The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

french bread with pate fermentee

bsimson's picture
bsimson

french bread with pate fermentee

i made this using peter reinhardt crust and crumb. 

got some great holes and really nice crust. still having some issues with scoring a wet dough. any help for that?

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks very nice.

See Dave Snyders post on the home page where he gives tips for proper scoring.

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Nicely done with the loaf.  I am jealous as this is one type of bread that I have avoided baking but LOOVE to eat.  Soon to tackle and I hope to have results like yours.

 

bsimson's picture
bsimson

appreciate the kind words!

i'm lucky cause my husband pulled a water line from basement to the oven so I can steam the oven with a switch. its not a perfect system but accounts for the nice crust. ive been working all summer on the baguette...many failures.

Thaichef's picture
Thaichef

Good Morning Bsimson:

  Your bread post(last paragraph) about "my husband pulled a water line......" caught my eyes!!!!  One of the my  pet-peeve  is to put enough steam into my oven while baking bread!  I would love to know more about your husband invention! Pictures would be nice. I am sure that all of us at TFL would like to know it too.

Thank you.

bsimson's picture
bsimson

hi

so what we did was install a copper water line from oven cavity to basement similiar to hooking up an ice maker in your refrigerator. we placed a large iron skillet in the bottom of oven under the bricks and the hose is directed into that pan.when you preheat the oven the pan is preheating as well. when the water hits the pan it creates a burst of steam. Way better than any other method i've tried or read about. downside: only can be done in a gas oven and you will over time get some corrosion so if you have an oven/ stove combo on an electric start you will eventually have to disconnect if that clicking sound annoys you. we simply use a lighter to start gas stove. also would not do this on an oven with electronic displays-ours is an old woolf 30" oven/stove combo. The amount of steam that is created does do some damage but we've been doing this for 15 years now with the same oven.

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

for me to get my head around when scoring baguettes is (as they clearly show on King Arthurs web site videos and well worth watching them all) to look down on theop of the baguette and divide it into thirds across the width down the length of the baguette.  The middle third - about 1" wide, is where all the slashing goes.  For  24" baguette you should should shoot for 5-6 slashes down this middle 1 " section.   So divide the baguette down the length in 5 pieces.  Start the first slash at the right side of the 1" and finish it at the left side of the 1" making the slash about 5' long.  Do the same thing with the 2nd and overlap the first slash by about 20%.

teketeke did a nice presentation here of what it should look like mentally before scoring - it helped me to get them in the right place even if my scoring is still very challenged to say the least.  Some of the pictures in the middle of the post won't show up but the ones you want to see are at the end of her post and they show up.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23853/my-favorite-baguette

Hope this helps. 

 

bsimson's picture
bsimson

thats amazing. thanks

Thaichef's picture
Thaichef

Hello Bsimson:

Thank you for your quick reply. Your husband is a genius!  Unfortunately my oven is Electric so I can'tuse it. It is a very nice contraption. Thanks again.

mantana

bsimson's picture
bsimson

unless there's a way to protect the electrci element.