Recently I forgot to feed my starter in time to work for my schedule, so decided to use it unfed straight from the fridge. (It had been fed 1 week earlier, the last time I baked.) I was also very hungover the following morning when I baked, so forgot to put my Dutch oven in the oven to preheat. These two mistakes resulted in the most perfectly textured, soft crusted, amazing loaf that I have now added these steps into my process (and done it again multiple times with the same results). I have written them into my recipe below.
(Note: I’m aware my crumb is slightly underproofed in the above photo. This is how I like it.)
120g unfed starter
Room temp water 325g
Add to stand mixer bowl and froth together well with a fork. Then add:
500g high grade or bread flour
10g salt
Mix on medium speed for at least 10 minutes, until your dough passes the window pane test.
Add to a container with a lid and rest 45 minutes.
Then do 3 stretch & folds every 45 minutes. I’m quite aggressive with the dough the first few times, giving it a good stretch without tearing it. Then I’m more gentle with the final one.
Leave to bulk ferment in a consistent warmish ambient temperature until nearly doubled in size.
Shape, add to banneton dusted with rice flour. Put tea towel on top to absorb moisture and a shower cap/plastic bag over this, and put in fridge for cold ferment overnight.
In the morning, preheat oven for 40 mins at 250c (480f). Tip dough onto baking paper, score, spray with water & add to COLD Dutch oven. Add 3-4 ice cubes under baking paper. Bake with lid on for 35 mins, then reduce heat to 200 (390f), remove lid, rotate Dutch oven and bake for another 15 mins.
Cool on cooling rack for 1 hour before slicing.
by saramaystar
7 Comments
It’s beautiful!
Amazing!!!
Perfect! 😍
Beautiful!! Gotta love gorgeous bread that turns out even better when we make mistakes! (Am thrilled for You, esp because my goofs are usually majorly goofed!) 😀
Gorgeous! What’s your shaping method? I love how it looks like it’s expanding from the bottom center into concentric half circles.
Yep. Most folks don’t realize that you don’t need to feed your starter before making a loaf. It helps keep the CO2 content from creating big holes in your dough.
As Ben Starr says, “What does a hole taste like? You can’t put butter or delicious jams on a hole.” (I, too, like a normal looking bread crumb and not a Swiss cheese sourdough matrix).
I skip the water spritz and ice cubes and my bread turns out just fine.
I think most people should experiment with their loaves to find a consistent loaf that works for themselves. (i CF for 3 days because I love deep, rich, tangy SD flavor).
Other things you can adjust: straight from fridge into cold DO, into cold oven and the bread will still cook… Just need to adjust time based on looks. Also, if your loaves are getting burnt on the bottom while being cooked in a DO, I would suggest NOT using a heat shield between the heating element and the DO. It won’t heat the loaf properly. Suggested fix is to lower the baking temperature by 25° until you find a temp/time you like.
Looks great! I also often use unfed starter that’s been in the fridge for a week, because it seems to work fine, so why do more work? I’m curious about the cold Dutch oven though, how does that impact the result over using a preheated one?