Stone Baker Sourdough

[Schwert]

This weekend I tried out a new stoneware baker we picked up in the after Christmas sales. I spotted this before Christmas and thought it may make a good bread baker, but the price was pretty high. However in the mad rush to blow out stuff after Christmas this came down to less than $15 so I picked one up.

I wanted to try a pretty straightforward sourdough for its trial run.

Wednesday-Friday

Sourdough starter, then each morning I added:
Flour, unbleached
Potato flakes
Water

This got to a good bubbly sponge by Saturday when I went into force feeding mode

Saturday I fed this 4 times through the day with:
Flour, unbleached
Potato flakes
1 packet of raw sugar
Water (lessening amounts each feeding)

This produced a sticky dough by the last feeding that lifted the plate right off the working bowl.

I transferred the sticky sponge to my mixer bowl with dough hook and added:

1 cup of spelt grains
Salt
Flour to make a stiff elastic ball

Worked that into a loaf into the greased baker with oatmeal on the bottom and let rise in a warm oven for 1 hour

Sprinkle with kosher sea salt
Slashed and baked at 400deg for 30 minutes with the cover on

Removed cover and baked for about 10 minutes more to brown the loaf

An excellent slightly chewy loaf with a good sour flavor, perfect with a bowl of soup.

This one is moist enough to hold together for a nice trail lunch. Some wax paper, a couple of slabs and some well aged white Cheddar would be perfect with a cup of tea.

 

[seany boy]

Hi Schwert,

now that looks very tasty!!

I must say your pictures are always very good:You_Rock_

Love that ulu by the way.

 

[john scrivy]

I love posts like this and enjoy seeing that what you set out to do works and by the look of the loaf it works well - I have thought about an experimemt bread bake in an old clay flower pot just not got round to trying it out yet

 

[Schwert]

Thanks guys. This loaf really was one of my better ones. The spelt grain seems to keep it moist and chewy longer than just whole wheat flour.

This baker is not quite as porous as a clay pot, but I am guessing that would be a very similar method.

I did not note in the directions above, but I start the baking with the oven cold....the little clay oven comes up to 400 deg rather than starting at 400 deg. This seems to really add volume to the bread.

Good luck with the clay pot....I would be interested to find out how that turns out.

 

[RobertRogers]

Great job! Now I am hungry!

 

[Eric_Methven]

Did you keep a bit of the starter for the next batch, or do you use a commercial starter?

Eric

 

[Eric_Methven]

For those of us on this side of the pond, a suitable alternative might be an earthenware flower pot (wide and shallow) and a ceramic pizza stone. The pizza stone can be picked up for about £12 from a good cookshop and the flower pot for a few quid from any garden centre. Grease the pizza stone before adding dough, soak the flower pot, place on top of the dough and start it off in a cold oven. The steam produced from the damp earthenware will do a final prove then bake in one go. Time for some experiments me thinks.

I was also thinking about blocking the hole in the flower pot. This could be achieved with two large metal washers and a small threaded ring hook with a nut at either side. It would also double as a handle for removing the flower pot.

Eric

 

[Schwert]

Eric, I am using "Oregon Trail Sourdough"....a strain that is supposed to have been around for about 100 years. I got a small amount of dried started a few years back and have kept a pot going for several years.

I actually think that sourdough evolves quite rapidly into something unique to everyone's own home but it is nice to have sent a small donation to the Oregon Trail folks, and it is likely there are still some yeast strain in it that has been on a long wagon trip.

Here is another sourdough bread/bannock. I did one of these last week and it was so good I repeated it again. I am using spent grains from my beer making friend. This one has Crystal, Munich, and Chocolate malts plus some cracked barley.

Sourdough starter allowed to work with 2/feeding/day of potato flakes and unbleached flour to form a nice bubbly sponge.

1.25cups of spent grains
1t kosher salt
2 packets of raw sugar
Stirred together with enough unbleached flour to make a soft sticky dough.

The ingredients

Patted and pressed into my iron pan. Notice the height of the dough as it is pressed into the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel. My sourdough generally needs about 4 hours to raise double. So off we went on a walk.

This weekend was a remarkably good one. It was near 60deg….I could really tell when we returned from our walk….this dough was just going over the pan. I am guessing it was a good half an inch higher than last weeks. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and ready to bake.

And 40 minutes later at 350F….pure heaven.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Excellent. You're making me hungry.

Eric

 

[match]

For those of us on this side of the pond, a suitable alternative might be an earthenware flower pot (wide and shallow) and a ceramic pizza stone. The pizza stone can be picked up for about £12 from a good cookshop and the flower pot for a few quid from any garden centre. Grease the pizza stone before adding dough, soak the flower pot, place on top of the dough and start it off in a cold oven. The steam produced from the damp earthenware will do a final prove then bake in one go. Time for some experiments me thinks.

I was also thinking about blocking the hole in the flower pot. This could be achieved with two large metal washers and a small threaded ring hook with a nut at either side. It would also double as a handle for removing the flower pot.

Eric

I've baked in a terracotta flowerpot before, but used the 'right way up'. Place the pot on a baking tray, drop in the dough and bake it - the dough rises out the top as it does in a baking tin, and the hole in the bottom is useful to test its baked properly/push it out when done.

If you soak the terracotta in water, then place it with the dough in in the oven cold and bring up to temperature it steams the bread and you get a nice crispy crust on it!

 

[john scrivy]

did you cover the top of the pot or leave open i take it that it was fire cooked

 

[fishy1]

If you soak the terracotta in water, then place it with the dough in in the oven cold and bring up to temperature it steams the bread and you get a nice crispy crust on it!

Is there not a risk it could explode?

 

[Schwert]

Terra cotta is likely too porus to build up any steam and explode. I soaked the lid of this stone baker in water last week for a loaf and it seemed to make the crust a bit thicker and crunchier too.


This week I did a savory varient to the sourdough.

This one has sage and black pepper in the dough and is topped with alder smoked sea salt and pepper. Ohhhh my it is good.


Sourdough starter Friday night
Boost with potato flakes, unbleached flour and water.
Feed it twice more on Saturday.

Sunday…


Bubbly sponge
2 packets raw sugar
Sea salt....plain not smoked
Potato flakes
Spent grain (crystal barley malt)
Loads of coarse freshly ground black pepper
A half handful of dried Albanian Whole Leaf Sage
Stir in unbleached flour to get a sticky dough
Roll in a ball and let rest about an hour


Punch down into a greased fry pan, cover and let rise about 4 hours

Sprinkle top with more fresh ground black pepper and Alder smoked sea salt

Bake 45 minutes 350