Hello,

Iv'e graduated from a culinary school and started to do some workshops.

My next one is breads. At home I'm using parchment papaer- to put the shaped and pre-shaped doughs

After that I transfer them to a sheet pan that has been already heated in the oven (otherwise the bottom will burn).

I had success moving the parchment with breads to the oven, and using the sheet pans.

I don't use cloth nor special baskets....but I want this workshop to look more professional.

What would you advise me to get?

Pizza peel? stone? (very expenssive), canvas? (I believe it's more usefull for loafs), bannentons?

I never used those at home, I don't know how easy it to transfer the bread from the peel to the oven...do u proof the shaped

bread on the peel?? if not- how do you transfer it?

Thanks so much!

Hello,

I know we bakers are always trying new equipment, just like new recipes. If anyone is needing or wanting to get rid of a decent baking stone, please email me. Having been out of work for the bast 16 months (Urrgghhh!) and doing everything we can to "keep the house going", as much as I'd like to go out and buy a baking stone, it just wouldn't be prudent. I live in Southeast MI and depending on costs (wouldn't it be the heaviest thing you could ship) I may be able to cover the shipping... please, I am not looking for charity but just thought since we are baking our own bread now (so much less expensive) that someone might have a duplicate stone of which to be rid. Thanks!

Mekales

I know there are a number of excellent mills for different applications, so I hope I get this detailed enough to really pinpoint which will work best for me. Thanks in advance for your advice!

I'm looking for a mill that can accomplish the following;

can mill coarse or very fine flours (dry grains) for baking, pasta, hot cereal, pastries, gravies, cakes, breads, etc.

does not heat the flour (over 120 farenheit)

can sift the milled flour to make white cake flours (meaning that it's capable of not crushing the outer layer into the flour making it too difficult to sift out to get a white flour)

can mill for a large family (meaning does not heat up or mess up with heavy use)

does not need to be cleaned

does not throw flour dust everywhere

has electrical and hand mill capability

lasts for 30 years+

does not need to be babysat (won't catch on fire or break with a distracted operator)

does not have quarks with getting odd sized or shaped grains stuck and cracks, or constantly needing to be taken apart to fix

low maintenance

less than $1000

can be purchased in or shipped to the U.S. without incredible waits, fees, or bribes, and with the knowledge that defective or damaged products will be fully replaced in a timely manner without uneccesary inconvenience

Any thoughts?

I have a bread recipe that calls for 30 minutes at 425ºF on a cookie sheet. I've prepared this recipe a half dozen times and it always turns out great. It's not broken, but I'd like to fix it. :) I have a 1/2" pizza stone. Would baking on the stone yield a better finished result? If I go the baking stone route, would I tweak temps or baking times?

Thanks,
Hans - AKA bread noob

I was wondering what materials people would recommend for use when making bread, I've made a fair bit now with help from this site, and recently picked up BBA and LOVED it, I was wondering though about a few things, First off is there a reason to use wood over plastic, metal or other materials? I enjoy wood and find it pleasing to handle and look at, but wasn't sure if it was worth the investment to get a solid wooden board and bowls to knead and proof dough in, Some sites recommend it and I notice every picture in BBA has bread being kneaded or proofed on wood (Or in a couche with wood sides that I'd imagine is sitting on top of wood) and the rustic image of a bakery in my mind imagines wood as being the 'right' way of doing things, but aside from some vague mentions of wood becoming seasoned like cast iron, and adding flavor over time through a build up of fermenting dough in pores (Which I don't think seems too likely or healthy), I can't find any good information one way or the other, I've been proofing dough in metal bowls with a bit of spray oil and it's been working fine, but for larger recipes I'm going to need to get some new bigger bowls soon, Any suggestions there?

The next question is regarding a baking stone, We have a cheap ($13 CAD) circular stone from Walmart, that has actually worked out very well so far, but again with larger loaves or with a few smaller longer loaves (like Baguettes) it's not big enough and will soon need to be replaced, any recommendations there? I need something that can be easily moved out of the oven for other things, preferably is rectangular, and is thick enough to hold heat for my purposes.

Next in regards to tools, I'm looking for a decent Dough Scraper, and Lame for scoring, I've been using an xacto-knife/scalpel which works quite well for some things, but the blade is so thin that even though it cuts the dough well, sometimes it doesn't spread the scores enough and they reseal, I've poked around online but the name is a bit ambiguous to search for on ebay or google, where (Preferably in Canada) can I get a decent lame from? I'd imagine a dough scraper would be easier to find online, I haven't looked yet but if anyone cares to make a recommendation I'd appreciate it.

in Ingredients, I found out I can buy Gluten powder from a few stores in my area, would it be worth it to add this to all purpose flour? Or will I get better results with just getting bread flour, (The difference in price isn't big enough to bother me between the two types of flour, I'm baking more but I still don't bake enough to worry that much about the cost of flour) I'm just looking to get the best results, the only bread flour in my area that I've been able to find is Robin Hood brand, anyone with more than one type in their area able to offer a comparasin?

Thanks for any replies ahead of time, and for this excellent resource of a website, I've learned so much from here and it's really enabled me to enjoy this fun hobby :)

Does anyone know what this stone is made of, or how well it holds up? Linens & Things has it on sale right now, and there's no shipping if you do an in-store pickup. Interestingly, it's still $19.99 if you just buy it in the store.

http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1356043

So when you preheat the stone in the oven while the bread is in its final rise after shaping, how does one go about transferring the loaf from where it is rising to the hot stone without misshaping the loaf in the process?

 I love the spring a hot stone gives, but I've only done it with rolls since these fit in one hand and are easily moved from the pan they're rising on to the preheated stone.  I'm afraid if I do this with a loaf it'll lose air and flatten out.

I occasionally re-enact Celtic history with my good friends from Ancient Celtic Clans. This weekend we attended the Celebration of Celts event. One of the things we did was to make an earth oven. None of us had ever done anything like it before, so it was a definite learning experience. Here I am putting the finishing touches on the chimney we didn't think to add until it was already roaring hot.