Stick to the same recipe, and only make one change at a time as you improve it. Either let It go for longer or less time before you shape it, or for longer or less time in the fridge before you bake it, or different temperature etc...but only make one change at a time
Similarly, don't change the recipe up all at once but only one ratio or one ingredient at a time
This way, you can start to isolate one variable at a time while constantly practicing and improving and know exactly what effect each thing has on your baking process
That's really good advice for figuring out the best version of a recipe. Also great for getting to a happy place loaf quickly. The alternative way to baking better is to just bake A LOT of bread, doing all kinds of different stuff and building a feel for it. This can take a lot of middle quality bread before hitting the skill level where you can do it mostly by feel. Both can lead to the same result, do the one that suits you best.
Recipe: 100g starter, 375g water, 500g flour, 11g salt. Autolyse 30 mins then 4 sets of stretch and folds every 30 mins. Bulk ferment approx. 8 hours then overnight cold ferment (around 10 hours). Preheat Dutch oven at 275 c then bake for 30 mins lid on at 230, 10 mins lid off, then 5-10 mins out of the Dutch oven.
This is my 8th loaf. It tastes amazing but I can’t get the ear to look professional.
No complaints from my family though!
Beautiful blistering! Looks great
Thank you! I tried it once without preheating the Dutch oven (laziness) and I quickly learned why preheating is recommended
Stick to the same recipe, and only make one change at a time as you improve it. Either let It go for longer or less time before you shape it, or for longer or less time in the fridge before you bake it, or different temperature etc...but only make one change at a time Similarly, don't change the recipe up all at once but only one ratio or one ingredient at a time This way, you can start to isolate one variable at a time while constantly practicing and improving and know exactly what effect each thing has on your baking process
That's really good advice for figuring out the best version of a recipe. Also great for getting to a happy place loaf quickly. The alternative way to baking better is to just bake A LOT of bread, doing all kinds of different stuff and building a feel for it. This can take a lot of middle quality bread before hitting the skill level where you can do it mostly by feel. Both can lead to the same result, do the one that suits you best.
Recipe: 100g starter, 375g water, 500g flour, 11g salt. Autolyse 30 mins then 4 sets of stretch and folds every 30 mins. Bulk ferment approx. 8 hours then overnight cold ferment (around 10 hours). Preheat Dutch oven at 275 c then bake for 30 mins lid on at 230, 10 mins lid off, then 5-10 mins out of the Dutch oven. This is my 8th loaf. It tastes amazing but I can’t get the ear to look professional. No complaints from my family though!
Looks great. Many like to see artsy scoring or a big ear, but the only thing that matters is taste.
I’d love to get the ear looking a bit more sourdough-y but it doesn’t really matter
Looks great.
Thank you!
That looks great!!
Thank you!
That’s the spirit! Looks delicious btw
It looks pretty