The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Epi wreath in a Lodge combo cooker

carblicious's picture
carblicious

Epi wreath in a Lodge combo cooker

From the thread on dutch oven baking, I thought that I should attempt an epi wreath in my lodge combo cooker.  I had a 10% wheat/5% rye sourdough dough retarding in the fridge for a couple of day and simply used this as a test.  As a 75% hydration dough, it was a little rough to work with in a tight shape.  Nonetheless, the experiment was succesful, and worth further improvements.

Preheat oven for 500 degrees.  Bake at 450 for 15 minues with lid on and then 15 minutes with lid off.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Karin

Zoologuy's picture
Zoologuy

Beautiful wreath, Carbilicous, but how big? Do you have the 5-quart Lodge combo cooker or another size? And what weight of dough did you use to form the epi ring, please? I could do the trial-and-error myself but would prefer experimenting with snip and shape techniques with the right amount already settled. Grazie in anticipo (thanks in advance)

On a related note—for those interested in sharing DO techniques and formulas—it might be helpful if we specified those particulars as a standard practice (e.g. 5-qt. cast iron DO with lid as base or 6-qt. enameled iron DO with lid as cover) together with weights of dough per loaf to go with weights of flour, water, salt etc.

 

michael

I'mTheMami's picture
I'mTheMami (not verified)

What a beautiful loaf!

I too am anxious to hear specifics on the combo cooker, wondering if I have one this size or not :)

carblicious's picture
carblicious

Appreciate the feedback!

Equipment

Dutch Oven = 3Qt Combo Cooker, 10.25" lid.

Dough

My weekday "no knead" dough (I always have a batch retarding in the fridge) is a 710g of total weight.   This dough doesn't have the rise or crumb of other sourdoughs I have made, but it's easy and available.  From this dough, I made two wreaths @ 355g each.

  • 200g of sourdough starter (100% hydration = 100g water, 50g wheat, 50g AP)
  • 300g of flour
  • 200g of water
  • 8g of salt
  • 2g of instant yeat (yes, belt and suspenders!) 

Method

Since I wanted to build as much surface tension as possible, I attempted to roll out a baguette shape and then form a loop.  The high hydration made the dough difficult to work with, so I'm going to either have to learn to roll out high hydration baguettes or I'm going to go to the standard baguette ratio.

  1. 1-3 days before the bake, mix everything in a bowl until combined (no dry bits).   Cover with plastic and put in the fridge.
  2. Bake day, take the dough out and divide in half.
  3. Preshape into the batard shape and rest for 30 minutes.
  4. Shape into baguettes and form a ring, transfer to combo cooker lid/pan.  Cover with plastic and rest for at least an 1 hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees, with the dutch oven section in the oven.
  6. When dough is ready, using scissors, cut the dough and make into epi wreath.
  7. Cover the pan with the preheated dutch oven section, put the bread in the oven, and then lower the temp to 450.  
  8. Bake with lid on for 15 minutes
  9. Take off lid and continue to bake for 15 more minutes.