I baked another batch of sourdough over the last few days. This time only two loaves worth. I targeted 60% hydration, and it seems to be about right. It was a little cold for the leavens, so I think the dough may have had a bit too high an acid load, which made it slightly too slack.

I used the stand mixer for the first half of kneading, but did the second half by hand. In the process of hand kneading I probably worked another little bit of flour in, bringing the hyrdration down a bit more.

Once again, I proofed in my ghetto bannetons. It seemed to go well. I let them proof in the oven after a warm cycle (the dough was at 75°F) for a grand total of 2.5 hours. The last half hour was out of the oven, while it preheated.

I put the stone and the bread on the second from top position, so that it got radiant heat from the oven ceiling. The cast iron went on a lower rack. I think next time I might put it on the oven floor again. It gets much hotter there, although that does mean it throws off more fumes as it heats up. Hopefully after a couple cycles of that without reseasoning it will be done burning.

The loaves did not get quite the loft I was hoping for, possibly from the aforementioned high acid load. Still, they came out pretty reasonably shaped.

Neither the crust nor the crumb were perfect, but overall I'd give the loaves high marks.

posted: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:24 | permanent link to this entry

The dough was considerably too loose, causing problems all throughout the process. First off, it didn't come cleanly out of the plastic tub. This may be in part because I used less olive oil to lube up the tub, but I suspect it would have been enough oil for a properly hydrated dough.

Second, it stuck to everything while I was shaping it, so I had to handle it a bit less gently than I'd like. By the time I had it shaped and in bannetons, I'm pretty sure it had lost all its gas.

Interestingly, the dough rose to double its size entirely in the fridge. I'm guessing this was in part due to the fact that I had a fairly large mass of it in a single container, so it took a long time for the center to cool. The fridge only about 41°F, which is warmer than I'd like, too.

When turned out of the bannetons, the loaves instantly oozed to a very flat shape.

This time, I put the cast iron griddle on the floor of the oven (where it got scorching hot and started to smoke), the stone on the first rack near the bottom, and nothing on the top rack. When I put the loaves in, two went on the stone, and two on a cool baking sheet on the top rack. Half way through, when I rotated the loaves, I removed the baking sheet from under the top two, putting them directly on the oven rack (well, on parchment directly on the rack).

As the loaves came out, the ones on the stone had a well done bottom crust but a shitty top crust, and the ones on top had a well done top crust but a shitty bottom crust. Perhaps next time I'll try just two loaves, on the stone, with it in the top rack spot.

Boy do I want a brick oven. I've got most of a plan worked out in my head, but I need to formalize it on paper.

posted: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:17 | permanent link to this entry

I've started another batch (two mixer loads worth) of sourdough. I'm using two 100% leavens again, totaling about 1500g of leaven (600g for each load, plus some to go back into storage).

The dough has 300g of KA bread flour from the leaven and 500g of KA AP flour, and is about 62% hydration. The last batch was 64% to start, but I had to feed in a lot of flour at kneading time to get it to a sane consistency. This time, the dough is still a little wet. I think the lower protein content of the flour means less water is needed. Next time I'll target about 60%.

I'm still waiting for Whole Foods to get back to me on the 50lb bag of Giusto's flour. Once that comes in, I'll probably just work solely with it.

I really like working with the metric system. It makes the math so much easier. I have no idea why I didn't switch sooner. Actually, I take that back, I do know why; I blame Peter Reinhart.

posted: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:27 | permanent link to this entry

Up until the turning out and loading, this round of sourdough had been going quite well. I wanted to fit all 4 loaves into the oven at once, since last time the two load approach resulted in over-proofing on the second load. So I had this plan to load one loaf onto a sheet pan, and the other three onto the pizza stone (which I checked before, would just fit).

This turned out to be a stupid idea. It was hard to implement and resulted in the loaves sticking and stretching in various places during the loading process, and was just generally a bad scene. I think the loaves all ended up OK overall shape wise, but there is some noticeable damage.

