That's what I did today..........there's definitely an art to getting the proofed loaf off of the towel and into the 425` dutch oven.
Yes I agree completely! I used parchment paper the first time just so I could lift it in and sort of drop it inside without going to the burn ward lol. Thanks! Glad to see you back Coot. I am overdue for making some more loaves to say the least!
Just ordered a copy of Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice as an Xmas gift for my grandmother. Thanks for the idea, CC! I may have to borrow it from her lol.
Thanks Coot.......that was stupid easy. For only a half teaspoon of yeast that dough was bubbling and about to climb out of the bowl.
Here's what you can consider using to make things easy - very easy. The Lodge Cast Iron LCC3 Cast-Iron Combo Cooker which costs $36.97 at Amazon, Walmart, Target, et al. No S&L charges apply. As you can see from the photo you get 2 pieces and the low-profile skillet functions as a lid for the 3-quart Dutch Oven. You place the dough on the lid and cover with the pre-heated deep Dutch oven (bottom) and proceed as usual. You don't have to heat the 'lid' to 500F - just the deep unit. Makes positioning, scoring, etc. very easy without burning your hands which is always nice - LOL! CC
That was the first book by Peter R. that I started with - highly recommended. His American Pie is another book of his you might enjoy - all about pizza! Incredible research on his part about different styles of pizza dough around the country. The Italian pizza dough from Naples, i.e. Neapolitan is my favorite. No olive oil just flour, yeast, water and salt. Perfect for the purists like me - LOL!
Purist or minimalist? Waktoo clued me into that book, I've renewed it twice from my Library and figure I'll just be more comfortable with buying it.
Here's a pic of the crumb from the above loaf. I'm not 100% happy with the rise of the loaf and am wondering if the dutch oven is so big that the loaf reached for the sides on it's way up.
Chunk Here's what would help - during the fermenting stage do two stretch & fold procedures. Do the first one about 1 hour into that cycle and another one at 2 hours. This will strengthen the gluten strands which will give your bread more oven spring and it will be able to hold that shape with the stretch & fold deal. This also gives you more 'air holes' in the bread's crumb. HTH CC
Adding 2 tsp. of fresh-ground malted barley grain in the initial batching process will really move the flavor and texture forward, i.e. what bakers call diastatic malt. Pure gold!
View attachment Enzymes: The Little Molecules That Bake Bread | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network.pdf Good solid information about enzymes in bread doughs from Scientific American Magazine......
<span>Bought a 24" x 36" frame at Michaels last night and mounted this picture a while ago. I may airbrush some white notes around the border of the frame to match the notes Stevie had on his guitar strap.</span> <span> </span>