The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hi from Southern California

mollyonatrolley's picture
mollyonatrolley

Hi from Southern California

Hi,

I am in culinary school and learning to bake bread. This site looks so helpful - I'm happy I found it! One challenge I have is baking the breads I learn in my culinary lab classes (that are fully equipped with commercial ovens with steamers) at home in my own oven. I did peruse the Gear/Baking Equipment forum topic and I will probably try baking bread using an upside down sheet pan with a large inverted pan to trap the steam since I don't own a Dutch oven or stone. 

I'm going to bake a Vermont Sourdough that I made in school and see how that goes at home. I changed the formula for bread flour to 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 whole wheat, so I'll experiment with how much water it will need. The picture is the one I made at school - I hope to improve the crumb so it looks more like the Vermont Sourdough with whole wheat in Gavin's blog.

Happy baking!

-Molly

 

foodforthought's picture
foodforthought

In my old oven I baked batards and baguettes using inverted graniteware (enameled steel) on a pizza stone. I eventually arrived at my best results by dropping ice cubes around the bread as I loaded them. 6-8 cubes per batard. Maybe a similar amount of ice for 3 baguettes. Good luck. Can’t have enough professional bakers. The ones in these parts are mediocre at best. Sadly, 2 excellent ones went under during these plague years.

jo_en's picture
jo_en

Yes for granite ware (very affordable too)! My granite ware is oblong and I  can lower a large oblong  loaf into it and cover it with the domed lid. Very nice steaming environment. When I remember to, I spray the lid and the top of the loaf for additional steam.

Trevor Wilson has a really good video on 50% whole wheat loaves.

http://www.breadwerx.com/make-50-whole-wheat-sourdough-video/

mollyonatrolley's picture
mollyonatrolley

Thank you for the video - that is really helpful!

foodforthought's picture
foodforthought

In my old oven I baked batards and baguettes using inverted graniteware (enameled steel) on a pizza stone. I eventually arrived at my best results by dropping ice cubes around the bread as I loaded them. 6-8 cubes per batard. Maybe a similar amount of ice for 3 baguettes. Good luck. Can’t have enough professional bakers. The ones in these parts are mediocre at best. Sadly, 2 excellent ones went under during these plague years.

Phil

gavinc's picture
gavinc

Hi Molly. I'm very keen to follow your progress. Before we upgraded our home oven, for steam, I used a cast iron small shrimp bowl with some water in the lower part of the oven. I baked the dough in pre-heated oven on a pizza stone that was very successful. 

Cheers,

Gavin

mollyonatrolley's picture
mollyonatrolley

Hi Gavin,

I'll share my attempt on your blog when I try using wheat flour in the Vermont Sourdough formula that my Chef gave us in my baking class. I have mid-terms and lab practicals all next week, then I'll have time. 

It sounds like a pizza stone would be good purchase. 

Molly

Benito's picture
Benito

Welcome to TFL Molly you will find this forums to be a friendly helpful place and a great place to ask questions and get opinions.  A granite baker is a very good option for baking a loaf as they are light and inexpensive.  You’ll probably want to use parchment paper like a sling to place the dough inside so you don’t burn yourself when using it.

On the other hand, assuming you have an electric oven and not gas, you can create steam pretty easily in your home oven.  I used to bake in my dutch oven, but found that the crust is a bit thinner when I baked open and added steam to my oven.  I bake on a steel that is placed on the roasting pan that comes with the oven which I’v stuffed with crumpled aluminum foil.  This shields the steel a bit to reduce burning of the bottom crust.  A baking steel or stone doesn’t have to be very expensive.  Alfanso on TFL purchased a piece of granite from a company that cuts granite for countertops I believe.  These small pieces are very inexpensive because they don’t have much use.  So for the steam, I have a cast iron skillet and an old metal pan into which I roll and place an old terry hand towel.  These get filled with boiling water and create more than adequate steam, even enough to bake baguettes.

Benny