Was there a link to a video tutorial on shaping somewhere ... done I think by Jack Lang? Could be wrong ... but it seems familiar and I have been looking for hints and tips on shaping.
(Dom ... I have read your notes in the 'rounder loaves' post!)
Clues? How do y'all do it?
Carol.
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Replies
[url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8869194114986951935&q=baguette]Jack's demo[/url] is for shaping a baguette.
Have you looked at Dom's?
Silly question: Have you got Dan's book? I follow his style all the time.
Hi TP,
Thanks for that ... I do mean shaping all sorts of loaves and sticks so that will be handy.
Dan's legendary book ... geez.
I 'ordered' it a couple of months ago through a local commercial cookware/cutlery place ... who assured me it would be two weeks.
Suffice to say ... still no book ... so I've ordered it through Amazon and it should arrive in a few days.
I have read Dom's tutorial ...
I am making my first loaves since getting sick many weeks ago ... and it has been very pleasant getting my hands in the dough again! Although I'm experimenting with a mix of Laucke Wallaby flour and their "Selenium" fortified wholegrain mix. I'm sure it will be edible, but whether it will be GOOD I'm yet to see!
(spoke to a dietitian at the uni about your layer cake recipe yesterday ... she nearly fell off her chair!)
*** Update (edit) ***
Hey, Dan's book just arrived this very minute ... right after pressing 'submit'.
I ordered in on Amazon, from a UK seller, and it has been posted from Basel, Switzerland! Hilarious.
I'm off to devour this book!
(Graham - I hope you get commission on all these sales! I will get a banneton when I'm a bit more flush!)
exciting .... exciting .... exciting ...
Yay!! Your book has arrived! Happy devouring! About the layer cake..."I told you so."
Here's a couple of pix I took of Dan 'tightening' the shaped loaf....basically pushing, or rather coaxing the dough so that the resulting friction pulls the skin taut.
[img]http://www.sourdough.com.au/gallery/d/4673-1/danpushbrd1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.sourdough.com.au/gallery/d/4675-1/danpushbrd2.jpg[/img]
Carol,
Jeffrey Hamelman also has great info for shaping amongst the other info packed in his book! [url]http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0471168572.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0471168572&h=500&w=414&sz=52&hl=en&start=6&tbnid=PLM7uAgTK3InaM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djeffrey%2Bhamelman%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official_s%26sa%3DN[/url]
Funny I was just in Basel not to long ago? That must be the copy I tried to send to my sister for Christmas!
Jeremy
Thanks TP and Jeremy.
This book is soooooooo good ... I have been out in the yard in the sun lying in the boys' beanbag flipping through it whilst the boys run around like mad things.
I can see now why so many folks rave about this book ... it is just so 'user friendly'!
Anyway, back to my guilty pleasure!
(Dan should meet my Russian grandmother-in-law ... she makes great stuff!)
Carol,
Ask your babushka to share!
J
Jeremy,
One of her daughters (not my mother-in-law - who simply wouldn't think to do it) is slowly putting together a book of Lydia's recipes. I was told I would have it for my last birthday (January!), but I know it is kind of in the works! I do hope that the daughter in question gets stuck into it as Lydia will be 86 next week!
(Still loving my new book ... yummy)
Carol
Carol,
I presume that you have found the [url=http://sourdom.sourdough.net.au/2006/07/23/beginners-blog-shaping/]tutorial[/url]on my blog. (I have put the link in for anyone who might not have found it already).
Most of what I know I have learned from Dan Lepard, so you will probably appreciate getting the information from 'the source'.
More than other components of baking, shaping benefits from practise - your loaves will improve with time.
let us know how you go
cheers
Dom
Hi Dom,
No, I haven't, so thanks for the links. I always forget to go to the forum member blogs! But I will. Thank you. As I mentioned, I am back to baking today after weeks of being crook, so what remains of your starter is getting a run!
Another question re: fan forced ovens. Fan on or off for bread? I was wondering if the fan might dry the oven air out too much?
Carol
Ah jeremy - look what your link has done!!
Go and hide it please
[quote="SourYumMum"]
Hi Dom,
Another question re: fan forced ovens. Fan on or off for bread? I was wondering if the fan might dry the oven air out too much?
Carol
[/quote]
I always use the fan....it's supposed to heighten the heat by 10 degrees C or so, IIRC. And I want a [size=18][color=red]HOT[/color][/size] oven. By all means spray your bread for the first 10 minutes or so (tho, I don't bother....I'm so accident-prone, I'd hate to have glass shatter on me) to allow the skin of the bread to be flexible enough to grow and to caramelise.
Hi Carol, with my new oven I have a choice and have tried it both ways. I have found the fan on gives a quicker rise and a nice even colour all over, no hot spots. You may find that you need to turn the temp down a bit or shorten your baking time.
