// panis vitae

Bread without Fancy Gadgets

If you dont have a banneton (rising basket for the final proofing):

Flour a piece of cloth (a reasonably tight weave and NOT terry cloth. Best to use something like linen or cotton. Maybe an old sheet) and put it in either a round basket or an appropriately-sized bowl. Make a makeshift couche by rubbing flour into a heavy cloth like a piece of canvas or heavy linen. Create large folds in the cloth to contain the bread (I will try to find a picture example).

If you dont have a lame (scoring blade), then use:

A doubled-edged razor attached to a coffee stirer A box-cutter or similar exacto knife Avery sharp knife: either a birds beak or serrated.

If you dont have a peel:

Quite honestly, a peel is great. You can get them for less than $15 on amazon. Apparently if you know someone good with wood you can make your own, according to a Romanian bread blogger. You can use parchment paper on the bread and shovel it in with the back side of a cookie sheet or a cookie sheet without a lip. If you use parchment, make sure you dust a little flour on the bread so that the bottom crust does not burn.

To make steam in your oven:

Buy an oven stone or an unglazed tile, either terra cotta or granite. Granite tiles are usually between $2-4. Use the non-polished side. Oil the tile or stone before using it the first time. Then use a large pot overturned to make steam. Buy a large combo cooker. About $35 on Amazon. Buy a la cloche dome Buy a dutch oven. Use a piece of parchment to lower your bread into the dutch oven.