What Should One Expect From Their First Five Loaves of Home Made Bread?

OK -YOU are going to bake some bread - from scratch.  What should you expect?

Here is what a couple of loaves looked like from my oven this last week

Each weighs about 20 ounces.  The crust is crisp.  The top was slashed - here in a cross pattern.

Is this what you should expect??   Probably not.  Certainly, I am proud of this bread - but it's not what I baked in the beginning.  This bread is the product of a rise in a banneton (a bowl made from reeds), placed on a heated baking stone (this one is about 3/4 inch thick), with a pan of water at the base of the oven and the dough and stone misted every 8 minutes for 3 times to help give the dough an opportunity to rise while in the oven (before the crust forms) and then to give that crust a blistery surface baked at 500º.

The equipment and the technique evolved over time.  Since 1/1/16, I have probably used over a 1000 pounds of flour (99.9% in bread) - and that was after 6 months preparing for getting the permit.  So all this has pointed to the results you see.  It didn't start out that way.

The bread you see is a whole wheat bread with about 1/3 whole grain flour - course and fine ground wheat berries (red and white).  The whole grain flour was mixed with water and it was set to ferment for a day before the rest of the flour was added.  The longer fermentation period changes the flavor due to the enzymes that are allowed to develop.

Should you expect that?  If so, my 1000 pounds of experience don't really count.    So, no, while it is possible for you to get a similar looking loaf, you shouldn't expect that it will look like this at the beginning. For what it is worth, I tell my students that looks take a back seat to taste - a great looking loaf that doesn't taste good is worthless (except for photos) and a loaf that tastes great doesn't have to look good.  That said, you can do great - for a beginner.  Here are some photos of 'first loaves' from some of my students.

not bad, eh?  Reports are that they all tasted great.

Oh, there was one more

Yes, this one looks a lot like mine.  Yes, done by a student (with a good teacher?).


But, the bottom line - take it easy on yourself.

Practice the entire process - mixing, forming(and slashing) and baking.

You can do this.  And, they will all taste great, and they will get better and better looking with practice.