Just to say I can still "walk the walk" :)

Profile picture for user OldWoodenSpoon

I have not been very active here in many years, posting only occasionally in reply to member questions, and even more rarely to my own blog.  Perhaps so much so that I may even appear to only talk the talk.  I decided today that I should, if not change that, at least speak into the silence a little bit.  So, I will tell you of  my latest bake.

This is a very straight forward 68% white sourdough.  The last year or two I have adopted/adapted the 3-stage approach of Danni3113, for which you can find the basics here.  The principal adaptation I use is to refrigerate the completed starter after the last feed, then on dough making day I pull it out early, give it a stir, and wait till it gets "jiggly" to start my dough.  This adapts better to my schedule.

I also bake in dutch ovens because my oven uses so much top heat that crusts turn black long before the loaves are finished.  I bake covered for 15-18 minutes, then finish uncovered for 10-12 minutes, to center temp of +/-205F.  Here are today's results (crumb shot when available).

and

Edit:  Added Crumb Shot

Just saying...  (Am I boasting?  Of course!  Don't we all?)

Still baking happy!
OldWoodenSpoon

Profile picture for user The Roadside Pie King

Welcome back! Great looking loaves to back up the knowledge!

What nice looking loaves.  I am impressed that you get that amount of crust color in such a short amount of time, especially from a Dutch oven bake.

Glad to see you active again.

Ted

I think the high color is a result of all the top heat my oven produces.  It only takes a very short time to really darken loaves, so much so that I always cover pan loaves during the middle period of a bake, the uncover at the end to finish them off.  It was hard to learn this oven.

Thanks for visiting
OldWoodenSpoon