Completed Brotform compared to one ordered from Birnbaum (pale one). I made mine from red cane.

 My oval brotform was way too large. I made it from looking at pictures on the net.

 Another view

 Another view

 yet another view

 Completed Brotform

 Cane is nailed after bending in the heat of a heat-gun

The cane is soaked in water for a day to make them pliable.

Brotforms

I get occasional email queries from fellow bakers about the ring patterns in some of my bread. In the early days of my bread making adventures, I too, had wondered where those patterns came from. I found out eventually that they came off special proofing baskets called Brotforms.

Back then, it was not possible to find them in Singapore so I tried making my own. The pictures above were salvaged from an old blog which I fear will shut down one day and the postings there will vaporise. This posting was promted by a query that I had read in my favorite bread forum The Fresh Loaf. It stirred back fond memories of the fun I had while making my own Brotforms. I hope it will help fellow bakers gung-ho enough to make their own.

Brotforms can also be ordered online from
http://www.herbert-birnbaum.de/Herbert-Birnbaum/brotformen.html

The link to my original posting in Angelfire
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/tomsbread/Brotforms.htm

Foccacia with Laksa pesto

A busy weekend with baking on Saturday and Sunday. I promised my favorite Durian seller with something Italian. I have been on a Durian binge this season and a whole month of Durian kaya is surely enough for anyone, even for a hard-core Durian lover like myself. Who else will have Musang King Durian for afternoon tea?

This foccacia is modelled after Dan Lepard's which calls for the addition of some levain. As I have lost my recipe for the Laksa pesto, I had to wing it. The ingredients included Laksa leaves, 7 bulbs of roasted garlic, Parmesan cheese, toasted walnuts as I did not have pine nuts on hand. The pesto was seasoned with sea salt. ground black pepper and a dash of lemon juice. All were added by feel assisted by the tongue.