Susan's simple sourdough - this time with salt
I remembered the salt this time!
The programme won't let me paste the link to the recipe, but search on "simple_sourdough_909"
I did everything the same as in my saltless version with two exceptions: I substituted 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 1 tbsp water and I steamed the oven instead of covering the loaf for the first 20 minutes of baking.
I also tried a different slashing design. I made a mess of the slashing - I used scissors and I think I got the angle wrong. As soon as I cut into it the dough deflated and spread outwards a bit. Or is that meant to happen?
I didn't get much oven spring and I wonder if that is due to the slashing or to having used Pam's flour, Pam's being a budget grocery products brand here in New Zealand. Or due to my oven only having a fan-bake function. Or not using a baking stone? Or over-proofing? (so many variables!) The recipe itself only calls for 300 g of flour, so would result in a small loaf, but I think there should have been more oven spring.
The flavour was excellent and I was pleased with the crumb. The texture was light, springy and spongy. The crust was just the right degree of crispness. The flavour was slightly tangy but not too sour. This is a delicious bread. Thank you, Susan.
If there are any other "lurkers" out there not too confident about contributing to this site I would say give this bread a go. This is a simple recipe which gives a delicious initial result and then makes a good basic starting point for making modifications to suit your own baking circumstances.
I would be grateful for any advice on how to get better oven spring. Thanks and season's greetings from Liz.
Comments
deflation I'd be curious to know.. I did a loaf over the weekend and did the slashing (first time using a banneton too) and it did the same thing -- spread-out wide and shrunk vertically speaking.. I saw on one of the online stores that they carry a special knife for doing the slashing that uses razor blades -- I'm thinking that they need to be super sharp..
The crumb looks great Liza2. You can see by the pre bake shots that you had nice open crumb structure. It did deflate a little changing the shape but I wouldn't worry about that. In fact you could try a more simple slashing job that isn't quite so deep.
I have found with a sourdough loaf that it's better using the Susans recipe if I don't proof past 45 minutes. The spring seems to be better. As long as you can proof in a warm room temp you should get good results from spring. Try using your bread knife lightly across the top once only and not deep.
Slashing is an on going discovery of why I'm not a surgeon. Lol!
Eric
Eric, thank you for your advice. My surgeon son in law had actually offered me one of his scalpels! But now I've found someone in NZ who sells lame knives to which you can attach a razor blade and I've been dropping hints about how that would make a very cool christmas present. Anyway, I have another loaf on the go and will try proofing for 45 minutes only and will follow your advice for slashing. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again and enjoy your Christmas celebrations.
Lisa, you're doing well. Just keep on baking and it'll all come together for you. Eric's on the right path, I believe. Looks to me as if your loaf is overproofed. Take a look at this overproofed loaf pictured on my blog. And, if I had to use a convection oven, I'd go back to covering the loaf for the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the baking time rather than spraying. It's important to keep the crust hydrated at first, and air blowing from the fan will just dry it out.
OSX, I feel that No. 1 in importance is a fully active starter and Nos. 2 thru 100 are technique. I use a bread knife to slash, or sometimes I use a tomato knife. Starter and technique are far more important to a good-tasting loaf of bread than slashing is. I've seen some beautiful loaves here that are are simply left upside-down to bake and never slashed at all.
Keep asking questions...
Susan from San Diego
Susan, thanks for your encouragement and advice. I looked at the photos on your link and I think you're right about the over proofing. That would explain why there was no oven spring. I'll have another loaf in the fridge overnight to bake tomorrow morning. I'll do a shorter proofing time and will cover it for the first 20 minutes. That makes sense about what you said about the fan drying it out, I didn't think of that. Thanks again - the bread I made yesterday tasted fabulous - and merry christmas. Liz