The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Happy breads; some thoughts on scoring

mickybean's picture
mickybean

Happy breads; some thoughts on scoring

Almost 9 months since I began my sourdough starter, and I finally feel like I'm getting a teeny bit of a handle on this, which I say joyfully but cautiously.

My bread is still more or less the Norwich Sourdough that so many have found success with, with some occasional flour tweaks. I went through a long "wilderness" period of upping the hydration to 76% or so, but it gave me so many problems that I was eventually forced to confront the fact that I was playing with such a wet dough purely because I felt I had something to prove. I scaled back down to Susan's original quantities and am still getting a nice open crumb, but with a dough that I can actually work with, and that doesn't stick to bannetons like cement.

I keep my starter at about 25% rye, which (rightly or wrongly) I feel gives it more vitality in the fridge, and also gives my breads a nice extra bit of flavor dimension.

These days I'll make 2 kilos of dough, shape them into 2 equal-sized boules, bake 1 straight away, and give the other one a good long retard in the fridge. That way I end up with 1 good but fairly neutral loaf, and one with really rich flavor. I enjoy using each kind for different things.

Some observations on scoring, which was my bugbear for several months. Many people on this forum continually told me to score more shallow, more at an angle. Nothing helped. Then I came across this blog post, which recommends

"once you've shown restraint in hydration [which I did when I reverted to Susan's original Norwich proportions]...score DEEPLY. and score TWICE. that's my secret. yes, twice. you score the pattern that you want, then you go back in and cut through the dough again, deeply."

This seemed to go against everything I had been repeatedly told, but I wasn't getting anywhere with my shallow curved-lame slashes, so I thought, what the hell.

The result was my first-ever ears!

Now I have so much fun playing with new patterns.

No great crumb shots, unfortunately, but you can get a bit of a sense from this pic of my garlic bread stash. This is the blander of the two boules that I make; I prefer to save the sour, richer one for plain eating:

Final note/plea for wisdom: lately I've been enjoying baking my boules in an enameled cocotte, which is so much easier than those crazy lengths we all go to in order to "create steam," but I am finding that the bottom of the bread gets a bit too black. Not to the point of burning, but it's problematic if I want to make toast. Does anyone have a way of getting around this? Here is a shot of a blackened bottom (I'm holding the bread upside down):

Comments

balmagowry's picture
balmagowry

How lovely your loaves are.

Funny, I've been playing with double-scoring myself, but am still not getting anything I'd really call an ear - not on baguettes, that is, though I get a little bit of auricular manifestation on the occasional batard. Will persevere, encouraged by your success.

About the dark tough bottom crust - I've sometimes had this problem too when baking en cloche. The two changes that solved it for me: 1) Use parchment; 2) Remove the cloche/cover a little earlier in the bake. Steam and a hot stone are both wonderful things, but one can occasionally have too much of a good thing.

mickybean's picture
mickybean

Have been using parchment, doesn't seem to make a difference. Typically keep the lid on for 20 min (1 kilo loaf), might try 15. Another commenter mentioned transferring the loaf to a room temp sheet pan after steaming, will try that, too.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I love your "Garlic Bread Bank." 

Another tweak I found helps prevent burned bottoms when baking in cast iron, enameled or not, is to sprinkle the bottom with semolina or polenta.

David

balmagowry's picture
balmagowry

especially the fact that it is labeled as such. I have sort of a panzanella/bread-pudding bank, but it's been incognito until now. With food as with yarn, I always make the fatal mistake of failing to label my stash because I'm always SO SURE that of course I will REMEMBER which bake/spin was which.

(Hah. I learn from my mistakes: The more often I make the same one, the more effectively I make it.)

mickybean's picture
mickybean

Funnily enough I just had to throw out my bag of semolina yesterday when it suddenly became infested with a zillion weevils. Had been in a sliding ziploc for months without trouble and then they all seemed to appear at once. Guess this means that I'd been eating their eggs for some time...

wassisname's picture
wassisname

I had problems with burnt bottoms when using a cast iron cooker, so I started taking the loaf out of the cooker altogether, not just uncovering it, and finishing the bake on a sheet pan (not preheated). 

Marcus

mickybean's picture
mickybean

Will try.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

the crust, crumb and double scoring.  Just perfect.  Higher hydration depends more on the flour used than the % wanted.  For scoring, a less hydrated dough is the way to go and putting it in the fridge for a half hour doesn't hurt either is still wet. 

I take my bread completely out of the DO 5 minutes after the lid comes off.  No more burnt bottoms.  Well done and

Happy baking

Ingrid G's picture
Ingrid G

I found the same and have adjusted the temperature down by 20 degrees C. No more dark bottoms! Work like a treat.

mickybean's picture
mickybean

When you say 20 degrees C down...what temperature are you starting from?

Ingrid G's picture
Ingrid G

I preheat my Dutch oven, including lid, for 30 minutes on 230ºC, bake for 30 minutes with lid on, turn temperature down to 200ºC, remove lid and bake a further 15 minutes (my breads are tartine-type bread). Those temperatures are for conventional oven; take a further 20ºC off for fan-forced.

 

Ingrid G's picture
Ingrid G

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Ingrid G's picture
Ingrid G

mickybean, wanted to show the bottom of the bread.

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mickybean's picture
mickybean

Thanks for the notes on temp.

bbegley's picture
bbegley

Some real beautiful loves.  Great job and thanks for your thoughts on scoring.

David Esq.'s picture
David Esq.

Several things can be done to keep the bottoms from burning.  I bake in the lodge combo cooker, deep dish on top. When the cover comes off, I nest the shallow pan inside of it.  Maybe the layer of air acts to insulate the bottom from further heat.

Another thing that will certainly work for you is if you take the bread out of the cooker and place it on top of an insulated cookie sheet.