Oven Spring

[kokopuffs]

Panini:

I slash using a double edge razor blade. The slasher handle was procured for just a few dollars from the SAN FRANCISCO BAKING INSTITUTE. I've seen other bakers us xacto knives and even serrated bread knives as slashers.

[KyleW]

I have used all of the above. I currently use lame, if badly

[mudbug]

Interesting info. Have to look at it when more time is available...

As for my question on steam, I wasn't asking in terms of raising the temperature. For artisan breads (which may have nothing to do with what you're trying to acheive), steam is used in the beginning stages of baking primarily to keep the outside from cooking too fast hardening off, getting too hot to keep the yeast alive. For the first 20 minutes of baking, the yeast becomes extremely active because of the heat until it gets hot enough to kill it. Only then does it stop expanding. Spraying steam will keep the outside of the dough elastic so that the dough can expand.

Just as you enjoy slashing the top for expansion, you may try your recipe with some steam injections to see if there is a difference.

Slashing gives the loaf a place to grow during its last burst of expansion in the oven.

Artisan breads have been around a long time and are made this way. For these breads, you do NOT want steam in the last half of baking so that the crust can form to it's truest potential.

[m brown]

I make a simple bread dough for everything from pizza to bread and I add............
lemon juice to the starter!
little yeast, little sugar, little flour, little liquid, little acid = Happy bread.

[KyleW]

Oh sure m, demystify the ascobic acid thing and take all the fun out of it