Trevor Wilson's Holiday Cranberry Sourdough

I haven't posted anything in ages since I tend to make the same loaves on a regular basis that I have shared before.  I am still baking weekly, and I visit here often to see what creations everyone is baking up!  This week, I decided to shake things up a bit and find some loaves that would be fitting for holiday gatherings and gifts.  As it happens, Trevor Wilson got his content back on line about the same time as I was perusing TFL for ideas, and his Holiday Cranberry Sourdough struck a chord with me.  So, off I went..... :)

I stayed true to Trevor's formula (after all, first time I'm making it, so......) The only changes I made were to scale the recipe for my usual loaf size, and to reduce the hydration to 72% (my comfort zone.) I also paid close attention to the dough, and my fermentation times were a bit different than his, but this is to be expected given starter differences, temp differences, etc.  My fridge proof was a bit shorter @ 10 hours, but, hey, who is in charge here, me or the bread?!?! ;) Ok, now that I typed all that, I guess I stayed true to the SPIRIT of Trevor's formula. :)

Anyway, everything went VERY smoothly for this bake.  I mixed the dough in my Ankarsrum, and it came together beautifully.  I mixed/developed the dough for about 12 minutes before slowly adding the cranberries.  The Ank got them mixed in well in about 2-3 minutes.  I baked off the first loaf this morning, and was a bit concerned that I had shortchanged the fermentation when there was just a small amount of oven spring when I removed my inverted roaster after the steaming period.  After another 25 minutes uncovered, my concerns turned out to be unjustified.  I did get a little splitting on one side of the loaf, so, I'd guess that I under proofed things a bit.

Happy with how this turned out for a first attempt, and will only make minor tweaks when I do it again.  Thanks for a great formula, and well written instructions, Trevor!