The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

New from Norway

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

New from Norway

Hi folks, 

I have been lurking for a while, continuously ending back here while troubleshooting my "character building experiences". This place has been such a great resource, so I thought I'd join the fold. I'm a mid-twenties student from Oslo, with a passion for baking, coffee and cooking on the side. Or was it the other way around? I've been baking for a few years, mainly no-knead breads with commercial yeast, and now I'm having a second go at sourdough baking after my old one died while I was traveling. I am loving it.

Below is my latest adventure! It's a 82% hydration sourdough boule with 80/20ish % strong sifted spring wheat/whole wheat flower, baked in an enameled dutch oven. It's bulk fermented and allowed to rise a second time, both in the fridge. I've struggled for a while to handle it without it sticking or failing, but finally managed to do an okay job. Actual techniques help!The scoring is done with a kitchen knife honed to the sharpest of my ability.

I am quite happy with the results! It seems to have doubled in size after the oven spring. It's 10cm tall in the middle, which doesn't really show in the picture. As you can see from the heavy whiteness of my crust, I am likely suffering from not-enough-flour-in-banneton anxiety or something. I want to try a bit less hydrated dough next, and try to find a sweet spot next, as well as acquire a scoring tool of some sorts.

Anyways, that is me (and my bread)! I hope to learn a lot more, and hopefully share some of my experiences or even knowledge in the future. 

L

 

 

 

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

Gorgeous loaf, showing a lot of skill and artistic vision.  We'd love to see a crumb shot, and what you did to overcome the difficulties.  I assume the cold fermentation was for ease of handling (and flavor).

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

Of course! Here you go. I'm not exactly sure how the "perfect" crumb should look like, or what exactly to aim for in fermentation yet. The crumb feels moist-like to the touch and seems very robust, if that makes any sense. The aroma is nice, and smells a lot less sour than previous with room temperature fermentation. Likewise with the taste, and the wheat flavors are more prominent. I wanted that affect as well, but using the fridge was mainly to ease the handling. 

I have had difficulties in shaping the boule for the banneton. The dough being sticky before shaping the final boule shape doesn't bother me as much. I have also had problems transfering the dough from the banneton into the dutch oven, due to sticking inside. I picked up two tips from this video. The first being to fold the fresh dough five times before the bulk fermentation. The second was using the fridge for the fermentation and last rise. I did not Autolyse the dough, though, but will try that next. I also picked up some techniques from various videos of how to shape wet doughs, and how to spin the dough using a dough scraper for extra surface tension. I think all helped, but the most significant change from previous times was probably the dough being cold.

L

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

Nice work.  It's hard to imagine a better crumb than that.  I'm also pretty new to this, and the only high hydration dough I've made is Reinhardt's pain a l'ancienne dough (with commercial yeast), which is not exactly used for delicate shaping.  The cold fermentation also has the advantage of flavor enhancement, sourness, and time flexibility.

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

That looks like a fun recipe! I'd love to give it a go for baguettes for dinner some time. I'm sure shaping would be a whole nother type of adventure though. The time flexibility is indeed great for being able to have fun with this type of baking as a hobby for me!

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

The baguettes are great, and I highly recommend making focaccia with it, as the book describes.  It's very easy and the dough texture is incredible.

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

I could probably live exclusively off of focaccia. Thanks for the tip! 

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Your loaf looks fantastic :)

A double edged razor makes a handy (and cheap) scoring tool for me :)

Welcome to TFL. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your loaves.

Ru

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

I will definitely post more. Thanks for the tip! 

L

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

Your loaf is absolutely beautiful crust and crumb! Ah, Norway, I remember my friend, it's been 3 years since we last saw each other. Luckily, you have this bread to cheer me up!

Bake and post more!

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

Thanks! Were you ever in Norway? A quick look at your posts, and I'm impressed! I especially like the clay pot bake you did. Very cool!

 

L

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

I've never been in Norway. It's my friend who visits me here. I remember the last time we talked, we were talking about lutefisk, he says he doesn't like it! Haha Do you like lutefisk? How about lefse?

leolaurentii's picture
leolaurentii

Lutefisk! No, I have a bad experience with that one, but I will have to give it another shot sometime. Lefse is delicious, though!