Easing into SD
I started my firm starter last night. This morning I prepared the dough. I did my first autolyse ( I didn't have a clue what that was before TFL). The boules shaped up ok this afternoon. I think they over proofed a little because I had some deflation when I scored the loaves. Using steam was something I wanted to do so I preheated the oven with my cast iron skillet inside along with my stone. In went the boule onto the stone followed by a cup of boiling water into the skillet. I made use of the parchment tip this time (see, I'm not that slow of a learner). I pulled the parchment out after the first 10 minutes. Here's the results of the day.
It's just a simple all white SD, but I'm happy with the outcome.
The crust is thin and a little chewy with some crackle to it. The crumb is soft and slighly chewy with a very nice SD tang on the palette. Not much oven spring or gringe, so I still have lot's to strive for. Dave
Comments
They look tasty! Nice job.
Sourdough addiction has now set in. Nice crust color and the crumb looks fine for some great sandwiches. Keep us posted..
Betty
Not bad for first try, and at least it has some flavor up front. : )
Definitely looks overproofed by the way it didn't even try to rise up through the slashes. How did you preserve the skin during final proof, and how long was that final? If the skin starts actually crusting over, that will hamper oven spring regardless of proof quality, so you have to have some sort of protection depending on how and where you're doing the final proof.
Looks like the oven was so hot, the crust formed instantly and before the boule could flatten out due to the overproofing, which also makes the inside slashed areas look like they sunk a little bit. This could be a problem down the road as well, so what was the starting oven temp? Did you turn it down at all during the bake? Do you use a digital thermometer to check the internal temp, or how did you rely on knowing when to pull it?
- Keith
Final proof was 2.5 hours. Covered with plastic wrap, but it did crust over a little. Preheat to 500, but I've never checked it, and turned down to 450 after steam. I turned after 10 mins and pulled parchment and pulled out of oven after a total of 25 mins.
Well, if you intend to try again, here's some things you might try...
Use the same recipe and the same bulk. Proof 1 hr to maybe 1 hr 15 mins before baking. Reason is, we'd like to find the underproofed point if we don't flat out nail the perfect proofing point. Much rather have an underproof condition and work up from there... try to keep track of your ambient proofing location temperature. If it's not stable day to day, you'll need this info as the weather changes and be able to adjust your proofing times. I just got schooled hard in this area last week ; D
I mist my SD boules right before slashing. This seems to add a little bit of extensibility during the first burst of yeast activity in the oven, right before the crust sets in. Also seems to have helped with keeping the skin lubricated while slashing. I have a small bottle (about 3" tall) that puts out an incredibly fine mist, so I'm not soaking the skin...
Lastly, make sure that before you cover with plastic during the final, lightly coat the plastic (side touching the dough) with some sort of oil. This will help keep the skin supple, and help the plastic release.
If you do not own a digital thermometer, please add it to your 'very soon' wish list. They are extremely cheap, any novice bread baker will appreciate removing the guessing work from how long to bake. Challenge yourself to guess the temp before you use the probe, and you'll find yourself getting a very valuable education as well as using the temperature probe less and less.
- Keith
Thanks for the help Keith. Hopefully next batch will improve. Dave