I'm a little intimidated by posting here. While this loaf is sourdough it didn't fit in to the 'sourdough' sub as that seemed dedicated to the care, feeding, alteration, and maintenance of the levain.
While I'm by no means an artisan baker, I think this one came out quite well and would appreciate your feedback.
Full writeup can be seen on my bread blog but it went something like this.
- 280g starter
- 125g AP flour
- 550g Semolina flour
- 400mL Water
- 19g Salt
- Mix it all together and let the dough bulk ferment, with one stretch/fold or knead somewhere in the middle of the bulk cycle.
- Divide and place in to proofing baskets.
- Cold ferment for 24 hours.
- Pre-heat oven and bake! It was a pleasure to make and even more so to eat!
Well, it certainly looks yummy to me! What a lovely crumb; looks very moist and chewy. Baked on a stone with steam?
Thanks Lazy Loafer, it really did turn out pretty well.
I baked 2 loaves, one at a time. Each on top of a baking steel covered w/ the lid of a le cloche.
My oven is huge and I can't seem to make enough steam to make the bread happy so that's my solution!
We used to put one pan, half full of water and a kitchen towel rolled up in it - aka Sylvia's Steam along with another pan half full of water and filled with lava rocks - aka David's Steam. I called the whole apparatus Mega Steam. The pans would go in when the oven said it was at the pre heat set temperature and then I waited 15 minutes for the stones to catch up with the oven temperature and for the steam to really be billowing. If you had your face by the door when you opened it to load the bread - you would be seriously steam burned!
The test I ran was to compare which method Sylvia's or David's was the best. Without question David's was the hands down winner. I weighed out the water that went into both pans to make sure we were apples to apples. When the water was completely gone in the lava rock pan, the kitchen towel pan still had 40% of its water still left in it.
Now Mega Steam is 2 of David's lava rock pans. No oven is too big for this steaming method. I think this is the best way to make most breads to get spring bloom and blisters - except pumpernickel. It is way more difficult and time consuming and dangerous than a simple cloche which is my 2nd favorite but easier than a heavy CI pot where I have tip the bread out of the pot to finish baking 5 minutes after the lid comes off - so the bottom doesn't burn. What it does to the oven is anyone's guess but ovens are designed for super high steam from meats and veggies being roasted for way longer amount of time,
Happy baking
Thanks for the tips, I'll try it out when I get my hands on lava stones. I'm encouraged by your "no oven is too big" comment! We do have a couple of cast iron pans around the house and I'll be on the lookout for lava rocks.
I've tried a bit of everything on this oven and landed on the Le Cloche for its simplicity and consistency. At one point I tried to steam the oven w/ an electric steamer (didn't work), wired up a boiling tea kettle to the oven w/ a high temp tube (didn't work), tried the empty baking sheet w/ water (didn't work), and tried the "spritz every minute for the first 5 minutes" technique (didn't work). So, when I found a Le Cloche at a garage sale for less than $5, I had to try it. Boy am I glad I did!
Looks great. Recipe seems similar to Tom Cat's Semolina Filone, on this site. Another great semolina "sourdough"/artisan recipe.
Thanks! I'll have to check out Tom Cat's recipe.
I've been reading Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread" book lately and based this recipe off of his master formula. I didn't have enough of some of the ingredients to match it exactly (I don't think) but his book has been the inspiration for a lot. I'm working on Bernard Clayton's book next...that's a perennial favorite on my list!