[Sca-cooks] Manchet

[Michael Gunter]

>OK, this is one area where I can provide advice.  Assuming that you've
>got the kneading and rising down pat, the one thing you can do to make
>your bread a bit fluffier and give it a bit thinner crust is bake it at
>a higher temperature.  350 is not hot enough for most breads. I do small
>manchets at 400.

Just for reference, does anyone have the data on a "hot" woodburning
oven, such as when the coals are first raked out and the roasts are put
in as compared to a "soft" or cooler oven? Is 400 about right? What
temp would constitute a "soft" oven?

>I suspect from your description of the bread
>developing a crack and the crumb being dense that you may also have
>kneaded in a bit more flour than is ideal.

That might be, but the raw dough was still slightly sticky by the time
it was placed in the oven. And it looks like, from the various descriptions
I've found and have been mentioned on here that the dough is supposed
to rise. You may be very correct on the crumb. It's kind of hard to tell
what it is supposed to be. One thing I'm basing my ideas of the crumb to
be is the fact that bread was often "grated". Too light of a crumb and
I don't think they would be grating even stale bread. A thicker crumb
leads more to grating for decent crumbs.

>Adele de Maisieres

Thank you for your input as well, the more information we get the better
chance we have of figuring all of this out.

Gunthar

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