Sourdough Boule w/ Banneton & Cast Iron Dutch Oven
80% hydration, 100% Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose White Flour. (Just flour, water & salt.) 890 grams of dough pulled from my dough bin (dough aged 2 days in the fridge), folded a couple times, formed into a ball, floured and thrown into a rice flour lined banneton. Baked at 450F for 25 minutes in covered preheated cast iron dutch oven. Lid taken off and baked for 9 more minutes. Bread in following photo was sliced with meat slicer.
Made some homemade pastrami from some beef shoulder clod I had in the freezer (cured and smoked it) :
Made up some homemade Russian dressing today -- mayo, ketchup, olive oil, lemon juice, paprika, worecestershire sauce, pinch of dill, minced onions, minced celery and freshly ground black pepper.
Then made Pastrami "Reuben" with it all--yeah I know Reuben is supposed to have rye bread but I like this sourdough bread just fine with it (heck a Reuben isn't even supposed to have pastrami in it).
I'm hungry for a Reuben now, because of you! I hope you're happy! No, really, I hope your sandwich made you happy. It looks delicious. The bread looks perfect. The pastrami looks great. Everything is beautiful!
Looks great. How much starter did you use(and starter hydration %)?
99 grams of 100% hydration unbleached all purpose white flour starter, for a bin of dough to make 3 x 900 gram loaves.
Thanks.
How long do you leave the dough out before putting it in the fridge after you mix it?
Do you normally keep your starter in the fridge or out?
After I mix the dough up, I let it sit out at room temperature until it just about doubles--12 hours or so for me here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Then I throw it in the fridge.
(Btw, when I mix it I start by throwing the small amount of starter, then the water and salt. I mix those thoroughly before incorporating the flour, as to distribute the yeast well.)
I keep my starter in the fridge.
I came up with this process from four different ways I've seen bread made: 1) sourdough 2) Jim Lahey's No-Knead 3) banneton 4) dough bin kept in the fridge with a week's supply of dough.
This method seems to suit me well. I like Jim's method of creating a small hot oven for the bread to steam in forming a nice tasty crust; also a big benefit is the pot keeps the loaf tall because it can't spread out--this is nice for really high hydration doughs. I also like that both his method and the dough bin method is no-knead, which saves time and makes really nice gas pockets in the bread (I just fold like two times and form into a ball). I love the banneton because it keeps the bread tall and makes pretty lines on it--the skin on it is nice as well. And of course I need sourdough, Jim Lahey's packet yeast method is okay but doesn't taste as flavorful as sourdough! I also like the bin because I can pull whatever amount of dough I need out of it for loaves, pizza, bagels, etc..
Of course this isn't the only way I make bread, but when I get lazy I use the dough bin. Usually I make individual loaves with other flours and ingredients.
Here is my Cambro dough bin (large enough for enough dough for 4 loaves of bread) -- dough is good for up to week or so -- tastes best when dough is aged 2 days or more in the fridge in this bin :
Weighing out enough dough for the loaf :
Lined my freshly cleaned--dredged with a wooden skewer--banneton, lined with an ample amount of rice flour:
Coated the dough well (after folding a couple times and forming into a ball) with LOTS of flour before sitting in the banneton (seams on the bottom) :
I cover mine with a clean folded flour sack chef's towl (laundry detergent is free & clear of perfumes and fabric softener):
It's ready! Time to start the oven. Preheated a partially covered cast iron dutch oven & lid at 450F for about 40 minutes until my infrared thermometer read 450F on the surface of the cast iron oven. Sprinkle corn meal on what will be the bottom of the loaf while it is in the banneton--these will make it easier for the dough to fall out of the pan and will help keep the bottom from over browning.
Question: do you have any issue with the dough becoming too sour seeing that it is kept for such a long time?
Never. It never gets too sour like that artificially soured "sourdough" bread at the store. It gets to be a nice tanginess. I love it for french toast, pizza dough (oh my the best) and loaves. My fridge is at 38F.
The starter is 100% hydration, not like many firmer starters for a more sour sourdough. I could make it more sour than it is if I wanted. It works well for me from day one, up to a week in the fridge.
So, as I now understand it, since I keep a firm levain chef/mother, when I bake straight from a portion of that levain chef, chances are my loaf will turn out sour. But I could build a more liquid starter from that same portion of levain chef, whence the sourness if any would be diluted and the loaf would turn out sweeter. Is it that simple or have I misunderstood?
Actually today is the day I take out part of my levain chef to bake my two daily breads and feed the rest for storage. I shall try this dilution of sourness idea (so to speak). If that works, especially in my oat bran bread, I will have to thank you for it.
I am not really sure, I think I read that thicker starters are more sour. I'm pretty much an amateur and others here can better chime in :) Wish you the best :)
May I ask what brand it is? I did a quick browse on Amazon.ca & Canadian Tire. What they have are rather bland.
Paula Deen Covered Cast Iron Casserole -- 3 quart I believe. I got it from JC Penny's like 5 years ago on sale for around $45.
If interested in how I cured and smoked the beef shoulder clod pastrami:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181437
Ok, I have to say first, I love Ruebens, and you're looked amazing. The bread, of course, is as important as the meat. I loved how much spring you got after you took the lid off, that surprised me as I thought all that spring was up front.
Question though, the videos I've watched about using Bennatons all seem to show them wiping the flour off after turning the loaf out. You didn't do that. When I haven't removed that excess flour, I've ended up with that flour turning brown during the bake. Didn't see to happen to you. Any idea why?
Russ
Hrm, I never thought about that or noticed them wiping the flour off before (but I haven't paid that much attention I guess -- it's been years since I've seen a video of it). Maybe it is because my bread is in such a tiny oven -- oven being the size of the bread -- and there is a lot of steam?
DO no knead baking at its best! I like that the holes donl' get so large the stuff falls through them and long cold retard brings out the sour with no n=muss or fuss.
We love to cure and smoke meats here too and your shoulder pastrami looks very good indeed. It has to be 100% better than that horrible expensive pastrami they sell (Deitz and Watson comes to mind) in the stores made from round roast ....but white bread for a Reuben just isn't kosher, the pastrami is OK, well not really, but heck, if it tastes better than corned beef, even on white bread - who cares :-)
Are you making your on kraut and pickles for these pastrami sammys? Nothing like fermenting more and more stuff until you have no time for anything else:-) Well Done and
Happy Baking and Fermenting!
Thank you. I've fermented my own sauerkraut before with great success and some with great failure. So I didn't mess around this time and just bought some jarred imported sauerkrat at Aldi (made in Germany).
I'd like to make my own swiss cheese some time too :) Then the sandwich would be 100% homemade :P