My Intention with these bread posts was twofold:
#1 Share my newfound passion of baking bread, and
#2 Buy myself a couple of weeks of creative time while school started. Well I’m a few months into a new school year and I’m weeks behind posting, but after this post, I’m ready to move onto new content.
This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop posting bread posts, but it does mean I’m going to take a break for awhile.
Back to story and poetry writing.
In my previous posts I prided myself on learning how to make sourdough bread with the materials that I’ve had at home. After months of baking bread, I finally gave in and asked for a dutch oven for my birthday, as I was curious about the difference in the quality of the bread.
Well I got one. Isn’t it beautiful?
It’s a 5 quart, Lodge cast iron dutch oven for anyone who is interested.
Now, I have to make some adjustments to my bread making. Time for some tweaks.
My first loaf wasn’t pretty and it didn’t rise, so after some research I realized that I needed to do an extra step.
Extra Step
If you want to learn about my process, you can read my previous blog ” The Sourdough Bake (My Version)”
After the long proof in the fridge, I take my bread out and put it on the counter to warm up. About an hour.
After it was warm, I dumped it onto a floured surface, pre-shaped it, and let it rest. After 30 minutes, I did a final shaping, careful not to overwork the dough. ( In the past, I’ve always under worked it for fear of smashing all the air bubbles. This led to a ugly, but tasty loaf.) Once the dough was shaped, I put it into a heavily floured bowl. I will eventually get a banneton basket and use it instead of a bowl, but for now, this is what I have.
I covered the bowl with a plastic bag and put it BACK into the fridge for two hours.
After an hour, I heated up my cast iron Dutch Oven in the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour.
After it was nice and hot, I carefully removed it from the oven and opened the lid. Key word, CAREFULLY.
It was then that I took my dough out of the fridge. I removed the plastic from the bowl, and dumped it out onto a piece of parchment paper. I then lowered it carefully into the dutch oven. I quickly scored the top, gave it a spritz of water and baked it for 30 min at 400 degrees Fahrenheit with the lid on, and then removed the lid and let it bake some more for 30-40 minutes.
When the bread was done, it looked like this. I’m very proud of this load. It was nice and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.
I will definitely be using this more, and continue to view my life with a pop of colour. Until next time.
Explosion of Paint 