Following up to my previous post, I’m really curious what your go-to method is for baking a single sourdough loaf.
Currently, I’m using a Dutch oven (cast-iron pot) and a spray bottle to add some extra moisture to the dough. But definitely getting mix results.
Drop a comment below. Let’s learn from each other 👇
I bake two at a time on a baking steel in an open oven with steam trays at the bottom, and for the initial part of the bake because it is an electric oven I plug the vents with foil to keep the steam in as I can’t turn off convection on this oven.
I do 2 loaves, not one, but yes results vary. For “the sourdough” (as my kids call it, to distinguish it from the other breads I bake with the starter) yep, cold dough into searing hot cast iron dutch oven. Almost always an overnight rest in the refrigerator.
The biggest change for me was being more intentional about shaping the loaves before putting them in the baskets for overnight rise.
As others have already said, using a standardized process won’t get you standardized results because the flour, the temperature of the room, the humidity, your body temperature, your starter, none of these are precisely the same every time. But in general if the dough strengthens and rises, I get a good result when it bakes. Not always a spectacular result, but rarely a brick doorstop.
My best method is cast iron dutch oven preheated 15 minutes at 450°F, and instead of spraying, I add a 30g ice cube. This gives better blistering and it’s easier to plop a pre older ice cube than to maneuver a sprayer around hot iron. Lid on for 20 minutes.
I’ve found that a set recipe for bread doesn’t give the same results every time. The temperature in the room, the humidity, the activity of the starter, and probably a dozen other factors, all affect the final loaf.
I use the ingredients as a starting point and adjust the dough as needed during the initial mix, and as long as everything feels right at that point, the final result should be good.
Of course, in a non industrial setting, all loaves are going to have a little variation, and you can learn to embrace it.
@LastYearsPumpkin @Dontbesourdough
Also, the flour is never quite the same as it was previously: it gets affected by age, packing, storage, humidity…For me, making a loaf is always a science experiment. Even when I make loaves in the bread machine with identical quantities as previously the result can be different.
I had a bread machine decades ago but gave it to my neighbor because it drove me crazy, I was incapable of making bread without seeing and touching it. It was a Schrodinger’s box, put ingredients in and sometimes get passable bread, sometimes not. No way to tell until the end. I hated it.
The neighbor loved it though.
@RBWells
I bake both in the machine and the oven. They create different types of loaf. The machine is also useful for kneading and the first rise of dough for my focaccia. Like any tool, they have their uses, strengths, and weaknesses.
Modern bread machines are more multi-use than earlier ones: they can be used to make jam, yogurt, sourdough starter, dough, pasta dough, even rice wine.
