mixed breads, no incineration! Hearth Bread and Flatbread Discuss mixed breads, no incineration! in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; I made two different sourdoughs and two loaves of Frisian sugar loaf (from Bernard Clayton's book) today. I did the ...

[egalecki]

I made two different sourdoughs and two loaves of Frisian sugar loaf (from Bernard Clayton's book) today. I did the sugar loaf in the inside oven- it got ready really fast today.

My new starter worked pretty well- I did add some IDY to get it to proof a bit faster (I was worried about the oven and the bread being ready at the same time) but the starter was nice and bubbly this morning when I started, so I think it would have been ok on it's own if I were more patient.

I haven't cut into it yet, so I can't see the crumb at this point. I would have liked better color on the tops of the sourdoughs, but I checked the temp and they were ready after about 12 minutes. I'm pleased with the oven spring on the long loaves, less so with the round ones.

I am going to have to practice more, but at least I didn't blacken anything today.

[james]

Way to go Elizabeth. I really like the slash pattern on the long loaves. Very nice.

Keep going!
James

[DrakeRemoray]

Those look excellent. What was the internal temp when you pulled the sourdough?

[egalecki]

Internal temp was 205. The long loaves are the basic sourdough from the Reinhart book, the round ones are a pugliese from the Bread Bible (Beranbaum). I did change them both and use the wet starter instead of the firm one, but all I did was use a little less water. The flavor is really nice in both, tangy but not sour. I got better holes with the Pugliese, but the texture is really good on both.

A few months ago I would have been completely freaked out by how wet both doughs are, but I've gotten to where I prefer working with a wet dough and doing less kneading by hand. It was a little strange making the sugar loaves, which are a standard white enriched dough and has a totally different texture. (really good though, toasted in the morning!)

I can see that I'm going to have to start giving away bread soon. I want to get baking in the oven down, but I can't eat all this or I'll be enormous! Where are all my kids when I need them to consume mass quantities?!?

[Frances]

Those look so good! The big round ones look very cool.
How wet was your wet dough?

I think the two most heard complaints on this forum have to be "Help, my Vermcrete is all weird" and "How am I expected to eat all this bread?!". Nice problem to have...

[egalecki]

It wasn't as wet as the no knead dough, but much softer and wetter than the standard white enriched dough. It would have been difficult to get it to rise well without a form. It would have just spread out. I used bowls with cloths for the round loaves and an old baguette pan (it's actually a little big for baguette, but I don't know the name of the next size!) for the long loaves.

I grew up making the plain white bread, hand kneading until it was like a baby's butt. I can make a great loaf of that stuff, and it has a place (like turkey sandwiches after Christmas and Thanksgiving!), but I much prefer the hearth style breads for everyday eating.

I gave away two loaves last night and there were people saying "hey, where's mine?".