cracked top of whole wheat sourdough bread, why?
Hi everyone,
I'm new here and I'm sorry for starting to post without having introduced myself. Hope you don't mind if I don't. Ok, I'm a woman, using grams and Celcius:)
I have tried "almost successfully" to bake sourdough bread a couple of times.
Today, I thought to make a no-knead bread (no kneading after the dough has doubled in size) and just to pour it into a wide square baking glass pan. Now, the inside of the bread is perfect for me, but the top is all cracked up.
My question is: What can I do to avoid the cracking?
To give you more details, I've mixed the ingredients yesterday night, leaving the dough to rise overnight. And this morning, after almost an 11-hours rise, I poured it into the pan without touching the dough with anything (only "scratching" some remainder from the walls of the bowl in the end).
The dough was: 1 cup whole wheat sourdough starter, 2 cups water, 4 cups whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon sea salt, about 2 tablespoons olive oil.
I have taken photos of the cracked top, but don't know yet how to post them.
Thanks for any insight and help.
Best regards to all!