Lamp's Blog

Those loaves look like you've got things about right in terms of volume and crumb, and the eveness of bake looks pretty good too. I'd be very happy with that result especially since you're pretty much a novice as you alluded to earlier. It shows you've paid close attention to the details.

However, since you've mentioned improving your slashes I thought I'd post this diagram which should assist in getting expansion and an aesthetic appearance to your loaves.

Without getting bogged down into unnecessary detail let me just add that a dough of mainly wheat that is properly developed and matured has the propensity to expand significantly in the oven. Bakers call this "ovenspring". Generally the lower the wheat content the smaller the volume and  ovenspring. In order to cope with this expansion bakers slash their dough pieces just prior to entering the oven. This will ensure controled expansion and an attractive appearance. If slashes are not executed correctly and in the correct position the dough piece often distorts in shape and expands in an irregular way. This is usually due to uneven detensioning of the gluten in relation gluten strand direction. Notice the lashes on your loaf have not opened significantly, this is most likely due to their almost 90' angle to the horizontal. See the diagram for cues on positioning and angle placement.

Good luck.


BTW just one more thing to add. Generally the more slashes in a dough piece the less they open and conversely less slashes the greater the opening. See below.

Single slash
http://sourdough.com/gallery2/gallery/d/11780-2/IMG_5109.JPG

3 slashes
http://sourdough.com/gallery2/gallery/d/12068-2/IMG_5183.JPG

4 slashes
http://sourdough.com/gallery2/gallery/d/12078-2/IMG_5188.JPG

Your bread sounds wonderful, Pete. I think it looks pretty decent too.

Aaarghhh. Why didn't I see this before I slashed my bread just now?  (Still) an imperfect piece of work. Jack just gave me some 'real' lames and I wanted to do them justice. Great diagram, Boris.Thank you!!

TP

Pete, when using a razor blade or the type of lame that has a razor blade insert it's important to use the front tip of the blade only.

It may seem strange for me to say that, but it's common to unconsciously use the whole edge which often results in the 'back' edge of the blade - which is blunt - to drag on the dough piece and ruin the slash. Hold your hand up at an angle so only the front tip of the blade is in contact with the dough. It takes time for people get accustomed to using it naturally this way.

See below

 
When used at this angle leading edge only has contact which eliminates 'tearing' and 'ripping'.

...just for practice. LOL.

[Must remember to use 'just the tip'.]

Tks.
TP

Pete...keep feeding him the (right) bait, and we won't be short of these tute gems. Reckon we gotta thank you too.

TP

Here's another picture I found which shows the angled slashes. Note the slight arched shape of the slashes.



Slashing works best when we are relaxed; use the force like a young Jedi knight.

If you practice inscribing those lines with a pencil on paper using one continous motion - without varying speed or stopping and starting during  each line you'll find it helpful when it comes time to executing it on dough. Muscle memory developes quite quickly which means it'll be one less thing you have to concentrate on becasue you'll have some experience with fluiditity and line angle.

Just to clarify, there are lots of different slashing styles but those styles that produce good controlled expansion with a pleasing aesthetic all follow basic principles. Sure, develop your own style, within effective parameters, not against them!

Pete, I think you should take TP's advice and keep posting flies.....

Well, I did a bake tonight and despite knowing what I should do, I still did not put enough angle into the slashes....nothing beats experience!

One of the loaves had a little more angle and turned out looking OK, but I should have had another look at the photo before I started! My camera is at work so I cannot take a photo tonight and these loaves have been promised to work mates tomorrow so I probably will not get to take a shot before giving them out. I'm doing another bake on Saturday so I'll resist the temptation to fall back on my bad habits, put more angle in and try to do better! I just have to go into the appropriate state of zen first, rather than trying to do it too quickly!

Your diagrams and photos are excellent and greatly appreciated Boris...I hope you find the flies are an adequate exchange. When you open the package remember I'm just an old amateur fly tier who has a bit of fun at the vise! 

Boris, I'm glad the flies passed muster and you consider them a fair exchange for your knowledge - I hope you manage to catch a few fish with them!

When we have our get together sometime I'll show you how I tie them. I have used them (well, a previous version anyway) on lakes and slow pools to good effect. They sit in the film and are therefore no good in fast water but around Christmas they work pretty well. Feel free to trim the legs but Dave prefers them left long.... They have been designed to sit in the film because beetles float in the film and not above it! The hot dots were designed by Babelfish and have become my "go to" dry fly. The posts can be seen very easily in a late afternoon glare and sometimes the pink is easier to see and sometimes the green is better. The fish do not seem to mind the bright colors.

