chembake wrote:

> One further comment from the Italian baker, he is more keen to bake
> French bread in the way how Italians made their bread.
> In the same way how foreign bakers interpret that bread similarly..

Possibility.

> By the way did the bread really taste good and how was it when cooled 5
> hours after?

It truly was the best home-made crusty bread I've ever tasted - mine or
anyone else's. It was better than the average bakery bread and was only
beaten by very good bakery product. Good texture. Good crust. Good
flavor. I'm still amazed. As you would expect, it was almost stale the
next day. It made wonderful croutons, good French toast. I grilled a few
slices for bruschetta; tasted good and was correctly crispy.

My 14-year-old daughter came home with some friends who saw the loaves
resting on the kitchen island. They thought it was bakery bread when
they saw it it looked like it. My daughter asked if she could have some.
Two 1-pound loaves, 4 ounces butter gone between 6 teenagers. My
daughter mixed 1/2 cup olive oil and a couple tablespoons good balsamic
to dip. The other kids tried that, too. <LOL> Sounds like me at that
age. Eat anything that doesn't move.

Two of the kids are in my daughter's French class where her teacher
brings bread from an upscale bakery near her house. One kid said it was
better than that bread.

> By thinking about the methods the bread did not provide much flavor as
> the fermentation is short and the flour is a bit strong

The total fermentation time for the three rises of that batch was 5 1/2
hours, and the kitchen smelled like it. That wonderful bread-wine smell
from the fermentation.

I shaped the loaves and let them rise sitting on floured towels, seam
up. They held shape very well. I rolled them over onto a floured peel to
slide onto the baking stone, seam down. The dough was light, but still
firm enough to show slight traces of the seam when baked.

The ones I did on the baguette pan were equally good, maybe even a bit
better. The bottom crust wasn't as thick as the bread baked on stone.

This is how I'll make this kind of bread again.

Pastorio