This is the first time I have attempted to proof and shape my Italian peasant bread in brotforms. I have made these loaves many times before but have always shaped them on my couche. These are the second loaves I have attempted to score. I did two loaves of sourdough last week and posted those on the site. The recipe I use comes from Bernard Clayton's 1973 edition, The Complete Book of Breads. The crust came out nicely chewy and the crumb was excellent being silky smooth. This is also the first time I used Caputo 00 flour instead of KAF unbleached bread flour. The difference was amazing in texture; nothing against KAF which I will be using in my other breads. My wife was very impressed. 

Hey there everybody. Well about a month ago I asked for some advice in creating a 'Peasant Loaf', more specifically a Kalamata loaf, and I had lots of great suggestions and recipes. Anyways, this is what I came up with and it's derived mostly from the recipe AnnieT posted in the original thread (Dan Lepard's recipe), a recipe Bob (Oldcampcook) sent me, and my rustic white recipe that Eric (ehanner) blogged about not too long ago. Thanks so much everyone; I'll try to post the recipe as a PDF here so as not to clog up this thread too much.
EDIT: Unlike on the recipe, I now add the olive oil mixture at the beginning of the mixing at the same time as the water.  Also, I'm now baking this loaf and all of my other without bannetons - just shaped freeform on parchment paper.  Oh, and for you technical types, this is a description of the sequence pics below from left to right and top to bottom:
fold at 1 hour; fold at 2 hours
shaping; just placed in bannetons
after proofing for 80 minutes; scoring before baking
They were baked on the parchment/pan for 20 minutes, then removed w/ a peel and baked on the oven rack (with a pan below to catch any drips) for 15 minutes

-Mark

kalamata sequence

loaf

crumb

Hey there everybody,
So I'm courting some new business even though we're not quite open yet, and one of the prospectives is a wine and cheese/gourmet shop. The owner was describing something he desired for the shop in addition to some of the stuff I already offer. Anyway, I said, "Like a peasant loaf?" and he said, "Exactly." I asked him what ingredients he specifically was looking for and he said, "Kalamata olives, and possibly rosemary."
So, does anybody have a kick butt recipe for a loaf that has at least olives in it? Thanks.
For those interested, I'll be posting pix soon of the finished bakery!

-Mark

thebackhomebakery.com

A few weeks ago I bought two copies of Jeff and Zoe's new book "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and had one shipped to my 83 year old father. Since my Mother passed on, he has been trying to be creative in the kitchen and has ventured into some rather tasty foods. I thought it might be fun for him to learn to bake small loaves of bread for himself and to take with him when he visits friends.