Good question. I think the texture is much the same inside and the taste is much the same. The crust is better and the there is a crispiness and a crunchiness that I could not get before without burning the outside. Personally, I don’t mind if its a bit dark and almost burned on the top but not everyone feels that way, “her indoors” to name but one. Without the dutch oven the bread was cooked in no more than 45 mins and i had to turn it down to 200 for the last 15 mins. But with the dutch oven i have found I can cook it for just over an hour full blast with no ill effects. I enjoy the added crunch to the base which I did not get before.
Also, now and again I used to get the loaves spoiling a bit due to having a massive air bubble form under the crust and they would deform. There would appear to be this impressive rise, but when you cut a slice there would’ve be a large space between the body of the loaf and the crust. Bit disappointing. it has not happened yet in the pot but it is still early days for me. Did that ever happen to yours ?
By the way, I am surprised that you struggle a bit with emptying the contents of the banneton into the hot pot and you had to resort to the greaseproof paper and lower it in. I just turned it upside down and plonk it in like the guy in your video. I am not claiming to have any great skill here, i just bung it in. I have probably been lucky so far !
Cheers - it isn’t as open as I would like. It is tasty but the texture isn’t quite as I want.
The dough was quite wet so I would have hoped for better but plenty of time to practice…
Any thoughts… I went 500 flour, 290 water and 150 of starter.
I think you need more starter. I can do no better than to refer you to the video i posted where the guy gives the proportions as a percentage formula that you can use no matter what the size of the loaf.
I have finally arrived at the following proportions which just happen to suit the size of my banneton.
524 of flour comprised of 324 white flour, 100gms wholemeal and 100gms of rye. 8gms of salt. 500gms of starter which is 60/40 water to flour content. Then I add between 250gms and 270gms of water. If my starter seems quite thick and gelatinous then I use a higher water content, but if it has been out all night and i start my mix later in the next day, it can go more thin and watery, and so then I will tend to use less water. You will get a feel for it if you keep doing it each week. That is a truly splendid first attempt of yours, really well done ! - keep going until it is as you want it to be.
So years ago when I first started there was a lot of advice online about using minimal amounts of starter to get an authentic sourdough taste. But looking now it seems I am using way too little and most recipes are similar to yours or the one in the video… I’ll bulk up the starter this week and go again!
I love that this thread has now clocked up more than 50 contributions! It’s such a lovely “slow cooking” story. Very tempted to give it a go. Thanks to all for making this so interesting.
oh hello!! i couldnt find the original post on my phone and seriously thought i had imagined it! would love some from you too! im 33w preggers so in self isolation. thinking this would be a good time to work on some baking experiments. i just mixed some live kefir with flour and have left it on the counter to see what might happen…
Hi there. I like many others at this time am looking to start making my own bread. Some of the loaves here look incredible. I have had little success with making my own starter. It seems to end up smelling very vinegary.
Would anyone here be able to help me out with some lovely starter? I can collect it but will respect social distancing so I guess it may mean leaving it somewhere safe for collection.
Hi all,
I am happy to give away some starter if anyone wants some. I’ll need a few hours to bulk mine up and activate it a bit but I am happy to leave some on my path tomorrow if anyone wants it.
