**excuse the typo, I can’t edit the title 🙃
I keep tweaking my method, trying to perfect it. I’ve been experimenting with open baking (not using a Dutch oven, just baking on my Healsio’s 角皿) but haven’t been getting the expansion at the score that I like. I tried a delayed score today and it came out quite well! I’ve been making sourdough for more than two years now, but I’m still learning my style every bake!
I posted a while back that I’d started open baking but my score wasn’t expanding the way I wanted it to. Well, I think I’ve figured out how to achieve the look I’ve been chasing!
This time I decided to bake two loaves at once (my first time doing so). Both got a decorative score before going in the oven. The right one got its big score before going in, quite deep as I went through the score with the blade twice . The left was scored 7 minutes into baking. I think we have a pretty clearly winning method 😅
I also ditched the pizza stone I’d been baking on. I just don’t think my little Japanese oven gets the stone hot enough and my bottoms kept coming out too pale.
My process: 1000g bread flour 72% water 20% starter 2% salt
Autolyse flour and all but 20g water for 30 min, mix in starter, add salt plus the leftover 20g water. Temp dough and set my timer according to the sourdough journey’s temp chart (it’s just my approximate time, I usually go over by 30-60 min, reading my dough instead of the chart) Slap and folds until cohesive. 3 sets of coil folds at 30-45 min intervals. Shaped and into a banneton when dough felt right (bubbles on top and throughout, jiggly, not sticky to the touch, etc.) Cold ferment for approx 20 hours. Preheated oven to 250°C with cookie sheets in. Dumped dough onto parchment paper, scored and used my pizza peel to get the bread onto the cookie sheet. On the bottom of the oven I added another cookie sheet with boiled water for steam. Set timer to bake for 20 min with the water cookie sheet (opened the door at 7 min in to score), removed the water cookie sheet and baked 20 more min. Currently waiting for them to cool for a few hours before slicing into them!
I’m just so elated and want any other moms here to know that it does get easier!!
My baby has been more or less attached to me for basically his whole life thus far when it comes to sleep. He’s very much a contact napper, frequently latches to connect sleep cycles, nurses to sleep almost always, etc.
All that to say, cosleep has not been exactly wonderful for my husband’s and my romantic relationship 😅 I love cosleeping and wouldn’t change it for the world, but also I do miss the quality one on one time with my husband.
Well this week for the first time ever I rolled away from my baby and was actually able to go downstairs and do some chores. He woke up about 45 minutes after I put him down, so I comforted him back to sleep and was able to go back downstairs and help my husband do the dishes and kind of reset the house. And tonight I tried it again and after an initial wake up at about the 45 minute mark again, my husband and I had two hours of uninterrupted time together. This is the first time since he was born that we’ve gotten that much quality time together and it just feels so refreshing and also makes me feel a little more myself again. Now I’m back cuddling next to my baby and he didn’t wake up at all even when husband and I came into bed!
Just a bit of a celebratory post because I’m sure we’re not the only cosleeping couple out there who have gone through a bit of a postpartum dip in their relationship
Hello! I posted a few days ago about my first time attempting to open bake (the last two pictures above for reference). I attempted again and while the belly expanded slightly more, I’m still not quite getting the oven spring I was hoping for. Any advice for the following:
My process: 500g bread flour 72% water 20% starter 2% salt
Autolyse flour and all but 20g water for 30 min, mix in starter, add salt plus the leftover 20g water.
Temp dough and set my timer according to the sourdough journey’s temp chart (it’s just my approximate time, I usually go over by 30-60 min, reading my dough instead of the chart) Slap and folds until cohesive.
4 sets of coil folds at 30-45 min intervals. Shaped and into a banneton when dough felt right (bubbles on top and throughout, jiggly, not sticky to the touch, etc.) Cold ferment for approx 24 hours. Preheated oven to 250°C with pizza stone in for 40min.
Dumped dough onto a piece of parchment paper, scored and used my pizza peel to get the bread onto the pizza stone. On bottom rack poured boiling water into cookie sheet. Baked for 20 min with the water cookie sheet, removed the cookie sheet and baked 20 more min. Flipped the bread around for an extra 4 min to even out the color of the crust a bit.
I was a bit clumsy adding the water into my bottom rack for steam and I think that affected my oven spring resulting in the lack of burst at the score site. Also I baked on my pizza stone and realized the reason my pizzas and now this loaf’s bottom are so pale is that you’re supposed to bake your stone by itself for 30-60 min to heat it up 😅 so those were my learning moments.
The win however was that the crust was SO nice and crispy and much less thick compared to my Dutch oven crusts! My husband said the bread itself feels softer too. Definitely will be attempting again soon! I think I prefer this outcome to my usual DO bakes despite the kinks that need to be worked out!
My process:
500g bread flour 71% water 20% starter 2% salt
Autolyse flour and all but 20g water for 30 min, mix in starter, add salt plus the leftover 20g water. Temp dough and set my timer according to the sourdough journey’s temp chart (it’s just my approximate time, I usually go over by 30-60 min, reading my dough instead of the chart) Slap and folds until cohesive. 4 sets of coil folds at 30-45 min intervals. Shaped and into a banneton when dough felt right (bubbles on top and throughout, jiggly, not sticky to the touch, etc.) Cold ferment for approx 20 hours. Preheated oven to 250°C with pizza stone in (just the oven’s preheat, which was my problem with the bottom). Dumped dough onto a piece of cooking paper, scored and used my pizza peel to get the bread onto the pizza stone. On bottom rack poured boiling water into cookie sheet but my oven is small and I put the bread first and closed the door to maintain heat while I grabbed my boiled kettle. Will be reworking that procedure next time 😅 Baked for 20 min with the water cookie sheet, removed the cookie sheet and baked 20 more min. Flipped the bread around for an extra 4 min to even out the color of the crust a bit. Cooled for a smidge less than two hours before cutting for dinner!
Edit: typo