stone or d/o country blonde
Goodmorning all..
I've been making FWSY country blond this weekend for the first time.
It's all been going according to plan. I awoke to a dough that has at least tripped as he called for - maybe a bit more. I found it hard to shape on the board this morning as I couldn't build up a lot of surface tension. That's either because it is slightly over-fermented or because I'm not use to shaping a single big loaf - normally i make two loves from his recipes. But I did my best and put it into a new baking linen that i well flowered. I did this as my basket wouldn't be big enough to handle the size. What I'm wondering now is if I should try to put this into a larger dutch-oven I have ( i think it will just fit), or to put it on a pizza stone.. but my stone isn't that tick and i think that baking in the d/o is better as all the moisture is trapped...
My first thought is that I shouldn't have listened to his 12 - 15 hour preferment (and I knew better as his times are always so off my kitchen) - but I did place the dough in the basement and the room temp was about 69 degrees so I'm not sure I'm right on this one.
My second thought is that there is no way it's going to take 4 - 5 hours to proof this (albeit larger) loaf - room temp in my kitchen is aboiut 73 -it runs hot..
Third - what do you think - d/o or try the baking stone? It's thin as these things normally are so I"m suspect it work out well..
Thank you in advance for your thoughts..
How big is the loaf? I vote for the dutch oven.
It's a 1.8 kilo loaf (about 4 pounds).. this would normally make a two regular loaves.. i was thinking of making the 3 kilo loaf but thought that was just glutenous! And couldn't bring myself to do it..
My dutch oven is #26 or 5.3 Liters / 5.5 Quarts.. I think it would just fit when risen..
The stone will not. If you want ciabatta use the stone,
Dabrownman, your comment was telling. I used the stone because the dough was far too large for me to use the DO. And there were two issues that came up. The first is that i used a new linen cloth and despite by effort to flour it well, it ended up sticking as you can see from the picture below. I used a tray and flipped the dough upside down onto parchment paper and what you see is my attempt to pull the linen off without destroying the bread entirely. Did this happen because my linen isn't "seasoned".. i really did rub in a lot of flour onto it. It definitely absorbed a lot of moisture from the bread and that's why it suck I think. Thoughts.. ?
The second thought is: can you actually shape this loaf, with this size 1.8kilos into a boule, or does it by default become ciabatta-like, or is it because it over fermented?
Thank you for your thoughts..
It's like the 'shroud of country blond'.. :)
Here are the pictures of the crumb.. my guess, over-fermented.. taste was as sour as I've made.. working through FWSY this is the first recipe he lays out without any commercial yeast. This let my levain shine through.. it was about as sour as I'd like.. all in all, i'll try this again next week with less of a ferment time and i'll use a DO and make two smaller loaves rather than a single large loaf..
I used to use flour and then half and half AP /.Rice now it is just rice flour. OI you are not used to wet dough, and this one is wet, KIt is just too bug a mess to handle unless you treat it like ciabatta. This bread is great in a tin too. I need support at least in a basket while proofing. It need to be watched closely during ferment and proof so that it doesn't break down into a flat Frisbee. It looks very tasty anf if it tastes great then who cares what it looks like? It is a success if it tastes good.and this bread usually tastes fine no matter how mangled.
Next time will be better
happy baking
Everything you said makes sense.. After my post I thought about you and gordon having provided so much help via either direct responses or through your postings.. I was wondering : 'who are these people'?. At least with Gordon I have a picture! But I don't need to know.. but who ever you are: 1) you know a lot about bread, 2) you're very generous on this board with what you know, and 3) I continue to be grateful.. thanks!
The Pizza Stone worked really well for me, and produced some insanely tasty bread. I would say go for the pizza stone!