Sourdough to Open Bake or Not to Open Bake? That is the Question.
My Sourdough Journey
I have been making sourdough for about three years and am still learning and experimenting. I am by no means an expert but find sourdough therapeutic. I’ve tried stiff starter vs. regular starter, high hydration, and many other recipes that use sourdough starter.
Open Bake Vs. Dutch Oven
So this time I thought I would try open bake vs. dutch oven. My sourdough recipe that works 99% of the time is from Farmhouse on Boone. The only thing I change is to add a little more water.
I prepared two loaves the same way and before baking them they both turned out exactly as I had hoped. After the stretch and pulls and bulk rise, the dough turned out lovely. The bubbles were showing and the dough jiggled like it should. I shaped the doughs and put them in the refrigerator overnight.
The next morning I preheated my oven to 500 degrees and allowed it to stay at that temperature for a period of time before attempting to bake my loaves. After scoring my loaves I popped one in the Dutch oven and the other open bake. In open bake, you need to create steam so I had a pan in the bottom for the ice cubes. I always lower my temperature to 450 degrees after I put my loaves in the oven. I have experimented with temperature and 450 degrees is the best for my oven.
After 20 minutes, I took the lid off the Dutch oven. 20 more minutes and my loaves were finished. The loaf in the Dutch oven had a lovely ear and rose beautifully. The open bake loaf rose okay but looked more like a ball. I am not sure why it did this. I’m not sure if I should re-score after 10 minutes and this would prevent the ball-like look or what gave it this appearance.
Final Result of Open Bake and Dutch Oven
The crumb of the loaves were both beautiful, but the rise and look of the loaf with the Dutch oven was superior. I would like to try this experiment again and try to perfect my open loaf. In my experience, the Dutch oven is more reliable in the outcome. Since I have a Dutch oven, I haven’t tried open bake very often, however, since I have a daughter who doesn’t have a Dutch oven, I am going to try and perfect it.
I will update you with my results. Until then, Happy Baking!