Santa brought me some bannetons (part 1)

So I thought I'd test 'em out with some sourdough! You may have seen a previous post I made (which probably should have been a blog post) about getting back into sourdough. I'm going to break this into two posts because of all the pictures.

Both recipes came from Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice - 100% rye and pumpernickel. First order of business was prepping starters for the two recipes, remembering to refresh what's left of my starter. I like to add the water to the starter to break it up and soften it, making it easier to incorporate into the final product.

Next up: bulk rises, then flour up those bannetons! I sprayed them with aerosol oil and used a 50/50 mix of AP and rice flour to fill the gaps. These are big, 10" jobs, so the full 2# batch of dough went right into each.

The pumpernickel went together nicely, the dough handled well. Got a good rise in the banneton, and it rolled right out onto my makeshift peel without incident.

A little slash, 40 minutes in the oven, and oh-my-gosh picture perfect.

Crumb is soft, and surprisingly light. Crust was good and crunchy, and has softened to chewy over the evening. And yes, that heel was the baker's treat, complete with homemade cultured butter.

To be continued...