My first attempt at baking bread

[OscarA]

I wanted my oven to do more than just make pizza so last night I tried bread for the first time. I followed an on line Sourdough recipe which was a no kneed overnight rise. It called for 3.5 cups of bread flour, 1.5 cups of water and only 1/4 cup sourdough starter which I thought was on the small side but never baking bread before and this guy knowing his stuff i followed the instructions to a T.
Well the bread was both a success and failure. Success because I learnt my oven was to hot (260/270c 500/520f). My mix was a little on the wet side as the internal temperature of the bread was 95c/205f yet it was doughy not fluffy. I'm not sure if my mix needed more time to rise properly or not. It was also a success because I got bread that was eatable but more importantly very crispy and crunchy. I will try again soon and see if I can improve.
Here are a few pics I took.


Sorry for the crappy photos, lighting was poor.






Half the bread now eaten.

[david s]

Looks a great loaf to me. Try cooking some baguettes when your oven is fairly hot. Because they are thin the heat can more easily penetrate to the centre. They will only take about 10 mins when the oven is hot. Just pull them out when they look good. After they're done you can place the larger loaves as the temp will have dropped somewhat.

[OscarA]

Thanks David, I love baguettes and have already ordered some pans from Amazon. I can't wait to try them out.

[david s]

Oscar,
I make up these from 304 .55mm stainless that i have from off cuts. they are 38 cm long which makes a short baguette, but they are really easy to handle and fit my small oven really well. They are really simple to make if you have access to a bender. Or you can make something up with a couple of lengths of angle iron and some clamps.I usually cook four baguettes (two trays) at a time, then some larger loaves after the baguettes are done. How much bread can you eat? Oops sorry forgot the pic.

[david s]

Here is my baguette tray

[david s]

sorry that pic tended to distort the proportions of the tray. Here's another from a different angle. I made the width of the bottom for each baguette 50mm (2") it seems pretty good to me.

[OscarA]

That's very clever and as you say with the right tools so easy. I especially like the flat bottoms as it makes it perfect for a baguette sandwich.

These are the two I ordered, couldn't decide which to get so I got them both.
After seeing yours I'm now wishing I got a baguette tray with a flat bottom.

[david s]

I'm sure they'll be fine.

[david s]

Here's a pic of some of my bread on the trays I made, just pulled out of the oven, we're eating it now.

[OscarA]

They look delicious, nothing beats well made home made bread.