The loaf that was on the sheet pan instead of the stone has a completely black bottom. I knew that metal would conduct heat faster and thus burn the loaf faster, but I didn't think it would be quite this bad. I think I just need another pizza stone, and to use both racks in the oven, instead of just putting cast iron mass on the second rack. Or, a larger pizza stone that fills more of the rack.

All that said, the bread actually turned out quite tasty. It had a much chewier crumb than previous attempts, and a more open structure. The crust on the burnt one was very good (other than the burnt part, of course). The other crusts were OK, but not stellar. Overall, probably an A- (but my standards are very high these days).

posted: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:58 | permanent link to this entry

I'm trying a totally new (well, ok, actually pretty similar overall) technique this time. To start, I'm using the metric system. It really is just better and easier to work with. I'm making two batches, each with a total flour weight of 800g, of which 600g is KA AP and 200 is KA bread flour.

Which brings me to another difference in this batch: much less protein. I've been reading a bunch of things which suggest I may be using too high a protein flour for the type of bread I'm trying for. So, yeah, less protein. We'll see how it goes.

And the final difference is that I went for two leavens of 100% sponge, instead of my normal one at 100% and one at 60% or so. Also, this time the leaven is a little more of the total mass of the dough. 200g of the 800g total come from the leaven.

Also, I'm moving from keeping a 100% sponge in the fridge as a storage sponge to about 60%. I think this will help it keep more yeast alive for the periods I generally leave it.

posted: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:11 | permanent link to this entry

And wrote about it here: http://heatkit.com/html/bakeov11.htm

Not identical to what I want, but pretty close.

posted: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 21:00 | permanent link to this entry

Today's lesson is that the bread's skin gets very dry if you leave it protected with cloth (instead of plastic) in the fridge. This caused greatly reduced oven spring, and dense loaves. Also, I really should have washed the new towels I got before using them. They had a very chemical smell. I don't think the bread was affected, but still.

The second batch of bread I think over-proofed a little, as it collapsed during scoring. Combined with the dry skin, this resulted in bricks.

I'm not sure how to solve the drying problem. Perhaps the vegetable crisper would trap enough moisture. But it is slanted and is hard to fit the baskets in. I do still like the banneton method, I think I just need to work out the kinks a little.

posted: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:00 | permanent link to this entry

Well, I started two more batches. One is 50% or so white whole wheat and one is about 25% regular (red) whole wheat.

The plastic tubs for rising are awesome, the dough falls right out without sticking and the marks show when it has doubled. The baskets are a little on the small side, but are probably OK. I don't have time to bake the loaves today, so there are four baskets in the fridge. Previously, I'd never have been able to fit two full sheets in the fridge (er, well, not without a lot of work), so the baskets definitely are easier that way.

posted: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:23 | permanent link to this entry

The baguettes were pretty shitty though.

Today I went with Ethan and Elisa to East Bay Restaurant Supply. I bought so much stuff! Most relevant to bread making: some wicker baskets and cotton cloth to use as bannetons. They are a little smaller than I'd like (I think), but I'll bet I can make a recipe that fills two exactly.

I also got more mixing bowls (including another bowl for the stand mixer), some graduated plastic tubs for rising dough, and most importantly: a chef jacket and hat!

I've started the firm starter for another two batches of sourdough. One might end up being some percentage whole wheat (red or white, not sure yet).

posted: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 01:19 | permanent link to this entry

Well, they are out of the oven. Both the baguettes (well, more like an Italian loaves. And not very well shaped at that.) look a little flatter than I might like, but the ghetto-banneton formed mega-loaf looks not bad, mostly from oven spring. Of course, it took *forever* to cook all the way through.

I like the banneton method. I think I may need to get myself some non-ghetto ones. And couches. And a real lame. Yeah. Stuff. Perhaps East Bay Restaurant Supply. And maybe Giusto's flour shop. I need flour.

posted: Sat, 11 Nov 2006 04:28 | permanent link to this entry