No-knead sourdough; hot or cold oven?
I've been making no-knead bread for quite a while now, starting what that famous NY Times article/recipe from Sullivan St Bakery and moving on from there.
The one common element: putting the dough into an oven and heavy container that are both pre-heated.
I was thus puzzled by this:
http://www.sourdo.com/recipes/no-knead-sourdough/
"Place in a cool oven, set the control for 375oF, turn the oven on and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack."
What the heck?
I'm also puzzled by the amount of starter used: 1 cup fully active culture; when I've done no-knead sourdough, I've converted over the original n-k recipe that uses very little yeast by using 1/4 cup starter. For a 12 or so hour proof at room temp (or higher, if using a proofer box) isn't that an awful lot of starter?
1 cup fully active culture of your choice from the culture proof
3 cups (440 grams) all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1 cup water
1½ teaspoons salt
The Culture Proof
Mix 1 cup of the fully active culture with 1 cup of flour and sufficient water to from a thick pancake batter consistency and proof it for 6 to 8 hours at 65-70oF if you prefer a mild flavor or at 75-85oF if you want it more sour.
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So You have activated your Starter prior to activating it for the recipe. Then you activate it again with the Culture Proof. If you have activated culture (or proofed culture) then go onto the recipe.
Now you have a very highly activated culture which is a large percentage of the final dough and left at room temperature for 10-12 hours. You're risking the yeasts eating through all the gluten and turning it into one big sourdough starter. You need to give your recipe enough time to bulk ferment with more time left over for the final proofing without the yeasts eating through all the flour. Not saying it can't be done it just seems the timing is a bit skew whiff.
I think there are better recipes out there.
I have always read that the heat and humidity in the oven are key to oven spring. It would then follow that a slowly heating oven and container or surface (dutch oven or baking peel) would (1) be more likely to stick to the dough, and (2) would be less likely to get a nice oven spring. That said, I haven't tried this.
I once tried using a cool oblong la cloche, putting it with dough into a heated oven. The dough stuck like crazy to the bottom and sides.