Newbie assistance on crust and internal temp appreciated.
Hi everyone, very new to sourdough baking, had a few failures early on just following a few youtube vids and finally decided to try and get a bit more serious. I followed the Tartine Country Loaf recipe. The flavor of the bread is fantastic but my two loaves got this solid dark crust on the top and I'm trying to figure out why.
Cooked in a dutch oven, preheated to 500 degrees, waited for the dutch oven to get to 500f with the lid right next to it but not on it to help it get up to temp faster. Checked with an oven thermometer inside the dutch oven to make sure it was a solid 500f
Loaf in, dropped to 450f, 20 min. Bread very pale but risen. Took lid off for another 20 min, noticed the really dark solid crust ontop. (It does not taste burnt at all).
I checked the internal temp, it was 206 and had a little dough when I pulled out the thermometer, I read it should be 212f(100c), so I put it back in the oven with the lid on for another 10 min, it never went over 206f so I pulled it out, thermometer came out clean that time at least.
When I floured the banneton I used brown rice flour mixed in with some breadflour, could the brown rice flour have caused the top to take on that color/look? I'm wondering if maybe I put too much in as well, I did try to brush some off before I put it into the dutch oven.
Also, is the 212f rule pretty strict for the Tartine Country loaf?
Inside Pic:
Thanks everyone for your help/guidance!
wondering if maybe you put too much flour in the banneton is correct. Crumb looks good and appears well baked. Maybe check your thermometer for calibration?
Appears as though you may have crowded/pinched? the loaf with parchment? when you loaded the DO.
I did have parchment underneath it inside of the Dutch Oven, its definitely possible that I crowded it. I did try cutting the parchment paper to sorta match the shape of the DO but it was still alot going in.
did you add any rye or sugar to the recipe?
No rye or sugar directly to it but earlier in the week I did give my starter a little bit of rye to give it a boost, but i made a Levain with the starter win about a TBSP of my active starter
I think texas_loafer has it right: over-floured banneton. This crust looks like many I baked as I learned to trust the rice flour to release a wet dough. The wet dough is another part of what is going on here. Tartine is not hyper-hydrated at 75% target hydration, but it is still up there, and it will hold on to a lot of flour if you make it available. I'm guessing here, but it also looks like you are using a cloth-lined banneton. If I'm right about that, it will take still less rice flour yet than a bare one. A cloth liner with some rice flour rubbed into it before you shake some on will release very well in even higher than 75% hydrations. I find that plain unbleached linen from a fabric store, cut to size, works wonderfully well for a few cents per liner.
I would also offer my opinion on your question about temperatures, which is: there are no hard and fast rules, only guidelines. We all must adjust to what works for us in our environment and oven. I could not bake at 500F in my oven because it would turn the outside black and the inside would still be raw. I used to, a couple of houses ago, but in my current oven the highest I ever bake anything is 485F. Any higher than that yields burnt bottom crusts and very dark, hard top crusts. I also only bake to higher than 205F internal temperature by accident or distraction. For me, 205F is "done" and I get it out of the oven. If I go past that the loaf will be dry, crumbly, and stale quickly. Wet dough loaves get baked at even lower temperatures, (465F-480F) and longer bake times to make sure they are done inside before they are charred outside :) . A really wet dough like Hamelman 5-Grain gets finished in a drying oven, with the door open,oven turned off for 10 minutes at the end of the bake, to evaporate off moisture that will otherwise turn the crust moist shortly after.
Free advice: guaranteed worth what you paid for it. :)
Edit: Forgot to add that is a nice looking loaf! I get your points about appearance, but as you said, it tastes great. Eat the evidence and try again.
Best of luck
OldWoodenSpoon
Thanks a lot for the insight!
Hey all,
Just wanted to let you guys know I did as you all suggested, didnt crowd it, signficantly less flour and rubbed into a linen cloth lightly and the crust came out significantly better. Thanks alot for the insight!