Hearth breads
After last week's debacle with baguettes, I went back to boules and an oblong loaf. The boules were Ken Forkish's white bread with Poolish and the long loaf was Peter Reinhart's transitional multi-grain hearth bread which I made on a pizza stone with hot water into a cast iron pan for steam. Much better results. I have two small boules of sourdough rising on the counter to bake yet.
I did not forget to score my loaves this time. The crust is nice and crackly, can't believe I haven't cut into them yet.
I'm not sure which I like better, the fendue shape with seam side up as suggested by Ken, or the seam side down and scoring the top. I put a bit too much flour in my proofing baskets though, as one of my previous loaves really stuck to the basket.
Lisa
The boules where baked in Dutch ovens. What a great way to make bread.
Lisa
Both boules look great. Aesthetic preference only, eh?
When my first loaves stuck to the baskets I way over floured them too. Then I started using rice flour and lightly dusting the side that was to touch the basket itself. No sticking and no white flour from then on.
The crust on your bread is just great and the bloom spectacular. I don't think I would change a thing - they all look so well baked. DO's put crust on bread like nothing else!
Happy baking.
Will freeze most of these loaves and enjoy over the next few weeks.
Learned something today, it took my oven over 45 minutes to reach temp and it never did get to 500 degrees although the oven said it did. I believe my oven thermometer and will remember to adjust accordingly.
Lisa
Those are all lovely.
-Floyd
Thank you! And I can tell you, they were delicious too! I've learned alot from this website and look forward to making many different kinds of bread. Great resource for amateur bread heads!
Lisa