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After some crusty struggles, i resorted to a new bread cookbook, and some much better results. these two loaves are out of my new favourite bread cookbook: Dough by Richard Bertinet.
It’s quite different from the other bread cookbooks I’ve had a look at – he’s very much in favour of using fresh yeast crumbled directly into the flour before adding the more liquid ingredients. He also – i think “massages” is the best word – the dough, instead of kneading and pummeling it North American-style. You use your fingers like salad servers, and toss/stretch the dough in slo-mo to incorporate air.
As he suggests, I’ve baked some of the loaves on an upside-down cookie sheet (pre-heated in a 475° oven), and the crust is lovely all the way around.
My only (small) quibble with the book is some sloppy copy-editing (the old imperial/metric issue) and one glaring error in the whole wheat bread recipe – do NOT use 2 tablespoons of salt – use 2 teaspoons. unless you really like salty bread.
I’ve made whole wheat (twice), black olive, raisin rye, and white bread so far – all very good. Two thumbs up for this one…
