madbaker | Experiments in (Stress) Baking

Yesterday I made the no-knead bread recipe again, because we basically devoured the loaf over the week. This time I wanted to see how sourdough starter would work in it. So Friday night I made one bowl of regular dough (half wheat, half strong white) and a second the exact same, but with one cup of sourdough starter replacing the water. Well, I had to add a bit more water to get the right texture. I called them Thing One and Thing Two. Thing One was the sourdough.

After the 18 hour rise, Thing One was heavier by ~100g and Thing Two was schlorpier. This made some sense; more mass in the sourdough and more aeration/yeast activity in the dry yeast. I pulled out my 14" Lodge footed pot from the garage (I don't use it anymore for tourney baking, but I can't get rid of it) and started the oven with the two pots. When the timer went off, I checked the oven... to find out that I had apparently not gotten it lit. Sigh. Another half hour and I started the bake. Unfortunately by that point Thing Two was a bit over-proofed, so it was significantly wider and flatter.

Given that last week's single loaf was too hot at 450, I heated the oven to 425. This time the loaves did not get near-burnt. In fact, Thing Two was significantly softer on the underside. Which makes sense, because the 14" Lodge has a cake rack living in it, so the loaf did not touch the bottom of the pot. Apparently I should have let it. Also, with two cast iron pots in the oven, neither one got as hot and so both could have used a higher temp.

Thing One has a significantly tighter crumb, which I expected. It also has more sourdough flavor as expected. Both are good but Thing One looks better because it is rounder. Thing Two has a softer crust (even discounting the underside). I'd like to try the experiment again, but with our two smaller cast iron pots and a longer pre-heat (I might heat to 450 and turn it down after the initial 30 min). But we have to finish these loaves first.