Interchangeable recipes/techniques?

I'm a fan of Peter Reinhart's books, too, and, though I mostly work with pre-doughs, the ABED S & F technique is my default mixing method, especially if I didn't have time to make pre-doughs.

Though I don't know what formula from the "Bread Bible" you are using, in principle you should be able to work with the S & F. Take care to end with a dough that is somewhat stickier than normally.

Karin

that's what I would do. Check the final dough, and adjust with a little bit more water (or milk), so that the dough is still a bit sticky.

I bake breads for sale every week, and have, at one time or another, made most of my repertoire with ABED S & F. I just tried the Arkatena Bread from "Bread Matters", following the author's advice of "vigorous" long kneading, no autolyse, and just one S & F during the bulk fermenting time. But the next time I'll definitely use ABED S & F instead.

I made some breads from Jan Hedh's "Swedish Breads & Pastry", first with the suggested long kneading without autolyse, then with S & F. There was no difference at all in the results - except for less work.

Where I don't use it, are recipes with a pâte fermentée preferment, like "Pane Siciliano" from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice". Just 6 minutes machine kneading are necessary to reach the desired dough temperature of 78 - 81 F, so S & F wouldn't save much time or effort.

One time I had problems with ABED S & F - when I made the whole wheat pitas from WGB (they have a fairly low hydration dough in order to roll them out later). The first time I didn't adjust the water, leaving the final dough stiff as it was. The dough was then very hard to stretch or fold, and retained dry spots. The next time I added a bit more water, and, voilà, it worked just fine.

Karin

Don't worry, Gail, if made right, lean, crusty breads are very tasty and not at all bland.

A baking stone is a good investment, I find it important mainly for retaining the temperature, so that the oven doesn't cool too much down when you open the door to put the bread in, or to rotate it for even browning - you don't necessarily have to bake directly on it.

Baguettes I prefer to bake in a perforated baguette pan, making it easier to keep the shape. My favorite lean breads are my Feinbrot (see my blog), David's San Joaquin Sourdough (see dmsnyder's blog), and DonD's baguette and his adaptation of Erich Kayser's Pain aux Cereales (both see DonD's blog).

And, please, don't hesitate to ask - I or somebody else in the forum will always be happy to help you out.

Karin

Stretch and fold works for me.  I'm not much of a kneader so S&F fits the bill -- for mostly wheat breads, anyway.  A mostly rye will act very differently because pentosans are very different from gluten.