Hi all! I have been baking sourdough for a year and a half. I’m starting to sell in FB marking place and looking to bake for a local competition later this year. What’s your critiques or advice for pushing my loaves to the next level?
Method:
150g strong starter
600g warm water
1000g bread flour
Mix to shaggy dough. Rest 20-30 minutes.
Add 20g salt, 50g warm water. Mix and then put in breville airfryer on proof setting at 82° for 2+ hours. Do stretch and folds every 30-45 minutes, usually four times.
Once it passes the windowpane test, I put it in tall 4L cylinder Cambro container and continue to proof in my oven on its proof setting. (This container is too tall for the airfryer). I do this for 4 hours or so or until the dough reaches the top of the container. It usually goes from 1.75L or 2L to the 4L mark. The dough is usually not very sticky and recovers well when poked.
I then divide the dough in half and let it rest in the counter for 20-30 minutes. Then shape and put in bannetons to take a nap in the fridge over night or up to 18 hours.
Bake:
Preheat two DO at 465° Ff for 45 minutes atleast.
Place loaves on parchment paper, score once in the middle (any other scoring just looks like my preschooler did it!). Place in DO, and In summer, spritz several times with water, in winter I do 1-2 ice cubes. Reduce oven to 450° F and bake 28-30 minutes. Then remove lids and reduce oven to 425° F to reduce burning on bottom. Bake 12-15 minutes or until loaves temp out at 205°-208° F and sound hollow when tapped.
I wait to slice until the loaves are room temp.
by a_rain_name
4 Comments
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Quick question: do you have metal or plastic handles on your Le Creuset set?
The uneven baking is prevalent in using standard dutch ovens, as the shape prevents proper heat air flow to give it uniform colour. The next step would be to buy a dedicated bread pan (eg. Challenger, or other cheaper clone), so that when you remove the cover, more of the bread will be exposed to the oven, giving you a more uniform bake.
Then you might consider adding more specialty flours, for flavour, and richer darker caramalisation to the crust.
Then you might consider milling your own wheat berries to get the freshest flour possible for your bread.
Then you might consider buying a small commercial bread oven, eg. Rofco. to pump out 6-12 loaves at a time, per cycle. If you’re really going to get into selling as a microbakery.
Beautiful crust and crumb on those loaves! Have you ever experienced the precision of a bread bow knife?
It’s a game-changer for slicing hard crust sourdough without crushing your beautiful bread. Take a look: [www.jindalblades.com]()