Bread Rack

I have been looking on line to buy a small (about 1 meter length or so) rack to help me getting the bread out of the oven and vice versa. Of course the main purpose of this rack is to let the bread cool down easily, but I also use this rack to put the plates on
and to slide the dough with baking paper easy onto the plate.

I found this second hand on line for 20 Euros. New it costs 495 Euro, so I did get it real cheap, okay, it is not new, but it is in great condition and will serve it's purpose.

Proofer

So I managed to get home with the proofer I purchased on eBay (that was the easy part actually). What was not so easy was getting the proofer where it should be installed. It barely could pass through the door opening of the house and we had a lot of twisting and turning to do, even remove the doors to get this giant at it's place.

After that I let it stand for 24 hours to stabilize, as one would do with a refrigerator. Then the most fearing moment, would the proofer and namely all the electric wires have survived the trip and the (difficult) installation?
Yes! I flipped the switch and the red heating light started burning. I poured some water into the reservoir and waited a while. The temperature reader showed the desired (25°C)temperature. All good. When I opened the door I saw the evaporated water filled the cabinet, so it seemed to work okay.

I tested it and the breads I put in proofed okay. Only negative aspect : the top of the dough seemed a bit wet, making it impossible to make a decent slash. I seem not able to control the humidity, so I will need to find a solution.

Here are some pics of the proofer, all in all, it was dirt cheap, 99€ is not that much for this used machine. Proofing conditions will be a lot better than in my house, no doubt about that.

New tools

It is amazing how fast stuff breaks nowadays. I have purchased this machine to cut my slices of bread like a good year ago. It does not work anymore! The Kenwood has died on me. I don't like it. I paid like 40€ for it, which is more than enough and it did last for like a year and some months...
I had been looking to buy a more professional cutter, but the thing is that pro tools cost money, a lot of money! So I told my wife and she mentioned her mum still must have the cutter that her mother used.
She still had it and this piece of equipment is more than 50 years old. It is built to last! I even cut my finger when I cleaned the blade. It is amazing how well this is made. I cleaned it and it looks like it will last for another 50 years! We used it and it works perfect, I could not have been happier with it, just wishing that todays equipment would have the same quality build as this tool from the past.

New oven : pic :

This is the picture of my new oven. Like I mentioned : baking stone at the lowest level.
Also a picture of my first bread (a rustic Hamelman loaf). It did come out not as good as I had hoped even though it tasted great. It was okay, but no shiny crust. I did steam but because there are two small vent holes in the inside of the oven this is not ideal for baking bread!

I don't understand because the oven was clearly labeled as a bread oven. So my future project will be close the vents but not permanently. I will close them, but make sure that during the baking process (when the loaves are getting color) I will be able to open the vents. This will ensure steam will be going out through the chimney and the rest of the baking will be done in a dry oven.

The bread was the second thing I baked, the first time I made some hard rolls and the result was rather disappointing! I know I will have to learn to bake with it, because it is nothing like my regular kitchen oven to bake in. My goal is to get loaves as good as using the die cast pot I always bake in.
This should be doable. I will cross my fingers...

New oven.

I finally purchased a new oven. The oven I am currently using is good, but not actually made to bake bread. I had pretty good results baking in the die cast pot.
I have been saving money for a long time and I once spoke about getting a Rofco oven. But since the economy is pretty bad at this moment, I decided to look for something more affordable.

So I got a Fage oven today.
Their site looks pretty bad, but it is an Italian brand that make mainly pizza ovens. They made some bakery ovens too I guess, but the model I purchased I cannot seem to find on line. It has a baking stone at the lowest level and also a baking plate in the middle.
I am hoping I will get good results using it.

Delivery should be tomorrow and I hope to use it this weekend. Seems the weekend is going to be exiting!

New Scale

Yesterday I got the scale in the mail that I purchased on line. I got it from a site similar to eBay. I thought it was a great deal because I paid a hundred Euro including postage. The scale arrived in good condition. I did clean and disinfect to kill all the germs because you never know for what this second hand scale has been used for. It looks like it's brand new even though there is a sticker on that has the year 2004 on it. It works perfect.
This got me thinking about the fact that when I buy something for our kitchen it is most of the time not professional equipment. This scale is used in industries and looks like it is going to last forever. I could not say this about my previous scale which started to annoy me so much that I have purchased this one.
My experience is to get good equipment if you have the budget for it, or do as I did, search on line for a good deal to get pro tools.
I'd better start making bread right now, and use the thing where it is made for :-)

My kitchen aid.

One of the largest investments I made was getting a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Thanks to some nice people on line I was able to get it real cheap. It is one of the best investments that I ever made!

I was lucky to get it so cheap, and it seems that the site where I got it on line does not have them any longer in stock. People from the States are even more lucky because they can get these 'Heavy Duty' mixers even cheaper than us over here in Europe.

So is it really necessary to have one of these? Not at all! But it helps a lot. There might be better mixers out there for kneading bread, that is for sure. But the KA sure is handy! Have you ever tried holding a pot of boiled sugar in one hand while trying to whisk the sugar into a bowl using your other hand? Well, I did, and it was not easy at all, and pretty dangerous too. Boiled sugar can burn your skin real bad.

So since I got it I no longer have to fear to get burned when making pastry, the KA helps me do it in no time and safe! Seriously, I am sooo happy that I got it.