Thank you for the beautiful inspiration to try this bread today! I developed a wild-yeast sourdough starter recently, and decided to use it to try this recipe, despite my skepticism about the 8 g of starter.
Well - I'm pretty happy with it! The crumb is open - not as much as txfarmer's - and the crust rates with the best I've made. Inside, the texture is very moist and chewy. My skepticism about the amount of starter was proved wrong – the dough rose at the rates suggested.
One thing I did not understand in the directions was the process between proofing and baking. Here’s what I did:
Step 5 – shape, let rise in greased/floured bowls (2.75 hours, warm kitchen). I don’t have proofing baskets.
Heat oven to 500, ready cloths in hot pan for steaming
*tried* to transfer loaves to flat pans for baking, but it was too sticky and would not let me make a nice tall round for baking! I am used to rounding and boule-ing my loaves before baking, but that would have been impossible unless I used a lot more flour.
Sliced shallow cuts in each loaf with razor
b/c it was sooo very sticky, it ended up starting its bake by spreading; it was probably only 1.5 inches high when I peeked in at 5 min.
steamed it throughout, cooked for about 45-50 min at 500F.
Ended with loaves at about 3.5” each, with splits on the sides (instead of on the top).
I probably used about 820 grams water, instead of 800. But still, I have never worked with a dough that was so sticky after the proof. What have I missed, and did it lead to the low-rise of the bread?
Thank you all,
Lizzy
