Weekend Breadcapades... Sourdough Bread round 2 w/pictures

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
I mean last time I got the salt and timing wrong, plus had to switch ovens midstream, so here's my do over.

I forgot to cover it when rising so the top dried out a bit resulting in the swirly top vs. seeing the scoring I made on top - didn't have a razor blade though so that might be part of the problem. I let it bake a bit longer remembering advice I got to do so. The result is the nice dark caramelized top. - I let it go 2 minutes longer than I wanted on purpose. It's got a nice crisp crust, great oven spring IMHO and the crumb looks pretty good too. I'm kinda excited by it (folks, it's my 2nd loaf of bread ever). The crumb looks better doesn't it? The battery died after taking that one shot of the slice, so I'm waiting to cut it further after it recharges, but so far, so good - I think. What do you think?

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/IMG_2522_zpse999797f.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/d94e88df-6178-4a5a-892c-3126c99b040b_zpse76d5a3c.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/IMG_2523_zpse5efaa73.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/IMG_2527_zps5c0e9e1a.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/1369dcf8-1c13-4aee-94de-a4d483b1bd49_zps198294cc.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/e395eb0a-c8d6-4338-99cd-83ac644cca29_zps03cbb627.jpg

You can see the wrinkle here from the dried out top I forgot to cover:

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/5a7ffefe-f5e5-438e-89c0-40c4295cff7b_zpsd70b7ba3.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread%203-15-14/IMG_2529_zpsc6131c1f.jpg

 
It looks perfect. There's a trick you might try later on...

After the loaf rises, it is flipped over onto the peel, then slashed. That way the drier side ends up on the hot baking surface, and the softer underside is on top. It could help the oven spring a bit, though this doesn't look like it needs it.

Congrats!

 
Yeah...

Last time I covered the shaped dough with a loose spray oil coated plastic wrap. I forgot this time. This time I wanted to use a basket for the final rise, didn't have one so used a flour coated towel inside a small bowl - never again. It didn't help with the shape and when I flipped it onto the parchment I had the dry side up.

I don't know if it was the additional salt, or the 1 ounce more of flour I used, but it was much firmer to work with this time. I had no problem shaping and getting a tight surface, but it's still soft enough it spreads some.

I used a dutch oven to bake - mom's old cast iron one. I pre-heat the oven and dutch during the last 45 in rise, then picked up the parchment/dough, dropped it in the hot DOven, sprayed dough top with water and covered for the first 30 mins of baking. That seems to be doing the trick to get that oven spring.

 
That, my dear, is deserving of a fabulous bowl of soup. Or perfect salad. Or great sauce.

So? How did the salt correction work out?

 
I'm sooo excited for you! I have been watching your posts w/ questions re: breadmaking. I am so

scared of yeast! What a nice job! Exciting to tackle something new! Great looking bread! I want a piece!

 
The salt was better, but next time I'm going to add a bit more

it still needs....something, so I'm going to add a bit more salt next time. I'd also like to figure out how to make it a bit more sour - maybe doing the final rise in the fridge?

 
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