The Right Tools for the Job

Now being a fresh yeast user I was excited to make my first loaf. I went to the Rye dough chapter in my book and decided on the caraway and raisin bread, I do love the taste of caraway.
The first thing was to find some Rye flour which wasn't too difficult, Holland & Barrett in Peckham came to my rescue on Saturday evening. The recipe for the dough is 100g rye flour, 400g white flour, 10g yeast, 10g salt and 350g water. You work the dough as normal until it's almost ready and then you add the raisins (250g) and a teaspoon of seeds. As usual the raisins were difficult to incorporate, they kept flying around the kitchen but got them in in the end. It's then proved for an hour and then formed into two loaves. These loaves are then proved again until they double in size.
And for the first time since I started making bread they did double in size, they looked marvelous, proper loaves. Just before I put them in the over I had to make slits in the loaves to give them a nice pattern once they are baked. However, my knife wasn't sharp enough and so all the air just went out of my lovely risen loaves! Thankfully I had ordered a blade from Bakery Bits (and a proving basket and dough scraper) so next time this won't happen, hopefully. I also bought a baking stone from Tesco, a piece of granite that now lives in the oven. So, I think I have all the right tools for the job and therefore no more excuses, perfect bread from here on out (!).
PS, the bread tasted good despite the lack of rising!