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Almost all the breads I bake are hearth loaves, but I've been tempted for some time to make one of the German-style ryes that Hamelman says should be baked in a pullman pan (AKA pain de mie pan).

Pullman or pain de mie pan

I purchased a pullman pan from KAF's Baker's Catalogue. It is from the new line of bakeware they are carrying, and it is a beautiful piece of metal. But this is not a review of baking pans, so back to bread …

I've been making this bread since the book was published. It's a straight sourdough, made with a 100% starter at about 65% hydration, with a pretty thorough mechanical mix, a four hour bulk fermentation at about 78 degrees, and proofed overnight in the fridge. This results in a loaf with a fairly even, but discernible, crumb, which I like because it holds the olives in place. I use twice as many olives as called for, and I still don't think that's enough. I use Kalamata, oil cured and large Sicilian green olives. The oil cured olives stain the crumb around themselves purple.

So, as I started proofing today's batch of 50% whole wheat sourdough, the wife asked whether I was going to bake in the solar cooker that the boys and I made up a couple weeks ago.  Hmmm...

What is the dirrerence between Focaccia and Ciabatta? I am not French or Italian so please forgive my lack of knowledge, but I was not raised in a big city with a lot of ethnic or artisian bakeries.  I just baked my first Focaccia (onion) and it was a big hit. Then today I see a Ciabatta formula and wonder whats the difference they both seem to be a yeast flat bread. Thanks in advance for any help and information.

I have made this bread before, and posted on it here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17539/slight-variations-two-more-formulae-hamelman039s-quotbreadquot

The original formula can be found in:

Hamelman, J. [2004] "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons   pp. 213 - 214

Changes I introduced this time round:

This is my first golden raisin bread. I used Bread flour for both Whole wheat and White. I handeled the dough more than i should, and thus deflated it considerably. The house smelled of Raisins! Really nice bread, and i bet it would taste better toasted.

Most of the breads we baked in the Artisan II workshop at the San Francisco Baking Institute (SFBI) are found in Michel Suas' “Advanced Bread & Pastry” (AB&P) textbook. A couple of the breads I and the other students enjoyed the most are not, and one of them was a delicious Walnut Raisin bread made with a firm levain and a small amount of instant yeast.