Hi,
I'm a newbie sourdough maker and things are going well after a steep learning curve but there are still a couple of things I need help with:
1. Getting the dough out of the banneton and into the casserole dish (I'm using a Le Creuset type with a lid, which I pre-heat in the oven) My dough always seems to flop in sideways and I'm thinking there must be some sort of technique? Sometimes it gets stuck in the banneton, despite flouring the banneton.
2. I'm doing the final prove out of the fridge as I find it more successful but sometimes the dough gets HUGE (and maybe that's why it's sticking too). Am I meant to knock it down before baking? Or would I be better proving it in the fridge?
3. My loaves aren't getting that nice wide split in them. I find it hard to cut through my dough anyway but I'm wondering if it's because the casserole dish is too small, so the dough isn't spreading?
Thank you!
Replies
Hello fitnaturally,
First off, I wonder whether you are over-proving your loaf. The fact that it gets 'huge', sticks to the banneton, flops out, is hard to slash and doesn't spring could all be symptoms of this problem. So first, I would look at baking before it gets 'huge' (provided that the dough weight is matched to the banneton size, if the peak of the loaf is level with the top rim of the banneton would be a good place to start) and try becoming familiar with the poke test to gauge when the loaf is ready. Don't just go by a time given in a method, the time required for your conditions could very well be significantly different.
You aren't required to knock it down before baking and proving in the fridge will certainly slow things down and possibly will be more controllable with a consistent temperature but the time required will need to be overnight or even longer and the same tests of proof are relevant, not just time.
In terms of getting it into your baking dish, one technique I have read about is to turn the loaf out of the banneton onto baking paper, do your slashes and then pick up baking paper and all and place that into the container. Much easier on the structure of the loaf and probably less dangerous to the operator that trying to wrangle a red hot casserole.
Try to make your slashes with an undercut (blade at a low angle to the surface of the loaf) and make the slashes more or less along the length of the loaf (for a long loaf like a batarde) rather than across the loaf.
For flouring your banneton, use a flour with lower gluten content such as wholemeal rye or rice flour. These are much less prone to sticking.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Wow Farinam that is all so helpful - thank you very much!
I proved in the fridge last night after leaving the dough to rest for an hour, after the last stretch and fold, and it's not so huge this morning but still over the level of the banneton. Will see how it turns out in a minute.
I didn't realise that about the stickability of flours, though it makes perfect sense now you say.; and I'll Google the poke test too.
The baking paper tip makes perfect sense, I'll use that straight away, and the cutting technique
You are a treasure :)
Sally (fitnaturally)
Hi Farinam,
Got better spring this time using you advice but look at the bottom of my loaf - it's stodge. Do you know what could be the cause?
Thank you
Sally
Hi Sally,
I would say it is to do with something happening in your oven. Possibly it is temperature related and maybe oven position as your top crust looks a bit thin and pale and the bottom is positively pallid.
Perhaps you can tell how you went about baking the loaf. Oven temperature, oven type, baking mode, baking time, any temperature changes, pre-heat time, baking stone, baking tray, steam addition etc - in effect a blow by blow description from turning the oven on till removal of the loaf.
Keep on bakin'
Farinam
Hi Farinam,
That wouldn't surprise me at all as my oven is a right bug*er! It's an electric fan oven. The difficulty is that the temperature numbers have worn off but since I've been using it for 12 years I know where the dial goes for different temperatures. It runs extremely hot so I've been baking at what the dial would have as about 200deg but in reality would be about 230-240. I bake it at the bottom (one rung up) as there's a grill element at the top which refuses not to fire up, whatever setting I put the oven on.
So, I use a Le Creuset frying pan as the vessel, having migrated from a cast iron lidded pot as the one I have is too small. I heat the oven and the frying pan (lightly oiled) til the oven reaches temperature, then I take the frying pan out of the oven and place it over the top of the banneton - I semolina the top of the dough first - then tip it up so the dough plops out into the frying pan. Then score it and put it in the oven before tipping boiling water into a hot tray at the bottom. I leave it to bake for 20 mins before removing the water tray, then leave it for about another 10 mins, by which time the top is getting really brown, which is why I don't leave it any longer. Hmm, whilst writing this it's all becoming quite clear..........
Then I take the pan out and tip the loaf onto a cooling rack.
I think perhaps I'll place a tray under the element on the roof of the oven, to reduce some of its 'poke'. Or maybe I should just reduce overall temperature?
I will keep on bakin' as this has me GRIPPED! I have to get it right or t he world will end, obvs.
THANK YOU
Sally
The unfortunate, but tasty if you cut the bottom off, item. Sideways.
Hello Sally,
Just because your oven reaches temperature, it doesn't necessarily mean that your frying pan has also reached that temperature so you could be putting your loaf into something that is still quite 'cold' and that still takes time to get up to the 'real' temperature. I addition the walls of the frying pan would also affect the flow of hot air around the oven.
Perhaps you could try leaving the frying pan in the oven, at temperature, for, say, half an hour to make sure that it is heated to maximum capacity before starting the bake. Also, to avoid the heat loss while transferring you could turn your loaf out onto baking paper on the bench, slash the loaf and then put loaf, paper and all into the pan still on the oven shelf (rolled out of course). Or, if you have a biscuit tray, you could try using that which would fix the air flow problem as well. Or, as a last resort, get your oven repaired or replaced :) Having the grill element on full time certainly doesn't help the cause of getting uniform baking. And, have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer. They are really quite cheap and it is better to know than to guess and I would have thought that your loaf would have been rather more browned if the temperature really was 230-240C.
Keep on bakin'
Farinam