I just found out that I have to bake at or friends home later and they have a gas oven. I'm doing a couple Kalamata cheese loaves and they can't be covered. My question is, is there any consideration for a gas oven? I know there is supposed to be more moisture with gas as a by product of combustion. I have Electric at home and have never baked in gas before. Anyone have experience with that could offer assurances?

Thanks,
Eric

hi, i want to make jeffrey hamelmans 6 grain sourdough bread into rolls and while i like the recipe i like my rolls a little softer than bread. i know milk, butter and egg all tenderize dough but have no idea what would work best. i don't want a soft roll just a little softer a crumb. i thought about adding about 2 tbsp. of butter as suggested in the laurels bread book but maybe some milk or buttermilk in the dough would also be good? of course the baking temp would have to be decreased a little. so i've got a couple things in mind but if someone has experience with the ratios or baking temp any help would be appreciated! thanks, sanni

So, maybe some of you saw that Mike Avery gave me his version of the Bread of Three Rivers that I posted on my blog ... au levain. It was cryptic, but I had fun with it. The resulting bread using his technique is very, very good!

I hope you're around Mike so you can tell me if it is at all what you meant. I kept the same hydration level as the book, so that I could really compare the two. The crumb is way more open and elastic. The taste way more complex.

Thanks so much for sharing. 

Here's the page

http://aulevain.canalblog.com/archives/2008/09/05/10471992.html

Jane 

My oven stone is darn near as big as my whole baking rack in the oven.  I worry about enough heat getting around it to balance the heat in the oven properly.  Does anyone have any sort of magic formula or scientific calculation regarding this?  The ideal ratio of baking stone area to oven shelf area.

Also can anyone talk a little about the pros and cons of placing bread higher or lower in the (non convection) oven?

thanks for any help.

Pablo

I just wanted to share the nearest thing to success I've had in quite a while.  My oven is still broken and won't go past 400, a new one's coming Saturday but I can't wait.  This forum is such a great help!

The loaf had good shape and oven spring 

decent crumb (for me!)

really what it's all about, with garden fresh squash

Hey everyone I have a sweet dough question.

I was reading through Richard Bertinet's "Crust" and noted that his recipe for Brioche calls for a rest of 12 - 14 hours in a pantry.  Now I have experienced this kind of rest with biga's or a poolish starter to help develop the flavor but with a sweet dough?  I admit that I am not very experienced with sweet doughs but I have to ask:

1. What is the purpose of a 12 - 14 hour rest with a sweet dough?

2. Do you have a favorite brioche recipe you could share?

Thanks a ton,

Lewis

http://tablebread.blogspot.com

has anyone tried the cobnut loaf in Dan Lepards book, the handmade loaf ?

I did try it last year but with hazlenuts and soaked grains , but it was a complet disaster!!!!!!

The recipe calls for rye grains, now iv'e had no success using any grains, so I wondered whether to substitute rye flakes (or chops as i think you guys call them), or I could increase the amount of either the wholemeal flour or the white flour. What do you think ?

Cheers

Dave W

Hi all,

I made Hamelman's beer bread the other week, and found it absolutely delicious. Now, his recipe calls for a straight poolish as a pre-ferment. I was wondering if it would be possible (or desirable) to put beer also in the poolish, thus replacing the entire water content of the recipe with beer? Do you think that would improve the taste, or would the pre-ferment end up stale smelling and... not really worth putting into your loaf?

On a related note, a friend of mine asked me about the possibility of starting a "sourdough" starter using a speck of commercial yeast added in the early stages of the development. To me, this sounds like turning a poolish or biga gradually into something of a "sourdough" equivalent... would it work? I guess it should work, right, as long as you add just the tiniest bit of commercial yeast, and ensure that the yeast is fed and happy. As time elapses, it would gradually become a "true" sourdough starter. I'm no expert on the microbiology involved, but it sounded quite plausible to me. What do you think?

Have a nice weekend everyone :)

Well, after my last experience with the flat whole wheat struan(s), I decided to take a momentary break from whole grains and build my confidence back up by trying something completely different.  I've always had good luck with Leader's breads and so borrowed "Local Breads" from the library.  Am I glad I did!

 I used some of my existing bubbling chef (Leader's recipe from Bread Alone) to create the biga naturalle used in the Genzano Country Bread recipe. Not only did the fermentation take off beautifully, but the loaf is my best to-date.   

If ONLY I had my digital camera!  I would love to send a picture.  I didn't realise you were supposed to score the loaf (didn't hunt for the picture until AFTER it came out of the oven), but other than that, it looked nearly identical to the picture in local breads (sans scoring) and the crumb was almost as open as the Panmarino picture at the beginning of that section of pictures.  

I made this without a mixer, kneading by hand using the french fold method (much to the consternation of my husband who was trying to sleep in right above the kitchen) for nearly 20 minutes to get the windowpane.  The first rising seemed a little sluggish, but Boston has had some cool nights and the kitchen was pretty cold.  The second rising and proofing, however, went 'by the book'.

If the proof is in the eating, my two boys are firm supporters of the moist, chewy texture and mild, wheaty flavor.  The 2 year old is even eating every bit of the crust...now THAT's something.   

I can't wait to make this one again!

Momma T 

A little bar 'fridge was getting thrown out and I grabbed it for a dedicated chilled compartment for retarding dough.  Any thoughts about the ideal temperature to try to achieve?  I'm thinking about 55 degrees F.