April 26, 2015 - 7:38am
First timer bread baker here
On a whim decided to finally try to figure out how to bake bread. I used my dutch oven at 425F to do the baking. The recipe is basically the No-Knead Bread recipe from the NYT. The only thing I did a little different is coat the top with olive oil and sea salt before putting in the oven. Overall, this turned out really well (for my first time anyway!). The crust is crunchy and the bread is super tasty. On both sides actually. I put the dough on uncoated parchment paper in the dutch oven during baking.
The only thing I'd like to fix for next time is to figure out how to make the loaf more airy. It's a little too dense.
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the bake was a success. I always have better luck with the crumb if i do a few sets of stretch and folds every 20 minutes for the first 2 hours - but then it isn't a no knead bread anymore either I also think if you preheat the DO to 500 F and then turn the oven down to 450 F when the bread goes in, the spring should be better too. That is a nice first loaf of bread for sure. Well done and
Welcome and Happy Baking
Hey thanks! I definitely want to try a higher temp next time. Thanks for the suggestion. I was a little concerned about the parchment paper burning, but apparently that's not an issue from what I've read.
not at 500 anyway. My current roll (Reynolds brand) says it's good to 420. It browns at 450-475, but doesn't combust.
And what exact process did you follow? There are various factors that can influence the density of the finished loaf, so you may get more / better insight if you provide complete info on what you did.
Well, I started with 4 cups of flour and 16 oz water (but it was cold). I added 1/2 tbsp sea salt and a packed of Fleischman's active dry yeast. I mixed that in a mixer for a couple of minutes and then let it sit for a couple hours in the bowl at room temp covered with saran wrap. After a few hours the dough looked a little "wet" to me so I added a bit more flower and folded it in by hand for a couple minutes. Then I let it sit for a few more hours before putting it in the DO at 425. I think in total the dough had risen for about 10 hours or so before baking.
longer rising time is likely to help. So will higher hydration, which effectively means wetter dough. So depending on how much flour you added, it might have had anywhere from a negligible impact on the final crumb to quite noticeable.
As an aside, if you have a kitchen scale, you might want to find a recipe using weights, not volumes. This will help produce more consistent results, largely because the weight of a given volume of flour can vary quite a lot depending how packed it is, how it was scooped, etc.
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If you want it lighter let it rise longer before putting it into the oven. Large holes in the crumb come from higher hydration dough, i.e. more water or milk. I agree that a couple of stretch and folds will give an improvement, and make a smoother crust.
Congratulations, however, on your first try. You are hooked -- home-made bread is better than anything you can buy in the grocery.
Ford
78% hydration for a no knead recipe is normal - you have to have it wet, Adding the flour like you did was a likely the main reason the bread was dense. Resit the urge to mess with the dough after the 2 hour mark., It is no knead after all .