New Starter and New Lame
Purely out of boredom, I started up a new starter about 2 weeks ago (my old one was, and is, doing just fine.....just CovidCabinFever!) I followed Maurizio's process on The Perfect Loaf, and it's been happily doing it's thing since about Day 6. Today was my first "weekly" bake using the new starter, and I'm very happy with its performance. I won't get to taste test it or share the crumb shot, as they both went to neighbors as a peace offering since we have some noisy construction going on..... :)
I also finally got fed up with my Breadtopia lame handle. The thing is just a bit flimsy, and the blade comes out when I'm scoring with more frequency than I like. I did some internet searching and found the round "UFO" bread lame very nicely made out of wood with varying patterns. Again, out of boredom, I thought I'd see if I could cobble my own together with stuff I have in the house...... So, here's my new lame (two rounds cut from a cigar box with a hole saw, MacGuyver'd a "slot" with my drill, and a nut/bolt from the junk box.) Used it for the loaves above, and it works great!
One of my neighbors is a toy inventor, and he has the lame over at his place now to see if he can refine it a bit.... :) I'm not sure, though, I kind of like the "rustic" look! ;)
R
Thanks Rich! I’m diggin’ your home made lame! You’ve inspired a tweak that may be beneficial. Will post image if one os made.
Do you see an improvement if the wood was cut at the yellow line? It seems like removing some of the wood would allow a better (lower) angle on the dough. What do you think?
Danny
To be very clear (and fair to the few craftsmen/women out there who are marketing designs like this), I completely ripped it off from the Internet! :) If I couldn't cobble it together with stuff I already had at the house, I would have just ordered one for $28.
You may be onto something there, Danny, with removing a bit of wood there to increase the available "approach angle" (geeky, off-road term). You would need to make sure that you could still completely hide the blade edge for safety's sake, but there's definitely some excess that could safely be removed.
One thing I discovered for sure when I used this yesterday is that the blade I had been using was DULL!!!!! Oh, my, how nice to slash bread with a fresh razor! ;)
Rich
That looks great Rich. I have the Breadtopia lame and agree that the blade sometimes comes out or the tip of the part that holds the blade in gets caught up in the dough when scoring, it is not an ideal lame. I like the idea of the lame you came up with, it should firmly hold the blade in and there isn’t any part of it that would get caught in the dough while scoring.
Benny
Yeah, it really works well. It's very comfortable in my hand, and the blade protrudes more than enough in the extended position to not have any issue with the wood contacting the dough. Take a look at some of the UFO Lame videos, and the work that some people are doing with decorative slashes (I know you have been trying your hand at a bunch of those.....)
Rich