The Fresh Loaf

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My latest sourdough

Littlebrooklyn's picture
Littlebrooklyn

My latest sourdough

I decided yesterday to try making a loaf with a higher hydration as it was mentioned before that the recipe I was following was only 62% hydration and could do with being a bit higher.

So I made up the dough yesterday afternoon, kneaded it for a bit, put it in a bowl and over a few hours just did a few stretch and folds, although the dough seemed to stay quite sticky compared to my previous recipe.

I left the dough in a banneton in the fridge overnight and then left it out on the worktop for about 3hrs this morning before baking it.  This is when it all started to fall apart a bit as the dough would not come out of the banneton, despite me having used a fair amount of rye flour in it last night.  I've not had any problems before but I am guessing the higher hydration makes the dough stickier and more likely to stick to the banneton.

I did eventually get the dough into the oven but by then I had got so stressed with it all that I forgot to put water in the roasting tin in the oven and only at the last minute did I remember to spray the top of the loaf with water.

Think I also left it too long before I covered the top with foil as it looks a bit overbaked but I'm surprised that I got anything out of today's baking!  Now I have sliced the loaf and had a close look I can see that the bottom bit of the loaf is denser and the top has some big holes.  I am assuming big holes are better?  Is the closer crumb at the bottom down to me having problems getting the dough out of the banneton or something else?  Sorry to ask so many question but still learning about sourdough bread.

Here is what my loaf today looks like

Lyn

 

Pufff's picture
Pufff

We are about on a par experience-wise, so I'm not going to offer any advice, but it looks super delish to me!

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

This one sure came out OK. Just think how good it would have been.........Next time use rice flour since not even concrete can stick to that and get some of Sylvias's steaming pans or lava rocks in pans to get some mega steam going.  Then no problems  - promise!.

You are making great strides and next time you will be rewarded even better than this one.

Happy baking.

ldavis47's picture
ldavis47

The crum is open throughout and has the appearance of a fully fermented dough. The crust is fully baked when the color is auburn which yours looks like, although picture color can be off. It is a great bake. Rice flour solves the sticking problem, but I mix half AP and half rice. Also if you don't want to muck with steam and spraying, try a Dutch oven, like Lodge, or a la Cloche. The results are identical.

Lloyd D.

Littlebrooklyn's picture
Littlebrooklyn

I wish I had space in my kitchen for a dutch oven or la Cloche but I have bought so many baking bits and pieces that my cupboards are overloaded!  I'm not sure if we have rice flour in the supermarkets here, I've got some semolina though if that's got a similar ability to stock dough sticking.

I haven't even tasted the bread yet as I was in a hurry so I just sliced it, gave half to my mum and put the rest in the freezer.  I've ordered a couple of smaller oval bannetons so that I can make loaves that I can give away without having to cut them in half, so will get my starter out and hope they turn out okay!

Thank you for all your helpful comments  :)

Lyn