Originally Posted by
langham123
Not heard that one. Never tried that method.
I agree you need to be patient with the dough starter. The longer you leave it, the better tho' too long and it turns rancid. The time between feeds varies immensely. Whilst it saves on yeast (I prefer fresh for conventional bread), it takes a longer.
But I'm not an expert, just bake for the family. Unfortunately they won't eat shop bought bread now!
I do have a gas oven, which helps as it gives a more moist heat. Tho' I use a water bath in the bottom for a crusty loaf. On the other hand it does tend to burn on 450 deg.F.
BTW, I don't think I use Canadian flour, just a mix of white and wheatmeal bread flour.
Canadian is extra hard. You can make standard bread flour harder by adding vital wheat gluten. I much prefer the higher gluten flours.
I am terribly proud of my invention with respect to making a steam oven. It is so simple.
The problem is that ideally you don't want moist heat all the way through the bake. Just the first five minutes or so, then you want to release the moisture and want dry heat for the remainder of the bake. Otherwise there is a tendency to make a sort of dumpling (exaggeration I know) if it remains moist too long during the bake. The moisture injects the initial propensity for crustyness and crispness into crust, and then the dryness crisps it up. So how to do! I spent years struggling! I finally worked it out.
i have a pizza stone for the bread. I have put a cast iron ridged steak griddle under the stone at the bottom of the oven I use for bread. That's it. I heat the oven up, put the bread in, throw a half cup of water over the griddle and slam the door shut quick. A very quick explosion of very hot steam. After five minutes or so I open the door and release the steam. A lovely shiny crispy crusty loaf.
I use my pizza oven for rolls and bagels and a narrow oven for higher bread and loafs and baguettes.
EDITED: Picture added to illustrate ...
