Having received Peter Reinhart's "Crust and Crumb" for Christmas
(fantastic book btw), I've got three sourdough boules proving in my
makeshift baskets - wide shallow soup plates lined with floured cloth.
I've put the side where I pinched the seams together on the bottom, next
to the cloth.

They have to retard in the fridge overnight, but then what's the best
way of transferring them to the peel (aka a baking sheet lined with
non-stick parchment paper)?

Do I (1) lift the cloth out of the bowl then slide the peel between the
loaf and the cloth; (2) put something flat on top of the loaf and invert
everything, then repeat the process to get it onto the peel with
"smooth" side uppermost? Or something entirely different?

Quick replies (before 10am GMT Jan 11) especially welcome, as that's
when I'll be putting it in the oven.

Thanks,

- guy
--
Remove the obvious to reply.

"Guy Snape" > wrote in message
...
> Having received Peter Reinhart's "Crust and Crumb" for Christmas
> (fantastic book btw), I've got three sourdough boules proving in my
> makeshift baskets - wide shallow soup plates lined with floured cloth.
> I've put the side where I pinched the seams together on the bottom, next
> to the cloth.
>
> They have to retard in the fridge overnight, but then what's the best way
> of transferring them to the peel (aka a baking sheet lined with non-stick
> parchment paper)?
>
> Do I (1) lift the cloth out of the bowl then slide the peel between the
> loaf and the cloth; (2) put something flat on top of the loaf and invert
> everything, then repeat the process to get it onto the peel with "smooth"
> side uppermost? Or something entirely different?
>
> Quick replies (before 10am GMT Jan 11) especially welcome, as that's when
> I'll be putting it in the oven.
>
> Thanks,
>
> - guy
> --
> Remove the obvious to reply.

Put the parchment over the dough in the basket. Put the peel over the
basket and invert directly onto the peel. Next time, just remember to
place the dough seam side up. It's quite likely that the dough in the basket
will be higher than the basket sides--invert anyway, just be gentle and
quick. The inversion will work better if you don't try to bring the loaves
to room temperature before baking(not necessary anyway). On the other hand,
don't try to bring the loaves to room temperature once you have inverted
them onto the peel. You only need about 1/2 hour out of the fridge before
baking.
Janet

In article >,
Guy Snape > wrote:

>
> They have to retard in the fridge overnight, but then what's the best
> way of transferring them to the peel (aka a baking sheet lined with
> non-stick parchment paper)?
>

I don't know the best way, but a few days ago I inverted my rye
sourdough from it's brotform right onto the stone in the oven. Seemed
safer to me than trying to move it from there to the peel and then to
the oven.

FWIW, Hamelman says in his book that he doesn't feel that you need to
bring cold bread dough (from the frig) up to temperature. In the scheme
of things, when you're putting something into a 400F or higher oven, the
difference between 40F and 60F probably doesn't make a big difference.

If you do a lot of baking, or would like to, do get a real peel - it
makes life SO much easier for me for moving pizzas and bread into the
very hot oven!

--
Mary Beth
Orientation::Quilter

http://www.quiltr.com
http://www.fruitcakesociety.org

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 00:01:28 -0500
Mary Beth Goodman > wrote:

>
> If you do a lot of baking, or would like to, do get a real peel - it
> makes life SO much easier for me for moving pizzas and bread into the
> very hot oven!


I'm curious how you define "real peel", and where i can get one.

Most of the peels for sale at popular stores appear to me to be novelty
devices. Great big hunks of coarse grained plywood near 3/4" thick with a
crude taper on the curved end. I've used them and don't care for them.

Most of the metal ones are fairly small, and frequently have very loose
handles.

What I'm currently using is an aluminum monstrosity the size of a half
sheet pan. I kinda like it.