American Baking Systems

Good afternoon,

We are cheese makers and recently moved to an area where there is no Grade A milk (so we had to buys cows!) and no artisan bread within a reasonable distance. We opened a small market which serves as a venue for producers. As an aside we started baking bread so that we would be able to offer delicious bread again once our creamery is finished. We purchased a single deck from American Baking Systems.

This has been a bit of a struggle for me. I was able to produce beautiful loaves using the Dutch Oven method but now that I have a real deck oven I am experimenting and tossing bread daily. The baguettes are more forgiving but the boules do not look right. I cannot get a beautiful crust. Both steam levels result in a tasty crust but boy are they ugly! I have tried high steam (10 sec) and low steam (3 sec) but I am hoping that someone with experience may be able to give me some guidelines as I am also working on the recipe end of things. Oven temp:450F; deck 425F. Baking for about 35 minutes (internal temp 195). Too many variables at the moment. It's interesting that the Dutch Oven method is so forgiving. It seems like it wasn't necessary that everything be perfect.

I should mention that I am using 20% WW (Mockmill) but I don't think I can blame this as I saw someone online make the most beautiful loaves with 60% wheat that he was grinding himself. It is quite possible that I am not proofing things correctly. 

Tomorrow is another day ... humph! Thanks for the help. I imagine there are others out there feeling the same pain at times.