Today's lesson is that the bread's skin gets very dry if you leave it protected with cloth (instead of plastic) in the fridge. This caused greatly reduced oven spring, and dense loaves. Also, I really should have washed the new towels I got before using them. They had a very chemical smell. I don't think the bread was affected, but still.

The second batch of bread I think over-proofed a little, as it collapsed during scoring. Combined with the dry skin, this resulted in bricks.

I'm not sure how to solve the drying problem. Perhaps the vegetable crisper would trap enough moisture. But it is slanted and is hard to fit the baskets in. I do still like the banneton method, I think I just need to work out the kinks a little.

posted: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:00 | permanent link to this entry