Baking Soudough on a Pizza stone
Hi Sourdough lovers.....I have baked my sourdough on a pizza stone like about 4 times and each time it is a little challenging, but, I have been pretty successful. This time tho, doing the same thing as before, I scored my bread after it was in the fridge proofing overnight and baked it as usual, with spraying the oven every 10 minutes at first and also a tray of water for the first 10 minutes (then removed) ...Baked at 450 for 10 minutes then 25 minutes at 375. It looks beautiful, but no ears! Can't figure out what went wrong. I hope it tastes good, but maybe someone knows or has a clue what happened. Since I did the same thing this time as before. Some say on a batard, your cut should be only 1/4 inch deep. Who knows. So, is an ear that mandatory?
Opening the oven as well as spraying it is going to lose a lot of heat, esp. if done multiple times.
An option is to spray the loaf thoroughly before putting it in your oven then don't open it again.
for a lack of steam on an over proofed loaf that would have less oven spring. It's not going to win a beauty contest but it still might be good bread. A photo after you cut into it will help identify why this happened.
If you're using a pizza stone we'll assume it's round and there's still room on the bottom of your oven to place something else to provide steam. A tray with water or something that allows the steam to continue longer and doesn't require you to open the oven, loosing heat, might help. And if you have done a good job of shaping the loaf then you may see an ear by cutting at more of an angle.
I did put a tray of water in there for the first 10 minutes, then turned the oven down from 450 to 375. The last time I baked the oven seemed to be too high and the outside was pretty brown. I didn't cut quite of an angle this time, so that will be my next challenge....thank you
I agree with @MT. Is the loaf the same shape as the others or a bit flatter? How does the crumb compare?
If you did the baking part exactly as you have done before, then the difference would lie elsewhere. In my experience, if you proof loaves longer, the scores do not open as much (though overall the loaf still expands), the loaf spreads out a bit more and you don't get an ear. I will not say "overproofed" as the end result can be fine tasty bread, it depends what you are after.
TIM
Score needs to be deeper.
Ears are not mandatory. They are aesthetic. The do not contribute to flavor.
Ok, so I brought the loaf to a friend's house for dinner last night and was anxious to see the crumb. First of all the crumb was pretty good, but, the interior was rather dense. Not sure what that means. I took the temperature before I took out the loaf from the oven and it was 210 so that seemed to be ok. But maybe should have left it in for awhile longer. It's all a mystery and a challenge. My friends loved it anyway, but I have become critical of my bread now, and wanted it to look better, but I will settle for now. Thanks for all the comments.
1) As others mentioned opening the oven to spray every 10 minutes will greatly reduce the oven temperature and you only want steam for the first part of the bake. A tray of water also is not great as it will not create a lot of steam at once or much at all. You need a burst of steam at the beginning.
the best way to steam in my opinion is to place a cast iron skillet or Le Creuset full of lava rocks at the bottom of the oven. Preheat for 45-60 minutes. Boil a kettle of water just before baking. Add just a little water to the lava rocks and quickly close the oven to help humidify it. Score the bread and the put in oven. Then pour more hot water into the lava rocks and quickly close the oven. Resist the temptation to open the oven.
2) your loaf looks underbaked. You should be baking it longer at a higher temperature. I would probably be looking at 460F for 35-38 minutes. My dutch oven bread goes 30 mins covered and 18-20 mins uncovered. My buns go 26 mins again at 460F.
3) your bread maybe overproofed it you are not getting enough rise
4) slash deeper and with your lame inclined on a 30 degree angle - not vertical. The buns above in the picture were scored with a vertical lame and no ears as I want the buns to expand but be roundish.
Is the bread good? If it is, you WIN!
"Ears" just means their oven delivers at lot of heat (not temperature) quickly to the dough. Ears are an artificial standard. Poilane in Paris is considered the best bakery in the world, and their bread is great, but their sourdough miche do not have ears. Sorry, the best sourdough bread in the world does not have "Ears".
If your bread goes well with the way you eat it - it is good bread and you and your friends should enjoy it.
Miche breads do not have ears, regardless of whether they are baked by Poilane in Paris or by Pauline at the corner bakery.
Small miche breads may weigh as little as 1K, larger miche breads may be 2-3K.
Is the bread good? If it is, you WIN!
"Ears" just means their oven delivers at lot of heat (not temperature) quickly to the dough. Ears are an artificial standard. Poilane in Paris is considered the best bakery in the world, and their bread is great, but their sourdough miche do not have ears. Sorry, the best sourdough bread in the world does not have "Ears".
If your bread goes well with the way you eat it - it is good bread and you and your friends should enjoy it.