Baby Steps … to Bread

Introduction

First, I purchased a Baking Steel. I want to try Open Sourdough Baking and also cook amazing Pizzas. Second, my goal going into this bake was to return to basics. I aimed to bake the best plain sourdough Boule I’m capable of.

The Steel

The Bake

Standard Elaine Boddy (@foodbodsourdough) Master Recipe:

• 450g KA Bread Flour
• 50g KA Whole Wheat
• 325g Water
• 50g Sourdough Starter
• 10g Salt

Fermentolyse

I mixed a 1:5:5 Starter the night before, which usually takes about 12 hours to peak. By the time I was able to mix the dough it had been 14 hours…I used it anyway.

Preparing the Dough

For that reason I went with the Fermentolyse; mixing all the ingredients together and letting them rest. In this case it was 2.5 hours before I was able to do the first set of stretch and pulls. The dough felt very slack. This was possibly because it sat for so long. I then did about two minutes of Slap & Folds to firm things up. I might have done one more set of stretch & pulls after an hour. From that point on, I did only stretch & folds.

Eight hours later Bulk Fermentation was finished. I checked for all the signs of BF completion outlined on the Sourdough Journey website. These include smell, structure (jiggly), bubbles along the sides, and rise. I followed with pre-shaping, a half-hour rest uncovered, and then final shaping into the Banneton. Lately I’ve been using the Banneton without the liner. I really like the concentric flour lines as a result.

Baking on Steel

So here’s the story. Almost everyone on YouTube is open baking in fancy Bread Oven’s, to the tune of 8 or 9 thousand dollars! Even if I had that much just sitting around where would I mount such a big oven? So, instead, I opted for the $79 dollar piece of thick steel from Cooking Steels. Here’s the link to the one I purchased: https://cookingsteels.com/thermichef-deluxe-cooking-steel-14×20/

It fits perfectly in my oven, and despite weighing 27 pounds, it’s worth it. The performance was outstanding! I’ve made pizza’s, and now a beautiful Sourdough Boule using this steel plate.

So you might wonder, how do you manage steam and oven-spring without a Dutch Oven? Answer…a Brod & Taylor Baking Shell

So basically, for the first 20 minutes of the bake, the Shell traps steam and contributes towards oven spring.

The Bake

First, I scored the loaf with a main score and two wheat scores on each side. I sprayed the loaf with water using a fine mist spray bottle. I tried not to wash away the flour close to the scores. The flour really accentuates any scoring you do.

I then slid the loaf on to the baking steel using a sheet of parchment and my wooden pizza peel. I let it bake for 20 minutes at 450 under the Baking Shell. After removing the shell I was amazed at the oven spring!

I followed up with an additional 13 minutes of baking without the shell. The color was good and the internal temperature was 205. That was it…done!

Final Outcome