I am a more than occasional baker, and I can make a nice loaf while using bread/baguette pans, but I have a big problem with free form loaves, like those nice oval shaped beauties you see at a bakery. I’ll let them rise once, then punch the dough down and form it into a perfect little oval, but the second rise (on a stone or baking sheet) will spread primarilly horizontally. I end up with a nice tasting bread, but it looks more like a really tall pancake than a loaf of bread.
I have tried using more flour and a drier dough to help the loaf hold it’s shape, but it doesn’t do anything in the oven and I end up with a very dense loaf that isn’t any good. What can I do to get more verical rise? I once tried a springform cake pan to prevent the spread, and I ended up with a loaf that looded like a muffin.
I do live at altitude, but I don’t see why that would matter.