Pandemic Baking: Sourdough #13 and #14

These are our notes for the third and fourth loaves in two days.

We started the process of feeding the starter on Friday morning, for baking Saturday morning.

We used up all of the Pillsbury bleached all-purpose flour, and added Gold Medal bleached all-purpose flour.
Note that the Gold Medal bleached AP flour is our last bag of bleached AP flour. During the pandemic flour shortage, we had a hard time finding King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour. We will be moving to KA unbleached AP flour as soon as we used up this last bag of bleached AP.

We increased the hydration level to 75%.

This time, we decided to leave the dough in the mixing bowl during bulk fermentation, instead of moving the dough to our larger square container.
We had to keep a close eye on the dough to make sure it does not overflow out of the mixing bowl - all was good.

During pre-shaping and shaping, we also were generous in adding a lot of flour onto the working surface and on our hands to keep the dough from sticking.
We felt much better during final shaping as we could see bubbles forming during tension pull.
The same person shaped both doughs, so that we can determine the effect of ice cubes in the Dutch oven without wondering about the difference in shaping success.

Our second banneton basket arrived just in time for our two loaves to proof each in their own banneton basket.
We retarded the dough overnight.

The next morning, we brought both banneton baskets out when we preheated the oven.

This was our baking timeline for sourdough #13:
1. Preheat the oven with the Dutch oven to 500 deg F for about an hour
2. Score from the older banneton basket
3. Put in the oven with lid on and reduce oven setting to 475 deg F
4. After 18 minutes, rotate the Dutch oven 180 degrees
5. After 13 minutes, remove the lid
6. After 6 minutes, move the loaf to bare rack and switch to convection at 450 deg F
7. After 6 minutes, rotate the loaf 180 degrees
8. Bake for an additional 3 minutes

Baking timeline for the follow-on sourdough #14:
9. Put the Dutch oven back into the oven and preheat to 500 deg F
10. Wait until oven thermometer reads 475 deg F
11. Score from the newer banneton basket, this time add rice flour to the top and spread evenly
12. Add four ice cubes into the Dutch oven, and put the dough in with lid on
13. Reduce oven setting to 475 deg F
14. After 18 minutes, rotate the Dutch oven 180 degrees
15. After 13 minutes, remove the lid
16. After 6 minutes, move the loaf to bare rack and switch to convection at 450 deg F
17. After 6 minutes, rotate the loaf 180 degrees
18. After 3 minutes, peek in: still not quite caramelized color
19. Bake for an additional 1 minute 40 seconds

Sourdough #13 on left, #14 (ice cubes method) on right, both 75% hydration

Sourdough #13 on left, #14 (ice cubes method) on right

 Ice cubes definitely did not hinder the rise of sourdough #14.
Sourdough #14 was larger than #13 in every dimension (length and width) and just as tall.
We weighed the loaves after baking, and #14 was slightly heavier than #13 (about 50g heavier) so perhaps this explains the size difference.

Coloring of sourdough #13

Coloring of sourdough #14

We added rice flour to the top and spread evenly right prior to scoring sourdough #14 for that burst of contrast in coloring.
The coloring of sourdough #14 has a very beautiful golden hue, different than that of #13; is this due to the ice cubes? We are not sure.
We also noted that #13 had a lot more blisters than #14.

Twinsie sourdoughs for us and Amy

Sourdough #14: thin crispy crust and open crumb at 75% hydration