Second Bread

Nearing the end of my first sourdough, and anxious to see if my refrigerated culture was surviving, I decided it was time to bake another. I took one of the cultures out, fed it, and let it sit in room temperature overnight.


Yesterday morning, I found another of those wonderful explosions, and quickly pulled together the same dough as I did for my first bread. My plan was to let it do its first rise all day, and then I would start the second rise at around 6pm, leaving me plenty of time to bake it before bed at around 9:30-10pm. Since the first bread was quite sour, I decided to experiment this time by reducing the amount of culture I used. I went down to 230 grams from 250. Otherwise, everything was exactly the same. Here are a few pictures of everything coming together:

Short ingredient lists are important for a healthy lifestyle

Before first rise

After first rise

Another adjusment I decided to make was to use a smaller bowl with a bottom that was not as flat as the one I used last time. This was a great idea, but great ideas with bread are so dependant on a multitude of other factors. I did not flour the cloth napkin nearly as much as last time, which resulted in the dough sticking, and when the time came to bake I had to fiddle with the sensitive risen dough so much that it deflated quite a bit. NEXT TIME I WILL DO IT PERFECTLY!

Before second rise

After second rise

I preheated the oven for what seemed like forever (we estimated it to be about an hour) until the temperature in the pot was around 400 degrees Fahrenheit. No more low temperatures for me. Next, the struggle to separate dough from napkin ensued on the hot terracotta saucer, and then I quickly inserted the probe into the dough, which had indeed fallen but was definitely larger overall than my last loaf. Just spread out more. I put the pot in place, and slid the assembly back into the hot oven. The air in the pot did not take long to get back to 400, which was a big confidence boost.

Actually taken near the end of baking, but you get the idea

The bread came out a lot different this time, at least in terms of crust. I did not presoak the pot, I made sure everything was hot, and I used less starter. One or all of these factors got me the attractive loaf below.





Noticeably tamer than my previous bread, this one was actually somewhat disappointing at first taste this morning. The lack of sourness was not the issue, however; rather, it was the lack of smell. This turned out to be a personal issue caused by allergies (or perhaps the bread improved with age), because later in the afternoon when my nose had cleared, this bread had a taste that seemed an instant classic. Tonight we will have it with some tri-colored pasta with mushroom sauce from Terra Cotta Pasta (best in our region for sure). Should be nice.

Notes for next time:
-flour the napkin
-flour the napkin
-see if I can get a baking stone instead of using saucer
-if I get the stone, get a peel
-or maybe just bake in loaf pan?
-use all 250g of starter, me likey tang

Is it winking angrily?