The Bread That Ate Maryland
First off, thanks to all of you who posted advice in the previous thread about AP vs. a mix of WW/rye. I have decided to not mess with that at this time and instead have embarked on making bread using the recipe previously posted with just AP flour. I figure baby steps are best till I become more used to overall baking. So last night I made the stage 1 dough, 220g of starter instead of the 227g the recipe calls for because I nearly ran out of starter, 340g lukewarm water, and 360g AP flour, and let it rest four hours before refrigerating overnight. This morning I added the remaining 240g of flour and the 2.5 Tsp salt and kneaded in my Kitchenaid with the dough hook attachment. It's been in the oven on the Bread Proof setting for the last 2.5 hours. I have, per the recipe pulled it out, folded it over, and put it back in to proof, but I have only done this once, and not every hour as per the recipe. I will look in again at the five hour mark and see what it looks like. It may want some more time. Frankly I think the dough is looking and feeling pretty good. Here are some pictures of the dough last night after resting four hours. It's looking nice and bubbly and was even more so this morning. And here it is this morning after finishing and putting into my proofing bowl prior to putting in the oven. As always, your comments are most welcome.
...is the dough in my proofing bowl after five hours and change in the oven set on Bread Proof. After gently patting it down at the two and a half hour mark this is what it looked like after proofing for another two and a half hours. It's pretty active and rose considerably. I've now taken it out, divided it in half, formed them into rounds to rest for ten minutes, then shaped them into bâtards and placed those into my oval bannetons. Those are now proofing and will be checked at the two hour mark. If they need more time to rise they'll be in for another two hours.
The King Arthur recipes have a good rep, as far as I know.
What bread cookbooks do you own, and which, if any, of the tube's bread channels do you favor? Or any other bread-specific web sites?
The bread is done. I had it in at 475 for 20 minutes with a pan of water in the oven, and sprayed with water. I took the water pan out at 20 minutes, turned the baking sheet around, lowered the temp to 425 and let it go another 10 minutes. When I checked it again is didn't seem to be getting very brown, so I left it in another 5 minutes and then fearing burning or over baking I pulled them out. They thump rather nicely, and the crust seems to be hard enough to be crunchy, but still not as brown as I'm expecting. I have a gas oven, and as far as I know the temp is even, so I don't know what I'm still doing wrong here. Although the crust does have a similar color to the loaf shown on the recipe page. So maybe I'm not doing anything wrong.
As for books, I have two, both fairly old. English Bread and Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth David, published in 1979, and World Sourdoughs of Antiquity by Ed Wood, published in 1996. I don't have any particular bread channel. I just watch random videos and save the ones I think are worthwhile.
So the bread is cooling and the taste test will come in a bit.
Those look great for a first time sourdough! Much better than mine.
The continuous venting of the gas oven is what does that to the crust.
All the steam you make is just going out the vent.
You'll need some kind of cover, like an inverted bowl, or an inverted deep steam pan, or an inverted roaster (some people like to use oval turkey-sized Graniteware roasters for batards. Steam rises in an oven, and those will trap it. The steam comes from the dough, you then don't have to steam your oven separately. Though some people spray mist the dough surface prior to loading it into the oven.
Other than those things, there are: clay bakers, bread cloches, dutch ovens, combo-cooker dutch ovens, big glass covered casserole dishes.
Yeah, I thought it might be something like that. I would rather have an electric oven while maintaining a gas stovetop. But I'm renting and beggars can't be choosers. Next time I will try a Dutch Oven, though it means I'll have to bake each loaf individually and make boules instead of bâtards.
And cast iron dutch oven. mine has a flat lid with handles so I use the lid as the base and the base as the lid. Spray or ice cube and good to go.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LEXR0K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here is the bread cut open. It's got good crumb and oven spring. The crust however takes a lot to cut through especially once I get to the bottom. I think I might have baked it too long while trying to go for a browner crust. Still, it's very tasty, and has a good tang to it. I like this recipe and will try it again, even though it's almost a full day and a half process. Good thing I'm retired. ;)
My breads are almost charred wen I pull them out of the oven. You’ll like the crust better tomorrow when it softens up!
Better than most beginners.
Since you already cut it open, as long as it is not too hot, if you store it in a plastic bag, the moisture will soften that crust.
Uncut, my loaves take 1 to 2 hours to cool, then I store in plastic bag as I like soft chewy crust.
If you don't like the crust, cut the crust off, then cut it up and feed to birds. The local ducks and geese love my mistakes. Literally "casting bread upon the waters."
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There is a way to recycle stale or dried out pieces of bread into the next batch. The stale or dry bread is called "altus."
I do have plastic bags for storing the bread, so hopefully that will work to soften the crust.
I have heard that feeding bread to ducks and geese is not good for the them. Maybe that's just commercially made bread from the grocery store which has other things in it we bakers aren't putting into ours.
Last time I had a partial loaf getting stale I made croutons. Tasty.
Congrats on your first loaves! They look great and the right choice to keep it simple until you get comfortable with the process.
Regarding a day and a half for the bake…. That’s not uncommon, especially if you have a cold retard as part of the method.
Good luck on your journey!
...Dutch ovens, has anyone tried one of these silpats that are made to make it easier to pull your loaf from a hot DO?
Just FYI, they do have temp limits
35 minutes at 475/425 seems like a mild bake. For dough mass in the 900g neighborhood I bake 40-50 minutes at 425 with the oven preheated to 500.
Everyone follows their own baking journey. If you are looking for darker color and thinner crust, try higher temp for a bit longer time.