A point to watch regarding fan ovens which I may have mentioned before. I have a choice of "Fan Forced" or "Fan Bake". With Fan Forced the heat comes from an element surrounding the fan and is intended for multi-shelf baking, so no heat is coming from the top and bottom element which may, if they were on, cause burning from the food being too close to the top or bottom.
The method I use is Fan Bake, where the heat does come from the top and bottom elements, and is distributed evenly by the fan.
Thanks TP and Bill,
I can select fan-forced with either bottom, or top and bottom elements as well. Until now I have used both elements with fan ... but I just wondered what your thoughts were.
Also (Maedi?) ... any idea why I now have to scroll way way way to the right to see all your posts??? (I use Firefox.)
Bread in oven shortly ...
Say.....I was just wondering about that too. Is it because of that loooooooooooong link Jeremy posted?
JEREMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Erm.
I'll just go check it isn't happening on other threads.
[quote="SourYumMum"]
Also (Maedi?) ... any idea why I now have to scroll way way way to the right to see all your posts??? (I use Firefox.)
[/quote]
Yeh, I've got the same problem.
Edit. Only on the first page of this post, not the second.
It would appear TP's guess at the long url is indeed the culprit!
Thank heavens ... I thought something awful that I wouldn't know how to fix had happened!
Thanks for the URL, Jeremy
Carol, have you looked at the tuts on this side?
bread: [url=http://www.sourdough.com.au/learn/video/crystalwaters/v/crystal_fruit_0057_BH.mov]simple[/url] or [url=http://www.sourdough.com.au/learn/video/unclebobs/v/uncle_rounding_0043_BH.mov]advanced[/url]
[url=http://www.sourdough.com.au/learn/video/crystalwaters/v/crystal_pitta_roll_0051_BH.mov]rolls[/url]
Also nice video of [url=http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/cvt012.asp]shaping rolls[/url]
Do you know [url=http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/video.html]Julia Child Videos[/url]?
Take a look at the baking ones (category Breads and Baked Goods) , they are worth
(Linking directly will produce similar worm as Jeremy's )
And onother thing, please try baking without using any fan, vent, propellor..it's sheer nonsense, it's only dries out your goodies.
Thanks bianchifan!
I would hate to have dried out goodies!!!
I will work my way through them tomorrow!
BTW ... today's 'return to baking' loaf made with half Laucke Wallaby and half Laucke 'Selenium' mix is dededelicious! I will try my next bake with both elements on but no fan!
Carol.
Bianchifan - thanks for linking those videos, I hadn't found them, but they are fascinating to see. They make it look extremely easy, but that double single-handed shaping I think would actually be seriously tricky
My oven doesn't have the option of turning off the fan, so I always bake with it on. Works fine for me.
cheers
Dom
[quote="bianchifan"]
And onother thing, please try baking without using any fan, vent, propellor..it's sheer nonsense, it's only dries out your goodies.
[/quote]
I'll accept that it is your less than perfect grasp of the language that has led you to the above statement, this time. But in future would you please refrain from calling my cooking methods "sheer nonsense".
[quote="SourDom"]
My oven doesn't have the option of turning off the fan
[/quote]
If it works fine for you, it's ok. My father's oven works same as.
[quote="Bill44"]
please refrain from calling my cooking methods "sheer nonsense".
[/quote]
I'm sorry having affronted your cooking methods.
If you like them, keep them further on, where's the problem?
What I've said is only my own humble opinion, but I'm not lonesome with it.
All artisan bakers in Germany, consious of quality, agree with me.
Heated air, as its called in Germany, can be used for drying fruits or baking hardend crispy cookies. But industry tells the people to make whole menues in several floors, poor shit.
I told it nonsense, cause haeted air will dry out the crust, and even the water is absolutely neccesary for building a well defined one, it's counterproductive.
You need two things, water and heat.
But it's another theme, no shaping..
I've only baked with the fan ON ... but for the sake of experiment I will certainly try a bake with it OFF.
That said, my loaves baked with the fan ON have been fine. At least to me. I'm sure there are plenty of more experienced bakers who would fall on the floor holding their bellies and laughing wildly if offered my bread.
Their loss!!
[quote="bianchifan"]
What I've said is only my own humble opinion, but I'm not lonesome with it.
All artisan bakers in Germany, consious of quality, agree with me.
[/quote]
Male bovine excreta
[quote="bianchifan"]
Heated air, as its called in Germany, can be used for drying fruits or baking hardend crispy cookies. But industry tells the people to make whole menues in several floors, poor shit.
I told it nonsense, cause haeted air will dry out the crust, and even the water is absolutely neccesary for building a well defined one, it's counterproductive.
You need two things, water and heat.
[/quote]
You learn a little every day, aparently the Germans have discovered that if you turn off the fan in your oven the air in your oven is cold.