The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Breadgear for medium size bakes?

love's picture
love

Breadgear for medium size bakes?

Hello, 

Have been reading for a long time on here, now I have a question for all you esteemed bread enthusiasts. 

I have a bit of an odd situation that I think many people here would be envious of, but I need some help.

executive summary

The basic and most important problem is this. How to bake 2.4 kg of dough in one oven simultaneously to artisanal quality?

The secondary problem is:  How to proof that much dough in a way that is compatible with the above setup?

preliminary info

Basically I am in a position where I can, if I wish, bake for 15-20 people on a daily basis. I'm using this as an opportunity to develop my baking skills.

As it is, I currently bake 2.4 kg of dough a day, usually divided into 2 large boules. It's 3 times the Champlain SD recipe divided into 2 loaves. This makes just enough bread for 1 day. I have access to 2 ovens but only using 1 is preferable. I currently use a faux dutch oven setup in one oven by using 2 cast iron pans covered with turkey roasting pans. When I get good oven spring, those loaves just barely fit in there.

Usable inner oven dimensions are 22.5" wide x 17.5" deep x 12" high.

Gas oven with bottom heat only, which makes enclosed baking far preferred.

problems

I would like to refine my process, which is rather crude at the moment. Part of that means having the right gear. Money is basically no object but, of course, value is preferred. I do prefer simplicity to having all kinds of bulky monotasking junk lying around.

fermentation

Currently it is winter in a cold country. I continue to experiment with decent proofing methods. Putting bread by the woodstove to BF gives Bad Results. My new method is to bulk it in a cooler with some warm water. Works OK but temp management is still a hassle. I was considering purchasing a Marina C10 aquarium heater to convert my cooler into a DIY proofer.

Proofing after shaping is not an issue, as scheduling dictates that I must retard overnight.

My current setup for final proofing is to slap shaped loaves into dishcloth-lined plastic colanders, which works, but it's pretty lame. I would like to get proper, quality, not-Chinese brotforms but this is where I really need good advice: sourcing baking gear in Canada is an issue. I have heard good things about Breadtopia, but their brotform selection seems to be limited to smaller scale baking. So I'm asking for alternative suggestions. My research indicates that I'd need probably a 10" brotform for a 1200g loaf.

baking

The other issue is how to make good bread, baked in steam enclosures, with large loaves, in a single oven. My current setup works, but it's just "OK." I am intrigued by cloche-style ovens but anything will do.

2 breadtopia round cloches could barely fit in there, as shown in the attached image. But I am uncertain as to the max. dough capacity of those things (inside dough capacity 10"). Could they fit a 1200g loaf each?

  

Thank you for reading my overlong post. I hope someone will find this post and give me some tips

 

 

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

but I do bake 12 ~750-800 g loaves each weekend. I bought six 3-quart enameled cast iron Dutch ovens (on sale at Target in the US) and I am able to fit all six in the oven by putting the bottom rack on the curve that makes up the floor and the wall of the oven. So the bottom rack is not on the rack supports on the walls but just below them. The rack ends up being about an inch off the floor of the oven. My heating element is under the floor of the oven. The other rack is situated in the middle. I have to use convection mode to prevent burnt bottoms as well as switching the pots halfway through. 

Trailrunner has been using graniteware for her baking and having great success with it. The graniteware is a lot cheaper than enameled cast iron and a lot lighter. I would go that route if I had to do it over again.

The bannetons were picked up a few at a time in southern Ontario, mostly at the St. Lawrence market. I have no idea if they are made in China or not but they work just fine, actually, more than fine. 

Oh about bulk fermentation, I use my oven with the lights on and the door cracked open. It gets about 82F in there so nice and warm for bulk. Proofing I do in the fridge so I don't usually proof on the counter.

The lady really that need to talk to you about her setup is Lazy Loafer. She does a lot more volume than I and she helped me when I started to sell to friends.

Hope this helps!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

instead of two smaller loaves.  Bake on an normal or pizza sheet.  The oven drawing looks too crowded for proper baking.  Maybe someone will chime in on the spacing with Dutch ovens.

I use a 9" banneton (3.5" deep). for 1.2kg dough and it can easily accommodate more dough.  Better a deeper banneton than a wide and too shallow one.  A 10" would do better with more dough or if the loaves are very fluffy.

Mini

 

love's picture
love

Thanks for the replies so far!

As to baking one large loaf/miche, good idea, I have tried it before but I had underwhelming results. The large loaf was hard to shape and I got underwhelming oven spring with a dull crust and dense crumb. Which got me thinking that large loaves, due to their size, will stress the gluten structure too much and never rise as high as a smaller loaf. Bad first impression.

But my skills have improved since then - could have just been bad kneading/bad shaping/ bad fermentation. It's hard to find info about very large boules online - can they perform like the standard ones in spring and texture? 

 

The other thing is that in this particular oven, open whole-oven steaming doesn't really work. I can never generate enough steam to make up for the losses through the crappy door seal, so I always get flat dull loaves that way. I have only had crusty success using makeshift enclosures.

I suppose the "one loaf strategy" doesn't preclude a setup where I'd just put a giant steel mixing bowl over my giant loaf on the hot pizza stone. Would save a lot of unneccesary $ too. Will experiment & report back!

 

Thanks

 

love's picture
love

bread

 

2.4kg loaf. not bad!

NeilM's picture
NeilM

Nice UFO, good colour :)