Beautiful, Ann. I have rye dough in the fridge right now, I made it yesterday. One loaf is rising on the counter, two more in the fridge for baking later.

I'd love to do a bigger amount of dough, but I have this kind of small and very old used refrigerator. But when we build our own kitchen.....!!!

Annie

Does slashing serve a purpose other than decoration?

E

Eileen, yes it does serve another purpose. The bread will rise "oven spring" once it goes into the oven. If you don't slash there is a very good chance that the loaf will burst. If you slash it, you get to control where it splits. Plus the added benefit is that it looks nice.

Grainlady can probably explain this better than me.

~Ann

Ann_t grainlady or anyone, I have never tried the cloth or canvas support method that you seem to be using. How do you transfer the loaves to the stone? Also, it is clear that you are succeeding with slashing a fully risen loaf. what are you using? I have tried razor blades and a serrated bread knife but they drag and cause deflation etc. Therefore I have usually just slit half risen loaves.

I use a box cutter to slash....and wet it every couple of slashes so it doesn't drag..
Gorgous bread, Ann!!!

Chas, you can buy a proper bread slashing tool called a Lame but it isn't really necessary. Linda's box cutter works as does just a razor blade. I've used them all over the years and now I just use a sharp knife. You want to tilt the knife and slash.

The loaf in my picture was fully risen as much as I wanted it to be which was less than double.

Found a tutorial for you on The Fresh Loaf.

Hope this helps.

Ann

Gorgeous bread!

Ann, very clear, helpful website. Thanks. It looks like I have been letting my loaves overrise. You didn't answer the question about transfering your loaves from their troughs. Do they come off where you can handle them and they maintain their form as they did in the video?

Sorry Chas, missed your first question.

The loaves are easy to remove from their troughs. I use a heavily floured handwoven linen towel as my "couche". The towel is pinched between loaves to form the trough.

To remove from the towel, I place a lightly floured paddle a few inches away from the loaf, with flour on the surface directly between the paddle and the loaf. Then I just gently roll the loaf out of the fold, over the flour and on to the paddle. The loaf is then slashed and slid on to the hot stone. Do the same with the remaining loaves.

This method is easier than trying to slide the paddle between the loaves and the cloth.

You can purchase a proper "couche", but a good tea towel works the same. I use two. One to support the loaves as they rise and another to cover. When I'm done for the day I fold the towels and place them in a freezer bag and freeze. I do this because years ago I had a proper "couche" and it was recommended that it not be washed. You want to retain the yeast spores from previous dough. I found that the flour on the cloth went rancid. So now I just store my cloths in the freezer.

Ann

Don't laugh Ann.......but when you say tea towel....what exactly do you mean? Like a dish rag......a heavy one? Or a small towel, but a thick one. I have been looking at a couche on line but would have a big shipping fee. I love making bread and now make our sandwich bread. But would love to have a "couche" to use.

Deb

Deb, a Tea towel here is the dish towel you use to dry your dishes. They can be made of linen, cotton, terry etc.

(I was wondering if someone would ask!) :D

I am not understanding really how you roll the dough onto the paddle, slash and then slide onto the stone.
I don't make baguettes, but more like batons....because of the difficulty getting them into the oven. I led 2 rise on my pizza peel and slid into the oven from there....
BUT...I do have a long baguette board. However...if I roll a loaf onto that, slash and roll into the oven, then close the oven and do the same with a second loaf....and a third, won't all that opening and closing of the oven cause the loaf that was in first to collapse and the oven to lose a lot of heat?
Or do you bake the loaves separately? but then that loaf last baked would be over proofed.
So....how do you Do that????

Deb, Jasdip is correct. I forget sometimes that we have different names for the same things. (I always have to clarify that icing sugar is the same as what you might call powdered sugar).

I have two handwoven linen tea towels that were woven by a friend of mine. Leola is a master weaver and has her own studio.

One of the towels in this photo, the darker blue one, I use to cover the loaves as they rise.

(The lighter coloured towel is the one I sent to Karen (Riverrat) in the last swap).
I have a slightly larger towel woven in a wine and taupe colour that I use as the couche. That is the one that you see in the above bread photos.

You need a large dish towel/tea towel so that you have enough material to form the pleats that support and divide the loaves.

~Ann

Thank you so much for answering. Now another question...LOL About how big are they? I went on the hunt! Found a woven looking dish towel that is 15 X 24 inches. I bought them just so I would have something! I thought perhaps I could sew 2 together for a large tea towel. But I probably would only be making 2 baggettes(sp) at the most. I have a loaf of honey wheat bread in the oven as I type. Going to make BLT's with the first tomato out of the garden...LOL!

Deb

Deb, Honey whole wheat and regular white are my go-to breads. I made 4 loaves of white today, and just had a toasted fried egg with tomato sandwich on it. ANY kind of sandwich tastes better with homemade bread, doesn't it?

Yes it does Jasdip! I bought a 9 x 4 inch pullman pan a couple weeks ago and now make my own sandwich loaf. I LOVE a nice square piece of bread and the pullman pan does a wonderful loaf. The first time I used it I was so scared I would blow the top off and make a mess of my oven! But I didn't and now can make that perfect square loaf of bread.

Deb

We always called dish rags the smaller clothes used for hand washing dishes and dish cloths for drying them.

Great step-by-step tutorial of authentic baugette baking.

dcarch

Here in Michigan the smaller cloths that we use to wash dishes with are dish cloths. The larger towels that we use to dry them with are called dish towels. We also have "tea towels" which are usually linen or another smooth fabric, not terry cloth. Why in the world we still call them tea towels I don't know, since they are seldom used to dry delicate tea services, at least seldom in MY life, LOL.

I have used the towels to shape baguettes but haven't had much luck getting the folds to stay and then I resort to propping up the folds with cans, jars, glasses and various other utensils.

Annie