I did a lot of research before starting. Here are some notes:
– I used a plastic bowl, a regular whisk, and a kitchen towel
– Recipe: Celtic 10g sea salt, 500g all-purpose unbleached flour, and 250g spring water, 150g starter
– I didn’t want to use my counter because I didn’t want the kitchen to get too messy (I live in a shared space), so instead I used parchment paper as a surface
– My partner bought me a starter to use that is 100 years old!
– My bulk fermentation time was around 7 hours
– My cold proof time was about 16 hours
– I do have a cast iron dutch oven which I preheated for 45 minutes before putting the bread in
– I baked at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, then 15 more minutes with the lid off
– I used a regular knife and wet it to cut, but it didn’t cut very well
A couple of notes I noticed during my experience:
– When doing stretch and folds, the stretches didn’t stretch very long, they were short.
– During the 3rd and 4th stretch and fold, I noticed the surface wasn’t as dry as I saw in many other tutorials. The stretch was still quite tight.
– after the 4th and final time, I noticed it to still be a bit sticky. When I was shaping before proofing it was hard to round it out since the bread kept sticking on the parchment.
I think it still came out well, and it tastes delicious. I can’t wait to make more, but always looking to improve and open to feedback!
by geenetter
6 Comments
Have a full pound of Irish butter & butter knife – will travel:)
Thats a 10/10. Thats my feedback.
First of all, that crumb looks AMAZING!!!
Well done !!!!
I think your score definitely needs to be deeper to get better over spring.
As for the stretch and folds, short stretch is normal if it’s your 3 or 4th stretch within a set, but the dough should be relaxed again for the next set. How long did you leave it between sets? I recommend 30-45 minutes.
I also prefer coil folds after the first set because I thing they make the dough look smoother.
I also would not recommend using parchment paper. Dough will stick to parchment paper no matter what so shaping would be super difficult. In my experience the counter doesn’t get very messy at all, but if you’re worried maybe try a chopping board or something instead?
Ps. Im also a beginner (I’ve only made about 6 loaves) so don’t take my advice as gospel.
Very nice , congratulations!🎉
Great first loaf, very impressive.
What was your hydration percentage?
Try stretching more than 4 directions per set, i.e. do five or six, so that all the dough gets a good stretch (diagonals probably not getting their stretch). Grab more dough and really wobble it out (without tearing of course but small tears are no big deal in the early game). This will get it to the matte finish. Otherwise, as another has suggested, coil folds work as well or better.
You could go shorter on the cold retard for a slight under proof which creates better spring. Work on tensioning during final shaping to create a better honeycomb structure and also better spring.
Working on parchment creates challenges but if you’ve pulled it off thus far, kudos.
Good job!