Sometimes I order things without really thinking things out... The bannetons these little loaves were shaped in are a 5" round and 7" oval (outside measurements) . I got them cheap and thought small would be better than the large ones I have. I do like the size, but I did not realize how small they actually are. On the first bake these came out with a soft crust and not much colour. I will have to work on getting the crisp crust.
Anyway, less waste for my experiments :)
How and how long are your baking your loaves. I make similar sized loaves in a 1.8L le creuset two way combo dutch oven and my crusts come out great. I preheat to 550, load cover and bake 10 minutes at 500, 15 @ 475, 10 minutes uncovered at 460, and 10 minutes with the oven off door ajar. I also do a long cold proof after shaping and bake cold. Dark. ard crust that sings.
does this help?
I preheated to 500° and baked them on a stone covered with a roasting pan for 10 minutes with steam underneath. I dropped the temp to 400° until the thermometer said 205°, not sure of the time. I was also working while baking...
I could not use my cast iron as I was in a hurry. Next time I will try and focus a bit more.
Thanks!
I think having the right sized DO is crucial to the success of these loaves- what recipe are you using? I assume tartine based on the shape. I ordered a 2.2 L combo pan to fit a 1/4 recipe tartine loaf. Hope it works!
your new baskets will serve you well in your experiments! They look like blistered, white bread of some kind that was retarded? Well done and
Happy baking Galapagos Man.
I think you are correct. Next time I will find my large oval DO, that one should work out nicely.
The recipe is based off of this one http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/36742/30-tasmanian-spelt-bread%3C/a%3E by tchism 350 g White bread flour, 100 g Spelt, 50 g Rye, 11 g salt and 150g or so of starter and 300 g water. I started it yesterday and it spent the night in the fridge, a few hours of rising this morning and into the oven when I thought it was ready. I did not plan on baking and the spelt container was near empty as was my starter, thus the impro. I tried this recipe because of his pictures and it looked to be lower hydration than other recipes I have used. Next time I will try to follow more closely and try one with sunflower seeds.
When the new baskets arrived I thought they would be useless being so small. Now I think I really like them much more than the larger ones. Warm crusty loaves with butter is hard to beat and the small size baskets are perfect for this. I messed up and got lucky! :)
They look lovely, just a little more colour and they would be absolutely perfect. It is always difficult to estimate when you bake a differently sized loaf for the first time. I love smaller loaves finding them far more practical in many ways, and also I think it gives me more opportunity to learn. I can have two or three attempts at slashing instead of one, or try different shapes. For the same reason I always halve recipes so that I can bake a couple of times a week rather than one. With bread it is all about practise isn't it? The little round one got lovely ears.