The blatant plug and thank you’s first: I got the Brød & Taylor proofer. I love it. My breads are more consistent and predictable now. Yes, I could’a rigged up a homemade proofer but that ‘s not my thing. With zero counter space in the kichen this B&T gets its own little table tucked in a corner of the dinning room.
Boy am I happy with this method! Can’t wait to retry all the wonderfully tasty breads I’ve tried from here and books that I’ve liked but just couldn’t get that spring going. This is a heavy cast iron DO and I’m small; but no problem at all getting this together. I did a trial set up to see how it would go and everything balanced so perfectly. When it was all pre-heated I think I lost less heat from the oven because it loaded (although a little crookedly) quicker than using the pot right side up. All worked like a charm.
I’ve been following all the wonderful things being baked by the testers for Norm and Stan and decided I need the excitement of a challenge. Over the years I have had more rye bricks than loaves but lately I use Beatrice Ojakangas’ “Whole Grain Breads” and get good results but I wanted the Sour Rye experience. We used to have a great German deli that carried some but alas they are gone. I picked “Eric’s Fav Rye”. Got a quick order of First Clear Flour from KAF, and last Friday evening began converting my starter to rye.
