Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
Getting better! I think the trick was letting the oven preheat for an extra 30 mins to heat up the pizza stone. I used an infrared thermometer to check the temperature. The oven actually seems to run about 5-10 degrees F hotter than it's set to.
Nice color and perfect texture. But it doesn't taste like much. Does this mean I need more salt? Something else?
Another question, uk1: What do you bake the bread on? I've been putting it on foil on top of the pizza stone because I don't have a peel. Given how much the foil sticks to the bottom (which also doesn't brown), there's no way I'd be able to easily get it off a hot pizza stone. How do you get the bread not to stick to what you're baking it on?
This is fun!
That is perfect bread and looks really tasty.
The whole point of the stone is that you must heat it for a long time. So you're not heating the oven, until the light goes out but heating the stone for as long as you can say 40 minutes to an hour after the oven has reached maximum heat. the stone draws moisture out of the base of the bread and caramelises the surface and crisps it. Also, use semolina in place of flour for the base of the bread if you can. That adds crispness. if you look at the bagels up thread there is a picture of a base of one . Because bagels are boiled they are wet and so I use semolina to absorb some of the water and add crispness.
Foil cooks bread in its own steam. It is pointless putting foil onto the stone. The stone won't be adding any value. So make yourself a peel or buy one they cost around £10 of amazon in the UK. Buy a wooden one not a steel one. Steel is cold and causes the dough to be more likely to stick whereas wood is warmer and pizza and bread is less likely to stick. A steel peel is better for removing the bread or pizza once it has cooked. Coat it with flour ensure the loaf is moving around by shaking it and then shake it off onto your very hot stone.
You'd also benefit from final shaping using the technique I mentioned earlier ie increasing top surface tension by balling the underneath into the middle. Look for a youtube on shaping pizza balls. So make a big pizza ball ... long in you like and cut the surface to release the surface tension and allow it to bloom. Also some more surface cuts, is stagger them inot a sort of zig zag. The bread is saying to me that it wanted to open more.
Have you yet become convinced at how a disproportionate amount of extra depth of flavour and character is given by using the starter? And how wonderful can such a cheap pastime be. Real men bake real bread!
I really like the inside of that loaf.
