Dutch Oven or Just on Stone ?

How to Navigate around in Mr Nut’s blogs:  At the left of the tool bar directly above the blog is an input box.  Type in as much of  the title as you remember and then click return.

Hello loyal  follower(s)

I thought i might have to eat crow over some of my observation on bread making.  

The last few loaves looked good but the crumb was somewhat "gummy". Obviously there was too much moisture in the oven  during the baking process.  In other words the broiler pan with water in it was creating too much steam.  For using the broiler pan and water method I stand ready to eat crow.

My intent yesterday, was to compare making Basic No Knead bread using a Dutch Oven for one loaf (blog of Oct 14, 2011) and just baking the second loaf on the baking stone without water in   a broiler pan (blog of Feb 28, 2012). Both blogs had the same ingredients, only the baking methods were different.

This was the dough ready for the 18 hour first fermentation.

After  the 18 hour fermentation, the size looked good. The dough was divided into loaves.   

?? would have been better if the dough had been divided before the 18 hour fermentation??

The loaf on the leaf from the Dutch oven method of baking looked more appealing.

Both crumbs were the same and were not gummy. The loaf on the left was the Dutch Oven method.  The loaf below was baked on the baking stone.

BUT NEITHER ATTAINED MY ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE LARGE HOLES AS SHOWN  AT THE LEFT.

The picture at the left was from the book MY BREAD by Jim Lahey

I will try again, although, it will be one loaf at a time for a while because my neighbor and I have quite enough bread to last for about a week.

Now let's change the subject.

Cyndy and I grubbed out the winter plants and replaced them with heat resistant plants.

They were Marigolds and Vincus.

The pretty large plant is a perennial, neither of us know its name.

Even though I am two months plus one week

post-op from my back surgery, I needed to be careful here.  Translation, Cyndy did most of the work.

During the winter this is Cyndy's Pansy garden.  Now I have to work on the sprinkling system.

We added another desert plant to our desert plants.  We do not remember what it was called.  I think it was a weeping something.   Bur hey. we are not into flowers.

À bientôt

Mr Nut