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How is this for oven-spring?

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ericjs on 21 Sep 2009 at 17:46

A quick phone cam pic of my latest pain de campagne (over the kitchen sink where the light is bright).

Scoring was easier and smoother than usual this time. (Perhaps I've been over-proofing and didn't this time?)

Does that expansion of the slash look excessive? Is there such a thing as too much oven-spring?

Still hot, haven't opened it up yet.

A sieve or a proofing basket? More adventures in jury rigging

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wally on 21 Sep 2009 at 17:41

This weekend I decided to try Hamelman's Country Bread in the shape of a boule.  However, I lack proofing baskets, and as I proceeded through the recipe, a nagging thought kept injecting itself: So, how do plan on keeping your boule from turning into a pancake?

I baked only one loaf, so I scaled down his recipe thus:

Overall formula:

Flour (sir galahad)    454g    100%

Heavy loafs

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ggmauro on 20 Sep 2009 at 17:20
Anyone have expertise in production baking? I am a chef with little natural leavening baking experience. I can make a mean loaf with commercial yeast, but alas, cannot seem to get the the "old fashioned" thing down. I am determined to do what ever it takes to make the absolute most natural and best loaf in las vegas and in my restaurant. My main complaint is that the loafs are too heavy. If I try proofing them for longer they are lighter but become "over-proofed". i.e. extra heavy crust that is extremely hard and crunchy.

Zopf or Swiss Sunday Bread

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tssaweber on 19 Sep 2009 at 11:02

 

Chouette22 posted a couple of weeks ago pictures of her Zopf (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/13045/hello-switzerland-celebration-bread-and-zopf). In a reply to my post she mentioned that eggs in this bread would make it dryer or stale faster. This motivated me to experiment with my recipe, with the goal to have at the end a fully understood, easy to use and "Americanized" recipe.

...and the beat goes on

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Muffin Man on 19 Sep 2009 at 06:37

I was in Portland nearly three years ago to attend the birth of my second grandson (first child for my son).  I had not been baking very long and I knew that Portland was a 'Bread' town.  My son took me to the Pearl where I purchased several breads, including a Walnut Bread.  We took the purchases back to the apartment and tried them all.  I liked the Walnut Bread, but felt that, with a little work, I could produce a loaf that tasted that good.  I'm truthfully not sure of the origin of this recipe, but I have adjusted it over the years based upon suggestions from my

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