Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Loaf #5, sourdough and new loaf pans


Yesterday I received my loaf pans, so after cultivating a large batch of sourdough slurry I made a batch with regular bread flour and another with high gluten flour. The high gluten flour rose faster and was shaped into French loaves (on the right) and the regular bread flour became Italian loaves (on the left). I sprayed the pans with nonstick spray and sprinkled cornmeal on it, which did a nice job. next time I'll probably just use parchment paper for easier cleanup. The loaves formed beautifully, but between over baking them and probably not hydrating them enough the outside ended up a bit tough. The sourdough taste was pretty good, though, so it's worth another try.

Next time I try using the loaf pans I'll limit baking time to 20 minutes or so, since they seem to get done so much faster in this form.

When I made the dough, I just put about 2 cups of flour and a teaspoon of salt into a bowl, then dumped in enough slurry to form the dough. Not very scientific, but it worked ok except for the over baking.

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