort there and im sure it would have been most appreciated by the reciepiants.

It sounds like you will have fun on your baking course and a WFO is great to use, I'm sure you will have fun and a great story to tell us.