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Le Grande Comedie! My first attempt at baking a sourdough loaf

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

Le Grande Comedie! My first attempt at baking a sourdough loaf

So, I got my standard PhD in sourdough from youtube and thought..."I've been baking bread with commercial yeast for years....how hard could it be?"

I got a 5 year old King Arthur starter sample from a local baker who was happy to share and coach.  I went home, fed it well (I think), fed it again, and then started a loaf.

Felt like a Bad A$$ because i learned the term "autolyse" but am still not 100% sure if I autolysed whatever correctly because basically I just put it in my proofing box at 85 for 3-4 hours. It looked good, so I smacked it around a bit, folded it, and put it back in the proofing box for another 4-5 hours.  It rose well (I think), so I pre-heated the oven.  When it got to 500, I grabbed my favorite dutch oven and panicked because its WAY to small. 

So I improvised....I scored the loaf (man that thing deflates FAST) and then fashioned a field expedient lid using heavy tin foil and plopped her in the oven!

It's currently cooking with its tinfoil hat, and I'm nervous how it will come out.  Honestly, I'll be a bit disappointed if its beautiful and tasty.....it can't be THAT forgiving!

Pictures to come if I can figure out how to do it....and am not too embarrassed. :-)

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

So, I took it out after 30 minutes with the tinfoil hat, removed the hat, and put it back in at 450 (it was at 500) for another 30 minutes.....its still baking right now.  Looks....like....maybe?Tinfoil hat

Top view of flacy dough

I'm currently holding an old fashioned prayer circle that this will work.  An old fashioned "hedge of protection!"

 

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

Took it out after 35 more minutes....looks and smells OK.  Looks small actually?

I'll let it cool for an hour, then I'll let you know!

 

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

PS - I hate looking at the ads on the right of such beautiful loaves next to my ugly first loaf! :-)

AGGut's picture
AGGut

From one beginner to another, it’s not shabby looking at all hombre.  I kind of like the extra height of your loaf.  How did it taste?

Talk about comedy!  My first loaf slid on my screaming hot tray at which point I placed / dropped / overturned the 500° dutch oven over it, darned near bisecting the dough.  Managed to wrestle the scorching hot pot off and slide it back where it belonged and was amazed the thing recovered almost completely.  Won’t be doing that again!

 

 

 

 

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

Hahaha!  That's awesome.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

The loaf looks great!  I squinted when you described scoring as deflating (a description often of overproofing) but it looks great so ... congratulations are in order.   Now we wait the minimum 4 hour cooling (or longer) for the obligatory crumb shot.  How much does that baby weigh?  :). ( you could just add up the weight of the ingredients.)

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

Haha. Thanks!  I waited only one hour. Really....4 hours?  I didn't think to weight it.  My wife and I had a couple of slices before bed last night with some homemade butter!  It. Was. Awesome.

I was surprised at how sour it was (in a good way).

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

Not sure how I would tell if it's done proofing.

gringogigante's picture
gringogigante

I can't tell if it's too dense, but it tasted great!   This king arthur starter made a sour taste.  I don't know how to quantify the sourness, but i would call it "pretty sour!".  Whatever that means.  It takes nothing like standard white bread, but it is also not crazy sour.   I guess I'll need to gain some perspective and education.

As for the density, it seemed dense to me. Granted it was (what I'm told is a ) low hydration dough, but again I'm at the beginning of the learning curve