I have my camera and will take a photo of the loaves.

I have just baked the white but the loaves were a little underproved, only a little less than normal though, however the oven spring was incredible....on the bright side the slashes were on a better angle. I think I also need to decrease the length of the central slash a little 

I'll let the 25% rye prove a bit more than normal before I bake them and see how they turn out.

I think I am starting to get the hang of slashing! I am pretty pleased with these, especially the loaf on the right which I slashed a little deeper. 

Still a little under proved, but I'm still pretty new at this and I think the slashes are allowing more oven spring than how I was slashing the loaves before. I think the way I was doing it before was letting the "skin" constrain the loaves and not letting them expand to their full potential. I cannot wait for them to cool so I can cut one open and have a look at the crumb!

I'm slowly getting there Boris.

Those breads look sensational....and the crumb is surperb Andrew!

I went fishing with Tony today on a lovely bit of twig water but I left a white and a rye loaf for him and Marie. I told them to eat the white first as the rye tends to keep better. When we got back to Tony's place Marie came out and said hello so I asked if she had cut into a loaf and what it was like....her reply was that she had eaten half the white loaf while we were fishing. I figured it must be OK

PS Boris, I used a pink posted Hot Dot and got takes all day. Tony used a variety of flies, including a white posted hot dot and a green posted one. He did not get a take until he switched to a pink posted one....far from turning the fish off, I think the pink post attracted them!

Wet, we headed to the top end of the Murindindi, Siberia bridge I think. I should have had a dozen and missed a number of strikes, had fish on for 5 or 10 seconds, lost 3 at my feet and actually landed 2 or 3...all on my new TFO 1wt. The water was very cold I measured it as 7 degrees! It was just too much fun with small feisty fish!

Lunch was made out of my Ciabatta rolls and they went down very well (see the ciabatta bake off thread in the forum if you want to see a pic).

....a blessed combination, indeed!

Or is there a direct correlation between great breadmaking and fishing skills? (I might take up fishing again.)

TP

I baked again this morning and opened a new 5kg bag of UB white flour (Wallaby again). The dough was felt wetter and stickier than usual using the same recipe, but I guess that is just variation from the mill.

Again the white "exploded" out from the slashes like the last batch. On the bright side, the crumb is nice.

The 25% rye looks even better than the last batch because the slashes are more even. I would have posted a pic or two but the camera has dead flat batteries and I cannot find the charger (I hope it is at work). I think I have the rye sorted, but I still have to sort out the white. I even let it prove more this time...

Hmmm....Just arrived at work and the charger is not here.  I'll have to have a better look when I get home, because it must be there somewhere and I must have had what a friends wife calls a "mans look".   I'll bake again later this week as most of yesterday's bake is to be given away to people at work, so I'll post pics of that bake....if I can find the charger. 

Your slashing is still better than mine, Pete. I'm enjoying your blog...thanks for sharing with us your bread journey.
 
TP

I like to slash my batard straight down the middle, I like the look and they open quite predictably.  The loaf probably spreads a little more.  My preference is not to cut vertically into the dough but on an angle so that the cut lifts up on top, rather than just spreading out.

Matthew

Pete, here are a few examples; longitudinal slash



See this here also


and the diamond pattern.

I baked a small batch of white and made a couple of baguettes and a whie loaf which I slashed in a diamond pattern. It turned out pretty well but I did not get around to taking a photo.

Tonight I baked my usual batch of 2 rye and 2 white loaves. The temperature last night when I made the dough was around 28 degrees and the dough became super active, especially the white. When the loaves were put in the fridge they rose overnight much more than normal, and when proved tonight the white got a bit over-proved. Even though the oven spring was OK they ended up a bit flat. They expanded so much in the prove that they were hard to slash and were so "puddingish" that the one cut in a diamond pattern collapsed to one side. They are OK but I was a little disappointed. Both loaves of the rye on the other hand ended up looking quite good.

Overproved or not, your breads look fantastic. The diamond is just beautiful.

Just give Maedi a shout and he'll zap off the multiple posts.

Nice bread, Pete.

I bet your customers and fishing mates are very pleased with the bread quality.

You'll have to do a picture of "loaves and fishes" one day beside the river.