The Bread Show tools of the trade

Here you will find some of the tools that I have found to be essentilal for preparing these fine rustic bread resipes

Pizza Stone: By placing a pizza stone in your oven you can create the even heat created by the old hearth ovens used in europe. I place my breads directly on the stone to bake. As you can see the stone is discolored (Seasoned) by the many loaves baked on it.

Parchment paper, Plastic wrap, Cotton Kitchen towels: I use parchment paper to cover my peel during the second rising. The dough will not stick to any surface and is easy to move from place to place. The plastic wrap is used to cover dough during rising. Cotton kitchen towels are used to cover the dough during rising in order to keep drafts off of the dough..

Bread Machine: Used to knead most of our doughs. This machine can knead dough much easier and more evenly than human hands. The first rising is also taken care of in the machine. I have adapted most of my recipes to allow for kneading in the bread machine. This machine has a capacity of 1 1/2 lbs.

Water Sprayer, Exacto Knife, Glass Bowls, Pastry brush: The water sprayer is used to spray moisture in the oven during baking. This helps make the crust brown and crispy. The "exacto" razor knife is used to slash the characteristic cuts in the top of the rustic loaves. The pastry brush is used to glaze the tops of the dough with olive oil or egg. wash

Spatulas, Instant thermometer, Dough scraper: The spatula is used to help the bread machine during the first few minutes of forming the dough. I use the dough scraper for cutting my dough. The thermometer is used to measure the liquid content before adding it to the yeast.. If the temp. is above 115 degrees it will kill the yeast.

Potato Ricer: The tool is used for ricing the cooked potaoes used in out potato doughs

Peel: This basic wooden tool is designed to move the dough and bread in and out of the oven easily. I place my dough directly on the peel for the second rising. This permits me tto put the dough directly in the oven for baking without excesive handling.

Marble Tile, Rolling Pin, Fiddle Knife, Oven Mit: The marble tile is perfect for working with wet dough and is a very good surface for hand kneading. The fiddle knife is a new toy that is great for cutting those hard crusty loaves.