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Trying for uniform open webbing

"Mark Piper" <mpiper@fcb.com>
Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:42:58 -0500
v106.n018.3
Hi All -

I'm very much a newbie bread baker.  I've been working out of Peter 
Reinhart's book 'The Bread Bakers Apprentice'.  I've tried several 
attempts at his Pain a' l'Ancienne, similar to a Ciabatta without a biga.

Here's my problem, I struggle to get a uniform open webbing in the 
bread.  This is a slack dough with a high hydration rate.  The top of 
my loafs will have nice big holes in the crumb but the bottom of the 
loaf crumb is a much smaller tighter webbing.  The bottom of my 
loaves do not get very brown as I start them on parchment then 
transfer them directly to the stone mid bake as I rotate them.

I seem to get pretty good oven spring over all.  Could this be a 
function of placement of my stone in the oven? (too High?)  Or could 
this be a hydration issue?  Longer rise?  I also use a steam pan and 
spritz, and crank my oven to its max of 500 F.  The bread is very 
tasty, but I don't feel I'm getting the full "nutty" tones from the 
bread that come with the interior caramelization from a very open 
webbing.  I'm careful not to deflate the dough as I shape it.  If the 
loaf is too thick will it compress the gas bubbles?

I hope the answer is not "all of the above".  I've definitely been 
bitten by the bread baking bug and I will not rest until I perfect 
this awesome bread.

Tonight I'll try to lower my stone to the bottom rack of my oven.

Thank you in advance for any help.