May 1, 2014 - 1:02am
Hi! I'm a newbie to bread baking
Hi,
I'm new to bread baking and I'm looking for lots of tips on the best equipment and techniques from all you experienced bakers :-)
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Hi,
I'm new to bread baking and I'm looking for lots of tips on the best equipment and techniques from all you experienced bakers :-)
Welcome! The best equipment depends on what you want to be equipped to do! Some of the best breads require nothing more thaN your hands and a set of pans.
As stated above you can make great bread with very little investment. But a few things I suggest are a scale that measures grams, linen cloth to coat with rice and wheat flour to line bowls or bannetons, a bench knife to cut and manipulate dough if you use the 1000gm flour recipes, covered pots (Dutch ovens, la cloche, etc.) that can handle 500 deg F, razor blade or lame for scoring breads before baking, instant read thermometer for testing dough temp. and insuring complete baking of your loaves.
The techniques available are so varied, numerous and personal that it is impossible to make unbiased recommendations. Even the use of Dutch ovens is a bias of mine because of its simplicity, and consistently wonderful results. But many people prefer steaming their oven. The technique that I most closely matches mine is from Ken Forkish. But as you gain experience you will develope your own.
Lloyd D.
What worked for me:
Tartine Bread.
Lodge Combo Cooker, a cast iron set of frying pans, one deep, the other shallow, which works perfectly for making the Basic Country Loaf.
A Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Pan, which works well for making pizza from the basic Tartine Bread dough
I have found the Super Peel to be a pretty good aid in getting pizza dough onto a hot pan, but also for getting the bread dough onto a hot combo cooker.
And these Extra Long Oven Gloves have been great for easy handling of the hot cast iron. You can't hang on to a 500 degree pan for a long time, but don't feel the heat from oven to stove and back again. From Stove to sink and back to stove, it gets a little warm.
For my starter, I use 1/2 pint wide-mouth mason jars. I use a screw on plastic lid but don't screw it down tight.
A lot of people use this one: http://www.amazon.com/Escali-P115C-Digital-Multifunctional-Chrome/dp/B0007GAWRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399057315&sr=8-1&keywords=escali+digital+scale
It's cheap and pretty serviceable.
I also have this one for measuring amounts less than a gram.