Hi everyone, I was curious for any tips or pointers - I was wondering if anyone has tried making a lean artisan loaf using a bread pan?

I was thinking of making my country loaf or whole wheat variation, but instead of forming into a boule and placing in a pre-heated dutch oven, forming it into a batard-ish shape and into a loaf pan, just to see how it may change things.

I have standard aluminum loaf pans that work well for my enriched sandwich loaves.  Do these pans have any upper limit on temperature, or will they be ok at 450-500F?

Score the loaf?  Other ideas or tips?

-Nico

I've been operating for several months under the assumption that the higher the protein level in the flour, the better the bread I make would be. I guess I can blame Daniel Leader for this a little bit. But in the past few weeks, I've finally started noticing all the recipes on TFL that call for AP flour, and when I saw Anis Bouabsa's baguette recipe I realized my assumption must be wrong. What I need help understanding is when to use high-gluten flour and when to use AP. I thought that higher gluten levels meant more elasticity, more strength, and a better rise. But if the best baguettes in Paris use AP, I have to be wrong. Right? Help me, please. I'm hopelessly confused.

I'm moving to New Orleans from northern California this fall. I've never lived there before and don't know anyone there who bakes bread, so I have no clue where I can get good flour for the pain au levain I make. For a year or so I've been getting Giusto's organic unbleached bread flour and whole wheat flour (the former is 14.2% protein, the latter 15%) from my local food co-op, and they are VERY good. However, it's a Bay Area company, and I'd rather not have to have my mom ship me flour on a regular basis. Is there a place where I could buy high-gluten organic flour in New Orleans or the surroundings that anyone knows about?

I finally decided to break free of my bread machine and hand make my bread for the first time. I really never liked the look of the loaves that came out a bread machine and felt more of a reward for doing it all by hand. I did use the same machine recipe (3 cups of Flour, salt, sugar, yeast, shortning, water)

Below are two images of my first loaves. I never made any bread by hand before and must admit, it was not easy to work with the dough. Actually, it was down right difficult. When I attemped to stretch and fold the dough, it was far too elastic and would not stretch; it would UNstretch. I also found that, even though the dough did not seem to be over hydrated, while attempting to form the loaves it would stick to my hands and butcher block (also pictured). I did add flour first to the board, but when I attempted to form the shape of the loaves, it still stuck to my hands and board. Forming the loaves proved to be a very difficult task. I guess I need ALOT MORE PRACTICE working with dough.

To my surprise, although I shaped the loaves too short, the loaves came out to my liking. I love a tough crust with a soft spongy inside and that is exactly how it came out. I feel that maybe my dough was over worked because the crumb appearence, but you be the judge.

I decided to try my hand at making this bread.   I don't think I quite have the hang of making the starter.  Need to work on that.  Glezer's book seems to indicate that the starter should be made in a semi-airtight container and I've read elsewhere that the starter should be allowed to breathe and collect wild yeasts from the environment.  I ended up with a not-quite-sour starter but used it anyway.  Instead of using the non-diastatic malt syrup I settled for a barley malt powder from my local brew shop.  I let the first rise go for 3 + hours, divided it, rested it, then shaped it before proofing for another 2 to 3 hours.  I put both batards on a silicon mat to proof and then just transferred everything to the baking stone when the time came.  I thought I had botched the batard shaping process but the loafs were very forgiving and came out looking better than I expected.  The recipe called for spritzing the loaves with water before baking and the use of a garden sprayer arrangement to add additional moisture.  I opted for a pan in the bottom of the oven to which I added a cup of water immediately after inserting the loaves.

I liked the color and crumb however the taste was not sour enough(have to work on starter) and the malt flavor was not subtle enough.  I'll try reducing the amount of malt powder the next time as well as using a more sour starter.

I have officially deemed this week the start of my Bread Season.  As the weather gets increasingly colder, I can't think of a better way to warm up the house.

Not long ago, early this year (2010) I became obsessed with teaching myself to be an Artisan Bread maker. Throughout my life I have done this frequently. I'll find something interesting and obsess over it endlessly...well endlessly may be an overstatement. It's more until I find something else to obsess about. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

Right away I hit the pavement; I went up to my locale library (which is an amazing facility) and checked out several bread making books. The first two that I picked up read like most other cookbook I had ever used, listing the ingredients and then step by step directions that usually lack the critical details to make any dish truly exceptional - enter my culinary education. Low and behold the book I left for last in the group would turn out to be my holy grail of bread making. I had stumbled upon "The Bread Makers Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart, and so my journey began.

I can truly say that while most hobbies that I embark upon fall to the wayside sooner or later this adventure has transcended to something that's more a part of who I am as opposed to what I do. The lessons and fundamentals that I have learned to date have produced some rather exceptional results, in my personal opinion and I can't wait to share these experience with The Fresh Loaf.

Hi all,

Just want to share a picture of a Rustic Loaf I made yesterday, based on Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Bread Every Day" (ABED) book. The book is fantastic and easy to follow - great for beginners like me. Hope you like the picture of the loaf. If anyone has any comments / goood advice, do drop a line!

Sue

Here are some photos of a recent bake. Hope you enjoy. This is a small white sourdough about 250g.

Alan

There is a great Artisan bread scene in Cumbria, home of the Lake District. The lead article this month in our Artisan-food magazine covers a number of them, plus there is a great video from the morning shift at the Staff of Life bakery in Kendal, where Simon created a unique loaf just for us. 

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1n9uq/Artisanfood/resources/4.htm

Let us know what you think.

Martin - www.artisan-food.com

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/pitabread