steaming, cooling, mistakes and successes
This is my second attempt at Vermont Sourdough from Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman. The first attempt was edible and some folks loved it but I really screwed it up. I used a rye starter that has proven quite healthy. I welcome all advice, critiques and comments.
I used the tips from SylviaH for steaming. Yep, it works. Lots of steam. Ouch, I need longer gloves. But how long should I steam? I let it steam for at least 10 minutes until the sides started to brown. The towels were still wet and steaming.
Due to browning, I turned the oven down from 460F to 445F after about 25 minutes.
I had a steam pan at one edge of my stone. This cramped things a bit and the loaves kissed. I probably should have left the kiss intact until the loaves cooled off. I'm sure that breaking up that hot kiss will haunt me.
I also did not make the cuts near deep enough. I did get good oven spring. These loaves each weigh a bit over 23 ounces out of the oven.
When the loaves were out of the oven they really started crackling. I've not heard loaves so noisy.
I normally do pan loaves but decided to have a go at the steam and stone again. I'm sure I'll feel the burns later.
I have plastic bags I can put these into. What would be better to save the crunch of the crust? At least for a day maybe.
I'll post a photo of the crumb in an hour or so
Mike