White bread with overnight poolish
My starter seed culture is not ready yet so I'm practicing bread with commercial yeast in the meantime. I read in another TFL post that it's possible to make "artisan" bread using commercial yeast and was pointed to this link for Forkish's white bread with overnight poolish from FWSY.
I replaced about a fifth of the white flour with whole wheat, adjusted the quantities to make a smaller loaf since I only had 300 g poolish, and shortened the bake time to account for the smaller loaf. I floured a tea towel with rice flour and lined a SS bowl for the final rise. I guess I didn't flour it enough because the dough still stuck to the towel a little bit. I baked it in an enameled cast iron combo cooker at 450F for 25 min with the lid on and 20 min with the lid off.
I liked the interior crumb and the top crust was decent. But the bottom was quite thick, hard and tough. Too tough to chew. I'm not sure if I overbaked it or didn't let it proof long enough. I don't know if you can tell me how I can "fix" the bottom by just looking at my photos, but any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Mary
Comments
Looks great. Maybe your bottom crust is like that due to the heat source being too close to the bottom of your baking stone/pot. How did you set-up your oven?
My oven rack was in the middle position. Perhaps I need to move it up one.
If you want a thinner crust, bake for a shorter time or at a slightly lower temperature or a bit of both. My family is not too keen on thick crusts either (pity because I like them on certain breads) so I bake for a shorter time. I usually bake a 650g boule for 15 mins with steam (for 15 mins with the lid on in your case) and then for 25 mins without. Baking for longer or drying out in a cooling oven (when finished baking) is merely a personal preference. It drives more water off the bread and prevents the crust from softening so quickly. It also makes for a thicker and darker crust. As long as your bread reaches an internal temp of somewhere in the 190 - 205F range, it is cooked. It will probably reach this temperature sooner than you think.
Syd
Thanks for the advice Syd.
and 5 minutes after the lid comes off, the bread comes out of the cooker and is finished on the stone or right on the rack itself. No burned bottoms that ways and the bottom doesn't get too thick either.
Nice loaf of bread and I'm one who would like the more boldly baked crust too!
Happy Baking