Sourdough bread. It seems intimidating. In fact, it's been so intimidating that I have been putting it off all year. So I decided I need to find a simple version of it. I found it....Alton Brown's Knead Not Sourdough!
The lack of kneading wasn't what attracted me to the recipe. My 6qt Kitchenaid mixer is my iron work horse. It's the lack of complicated, multiple steps that drew me in. You mix it and leave it on the counter for 19 hours. Then roll it a little in some flour and let rise it again in a tea towel. Since I just got home from holiday traveling and I'm behind on my deadline, sign me up for simple and easy!
This is what it looked like after resting for 19 hours. Super bubbly.
Okay, it wasn't with some, um, issues. You have to preheat a dutch oven and then pull it out and slide the fermented dough in it. It stuck on an edge and I decided to give it a quick shake to get it in. I forgot to use hot pads. Oops! I burnt my thumb and finger. Burn gel, five bandaids later and a set of latex gloves and I was ready to keep on going.
Now I did one extra trick, which I learned from making ciabatta. The bread is first baked with dutch oven's cover on. Then you uncover it for the last 15 minutes of baking. When I uncovered it (with hot pads on this time), I sprayed my oven walls with water using a squirt gun to create steam and to make that crispy crust.
Here are the results:
The squirt gun trick worked. The crust was crispy and chewy and the insides fluffy.
My husband said it was amazing! He also warned me that the loaf might be "missing" in the morning.
Compared to sourdough I have had other places it didn't have a super strong sourdough flavor. Probably because it wasn't made from an aged starter. Slightly sour worked just fine though because it tasted amazing to me too!
Now Bake That!
No comments:
Post a Comment