The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

hssssss

Pablo's picture
Pablo

hssssss

Without going into the problems of the bread itself, it was fun to do this.

raw snake

raw snake

cooked snake

cooked snake

:-Paul

Stephanie Brim's picture
Stephanie Brim

Haha, that's cool!   I want to see more detail shots, though.  Can you get a closeup of the top?

Pablo's picture
Pablo

It was a lot of fun.  It was tonight's dinner.  It's gone now.  I thought I had a bunch of good photos, but not so much as it turns out.  Here's the only other decent shot of it baked, and another of it in process:

baked snake

baked snake

unbaked snake

unbaked snake

The idea came to me while shaping baguettes and honoring the "rest" time between preshaping and shaping.  I've been trying to give the dough a rest after doing the baguette folding, before trying to get the torpedo to elongate.  It seems to help to let the dough relax.  So for the snake I rolled and stretched it and then stuck the two ends to the counter and let it relax for 10 minutes or so under a damp towel and then rolled and stretched some more.  It was great fun and I learned some things to try the next time.

:-Paul

Stephanie Brim's picture
Stephanie Brim

I think I'll have to try some shaping techniques.  Snakes are cool.

Tomorrow's bake is going to be the simplistic French bread, so perhaps I'll try some weird ways of shaping it to make it look more rustic.

Pablo's picture
Pablo

Tomorrow's a plain sourdough white baguette for me.  I've done a couple of cheese breads recently, one to get ready for tonight's and then tonight's.  I'm OCed - Over Cheesed.  I need to clear the pipes with some plain stuff.

Post a photo if you get anything you like tomorrow.

:-Paul

Patf's picture
Patf

I once made a loaf in the shape of a hand. It looked OK when I put it in the oven, but when I took it out it had risen grossly and was quite horrifying! I nearly dropped it.

Tasted good though.

janij's picture
janij

So what is inside the bread?  It looks really cool but I am trying to figure out what is inside.  Just because I am curious that way.

Pablo's picture
Pablo

The bread itself was rather disappointing to eat, but since you ask.  It was a fruit fermentation experiment.  It was leavened with a fremented tomato.  I mixed doughs of two different hydrations, a drier for the crust and snake, a wetter for the interior.  I rolled the dough out and lined a bowl and layered Havarti cheese and the high hydration dough and then folded the rolled dough up and sealed the bottom.  Let them proof, turned them out onto a parchment paper and slashed.  I had sprinkled the rolled dough with paprika and then the first layer of shredded cheese, hoping that the paprika and cheese would highlight the slashes.  I slashed three images from the Iching onto the three loaves, but they distorted beyond recognition when the bread rose.  The Havarti is too mild to use in bread, I think.  If I do another fermented fruit loaf it will be with some honey in it, going for a sweetish bread.  I don't find the fremented fruit to work very well for sourish or dinner bread, but maybe it's just my technique.  FYI

:-Paul