Hello, I am new to sourdough baking. I made three loaves over the weekend. I cooked them in a Dutch oven and got decent crumb and color but the crust is tough to cut and bite through. A friend suggested keeping the lid on the Dutch oven longer and i also thought to decrease my cooking time. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. I have two more loaves in the refrigerator to bake tomorrow. Let the science experiments continue… Thank you!
by Local_Letterhead_929
7 Comments
I bet you have hot buns.
Same question, same answer
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/comments/19cv9xi/comment/kj1omai/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/comments/19cv9xi/comment/kj1omai/?context=3)
Still I think that what bread crust should be… if it’s too thin and not crusty at all it’s not bread, it’s a toast.
I find that if I add an ice cube to my dutch oven when cooking with the lid on it, it makes my crust less tough.
I baked for less amount of time and kinda solved the problem.
I preheat my oven and cast iron to 550. I spray the dough with water right as I put it in the cast iron. Drop the temp to 430 and bake for 20 minutes then remove the lid and drop the temp to 375. This results in a thin crisp crust.
If I want a less-tough crust, I’ll cool the loaf in a pot (not the one in the oven) or wrapped in foil, etc, and it will kind of steam itself up. My crusts can shred my mouth if cooked open-air in a dry room. Most of the time I let it happen too.
I’d give that a 50% chance of working for you, so try to find a more definitive answer.
As others suggested, shorter uncovered time and lower the temperature. I’m very interested in those silver strips sticking out of your dutch oven, how is it called?