More baking geekery
Feb. 21st, 2006 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerI am so tired of the smoke alarm going off when I preheat the oven for baking. Yes, it's 500 degrees. For 45 minutes. I scraped off everything I could, what more do you want?
I built on what I did last time - but with sourdough as I prefer. I also threw in half a cup of rye flour, which supposedly adds some depth of flavor (at the expense of stickiness, but nowhere near what you'd get in a 70% rye loaf). I also let the sponge mature an extra day in the fridge, confined within an oiled Ziploc. That had to be burped repeatedly as the dough outgassed.
Anyway, I was vastly amused that the sour loaf was twice (literally!) as large as the dry yeast loaf. The slashing didn't work completely, but one end of each loaf came out looking approximately as it should. The flavor was nice, as was the texture. The crumb needed a bit of work. The crust got closer to what I am shooting for -- this time I used a much larger cast iron skillet and more ice cubes for steam. (It didn't boil dry this time 'round.) Hmm, I wonder if some of the smoke alarm is from the cast iron seasoning cooking off?
Obviously I need more practice. Anyone volunteer to help me dispose of the practice loaves?
I built on what I did last time - but with sourdough as I prefer. I also threw in half a cup of rye flour, which supposedly adds some depth of flavor (at the expense of stickiness, but nowhere near what you'd get in a 70% rye loaf). I also let the sponge mature an extra day in the fridge, confined within an oiled Ziploc. That had to be burped repeatedly as the dough outgassed.
Anyway, I was vastly amused that the sour loaf was twice (literally!) as large as the dry yeast loaf. The slashing didn't work completely, but one end of each loaf came out looking approximately as it should. The flavor was nice, as was the texture. The crumb needed a bit of work. The crust got closer to what I am shooting for -- this time I used a much larger cast iron skillet and more ice cubes for steam. (It didn't boil dry this time 'round.) Hmm, I wonder if some of the smoke alarm is from the cast iron seasoning cooking off?
Obviously I need more practice. Anyone volunteer to help me dispose of the practice loaves?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
me. Me. ME!
Date: 2006-02-21 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-21 08:28 pm (UTC)also I've found that the underside of the heating element over the "smoke hole" gets pretty greasy/sooty and that can add to the smoke.
are you familiar with Barbara Kofta's Roasting book? its totally changed the way I cook things :)
Mmm, sour dough....(drip, drool, slaver)
Date: 2006-02-21 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-21 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-22 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-23 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-23 06:56 pm (UTC)