Batch 472

Yesterday was batch 472 day, five pound batch of brown bread that is, otherwise the day for trying out the new Spanish cooking dishes noticed at reference 1.

Very much the same size as the plates from Taiwan (illustrated at reference 2) they were intended to replace, but they had handles. Good for lifting, but bad for lids, so the second rise (in the enclosed airing cupboard) had to take place without the usual lids, that is to say inverted stainless steel bowls. With the result that the second rise was very slow, taking four hours to achieve a modest rise, instead of the usual two or less. With another result being that the finish of the tops of the risen loaves looked rather good, smooth and firmer than the regular finish.

Figure 1 - Shape

Cooked in the usual way, the loaves looked more or less OK, but with the difference illustrated at Figure 1 above. In the Taiwan plates, the bread shrinks away from the rims, making it (until recently) easy to get the cooked loaves out of the plates. While in the Spain dishes, the bread seems to be attracted to the rims, with the rise taking place in the interior. Which can also be seen in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 - Appearance

As I had expected, shaking did not do much good, and I was reduced to cutting out a segment to make room for getting a fish slice under the rest of the loaf.

Figure 3 - The segment

The good news was that the segment removed tasted really good. Good texture and good flavour.

Figure 4 - Messy exit

Thus fortified, went for more vigorous action with the fish slice on the second loaf, with the results illustrated. Got the loaf out in one piece, but making a bit of a mess of the bottom of the loaf and leaving a fair bit behind. Not helped by the bottoms of these new dishes not being flat like those of the plates. There was also some scratching of the shiny brown glaze. But no problem cleaning the dishes afterwards: the loaves might have stuck but the remains soaked off fast enough.

So an interesting experiment, but not one which will be taken further.

One of the new dishes is now serving to hold one of our larger pot plants. The other will be retained for use on ceremonial occasions. They are, after all, quite good looking things, despite being no use for the intended purpose.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/05/bank-holiday.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/05/disaster-one.html.