I bought light canvas at a fabric store.  I don't remember what the price was, but I only bought about a yard because it was quite wide.  I cut it up into two pieces.

 I dust it with flour and it works really well.  Has enough body to stay upright between the loaves.

Bob

I wonder the same thing.  I've tried my linen dish towels.  They didn't work- too soft.  I've tried parchment supported by rolled towels and that wasn't great either.  Does anyone know of a good baking supply shop in the Los Angeles area?  I figure we should have something in a city this size. 

Marni

Mine is pretty heavy -- I think it's originally from an art store for stretching canvases. I'd wash it before using just to get out any sizing etc. I wouldn't bother with a specialty product....

That reminds me I need to cut a few more pieces out and actually finish the edges this time--mine are just randomly cut and fraying :)

Hi,

I am a fairly simplistic and cheap bread baker. I raise my non-round loaves on parchment paper, large enough to leave about 3" of paper on either side of the loaf, then I put them onto an aluminum baking sheet. I fold up the excess paper and place a 1x 3" wood board between the loaves which are side-by-side, nestled tightly. I place a weight of any description, as long as it is about 1 pound or more, against the outside boards. I lightly cover them with plastic wrap or a tea towel depending on my mood. When it is time to bake I gently slide the uncovered slashed bread, on its parchement paper, directly onto my stone, using the aluminum baking sheet as the peel. The paper does not stick to the loaf and it rises nicely.

For round loaves, I just raise them on the parchment paper, covered with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Round seems to rise higher in the oven for me, so I don't usually bother with the couche process. If for some reason I want to support the sides of a round loaf here is what I do. Place the loaf on parchment paper on a baking sheet; use the ring part of a spring-form pan as a collar. The size of the pan is big enough to leave some room to spread as the loaf rises (about 3/4" all around). I line the ring with strips of parchment paper. When it is time to bake I unbuckle the ring, remove it gently and slide the loaf and papers onto the stone.

 metropical

I bought a painters drop cloth at Home Depot.

Works very well. Cloth is dusted with rice flour so

the loaves don't stick.

H

painters dropcloth

Artist supply stores sell a plain linen canvas that would work, and has no protective sprays on it.  Ask for raw canvas.  Monica

I purchased 2/3 yd. very heavy cotton canvas from an upholstery store. I think I paid about $4. I machine washed and dried it with very little shrinkage. 

The thing to use is raw linen because of the oils in the raw linen as opposed to cooked? linen which loses its oils. I bought the heaviest linen fabric from JoAnn's and dust it with bread flour and rice flour and dough doesn't stick.

The baskets at SFBI are great and very reasonable. I recommend them.

Lee

I purchased Duck cloth from the local Walmart. It is holding up well and I only had to purchase a yard. Washed, quickly ironed on low heat and finished the edges and it is working great.

Eli

What size couche would be most versatile?  I have a 5'-15' painter's drop cloth that is made of untreated 12oz canvas.  So far I have only been making batards and boules on their own pans.  Can this be washed first without losing its stiffness?

Thanks for any input.

Marni

PS The paint store salesman loved the planned use of the cloth.

I just use the chicago metallic perforated french bread and baguette forms. I like them because the bread can rise and bake in them. I usually roll my bread bottoms in a bit of cornmeal first to prevent sticking. Then the filled forms go right on the stone. I don't know if that's cheating but I found it so much easier.

Henry, that is the most beautiful raw bread I have ever seen, they are perfect! How do you get them off the couche without stretching/deflating them?

B.

Bella

The older I get, the more I like the word… easy.

Interestingly, I’ve always associated perforated metal baguette

pans with bread of inferior quality mostly because the places I’ve

worked at that used these pans made lousy bread.

That’s not to say you can’t make good bread using the “Chicago”

forms.

If it’s working for you, if it’s making your life:  “so much easier”

and you’re happy with the results…then carry on!

As for getting the bread off the cloth without experiencing

wardrobe malfunction;

well, I literally picked up the first loaf with floured hands and moved

it over to the sheet pan.

Not the best way, but you can do that if you know

when it’s ready, and not over proofed

The rest of the loaves were moved using a transfer peel

or board; in this case, a piece of

cardboard I cut off of a box that just happened to be around.

 If you look at the top left of the photo  “proof with supportbread flip”,

there is my inexpensive cardboard; hard to see

because it’s blending in with the table.

Now, if you go to the bottom right sheet pan, there’s a space

where you basically see a bit of green pan. The cloth gets pulled to the right, direction wise, which moves the whole first loaf over to the right as well.

The cardboard peel is now placed to the left of the first bread, then, using the cloth as a handle or means of support, by which I mean, getting a grip, the loaf is flipped on top of the peel.

The second photo, which I took at home, shows the bread on the peel or “flip board”.

You now flip it onto your sheet pan or your heated stone.

Sounds complicated?

Not once you’ve done a billion of them.

Look at my friend’s site, Boulangerie Anna, in the south of France.

http://heatkit.com/html/bakeov19.htm

On a busy day, she’ll go through a couple of thousand baguettes.

Anna has the flipping part down pat.

So will you…eventually… if you decide to go the cloth route.

Hproof with support