First try at bread. Despite mistakes, bread edible.

[Chris]

I used some leftover pizza dough as the pate fermentee for a pain de campagne today. (Reinhart's BBA)

The bread turned out ok, but plenty of room for improvement.

I started baking at around 425F. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the oven hot enough by the time the dough was ready, so the crust isn’t very brown, and it took about 30 minutes just to get where it was.

Also, I wasn’t careful about getting all of the coals out of the oven. Some of the remaining coals continued to smoke after the door was closed and the loaves were baking, giving the bread a little bit of a smoky taste. It’s not bad, but not great either.

Practice makes perfect, and I intend to practice. As long as the mistakes are edible, it's a success!

[CanuckJim]

Chris,

Need more details on the formula you used. You're getting there, but your hearth was not hot enough. Suggest 500-550 is where your want to be. Did you steam the oven? The pic suggests you didn't. You really want a hot hearth, plus steam, plus a hydrated formula to get a more open structure-crumb. Ordinarily, you want to vent the steam half way through the bake, so the crust firms and browns. The earlier you vent the steam (perhaps as soon as the loaves show colour) the thicker and crunchier the crust will be.

Jim

[Bacterium]

Chris,

good stuff - I started bread baking recently and I too am working on getting my oven temp right for bread, its great fun.

One time I left the hot coals in (right side) so I stuck a cast iron pan in the back (center) with some water in it and cooked some bread on the left side. The door was open slighlty (right side). I was careful not to starve the fire and "backdraft" it. Its obviously not ideal (thick crust was great winter food) but seemed to work at the time.

Have you read the FB hearth bread PDF on bread baking?.....the No-Knead recipes quite a good starter.....in a cast pot or on the hearth.