Getting a nice *airy* French bread loaf, plenty o' holes?
Hi all.
Novice bread baker here. Recently I've been trying to get a decent simple home-baked French bread loaf, and while my results have been "serviceable" I'd like to really kick it up a notch.
I've been going off the French breard recipe in Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" - pate fermentee left overnight and the loaf made by-the-book & shaped either into a batard or in a rectangular loaf pan. Everything generally looks good throughout the process (though I'm only now getting the hang of shaping/pinching the batard so it doesn't spread outward completely) and in the initial baking stages I get good oven spring, etc. But when sliced open the loaves tend to not have all the variable-sized holes that you find in bakery French bread. Mine are mostly small and uniform with occasionally a couple slightly bigger ones mixed in, but never the nice airy cavities that give it the rustic look & texture.
Here's an example of a recent pan loaf. This is my best result by far - most look a bit denser - but as you can see it doesn't have any nice big bubbles. Any tips would be much appreciated...
On another note, I've noticed my breads tend to have a yellowish tint when finished, much moreso than the French loaves I buy at the local bakery. I'm guessing this is due to the flour (I've used King Arthur and Bob's Red Mill)?