Bread question for LarryG

Larry, can I please trouble you for an opinion ?

I've been baking all our bread for the past year, and have been thinking about getting some new breadmaking toys. At the moment my system is pretty basic - I feed Priscilla (my starter) twice on Thursday, mix up the dough late Thursday night, first rise overnight in mixing bowls, Friday morning I shape, prove in old linen tea towels, slice with serrated knife and bake on a pizza stone.

Do you use bannettons to prove in, or a lame to slice the top ? Bannettons are so expensive, I'm not sure whether or not they're worth it ?

Thanks, Celia

I have a lame that I think is pretty worthless. I use a really sharp serrated bread knife. I've heard of people using a straight razor, but I have no experience or knowledge how well they work.

Buy cheap baskets at Cost Plus or a thrift store for next to nothing. They work just as well as expensive bannetons.

Some of the equipment I use:

Pieces of an old woolen army blanket for covering rising bread or for using as couches. (Dough won't stick to wool.)
Instant thermometer for those occasions when I need internal temperature.
Both wooden and metal peels.
A natural bristle paintbrush.
Water sprayer.
Small, cast iron skillet that I keep in bottom of oven for steaming. (I throw in some ice cubes before baking.)
And you might consider a larger stone (I use a thick, kiln shelf that almost covers a shelf). I love it.

My system is pretty basic, too, and it works just fine.

Thanks Larry. I'll look into the kiln shelf, although the four pizza stones I have at the moment are pretty good, and cheap ! I rarely rise in a basket anymore - prefer to shape into a round or a baton and just let it sit wrapped in a floured teatowel.

Now, if you could just tell me how to keep the serrated knife supersharp, I'd be grateful ! It doesn't sharpen on any of the sharpeners I have !

Buy a new serrated knife (even a cheap one at a dollar store), store it correctly, and if it (or your old knife) ever does need sharpening, use a cylindrical sharpening stone and file each serration individually (not hard to do). You can find the correctly shaped sharpening stone at a woodworking store.

I used to use ceramic tiles. The reasons I picked a kiln shelf are it's thick and high-temperature resistant, it doesn't crack, and it fills the oven shelf for maximum baking area. And it only cost $30, which is about the same as many smaller and lighter stones. Measure shelf, deduct a couple of inches all around for air circulation, and if the ceramics supply store doesn't have the exact size, they can order one made to order from the factory (that's what I did). I actually took the shelf to the store and tried different shelves on it.

Thanks Larry !

Celia