I’ve gotten into a good rhythm baking loaves with our Lodge Cast Iron loaf pan. The recipe is quite simple.
50g starter
150g to 200g water
250g bread flour
5g salt
You might notice the wide range of water in this recipe, anywhere from 60% to 80% hydration. It doesn’t seem to matter.
The key is to knead the dough hard at the start.
When I first got into making sourdoughs, all the recipes recommended gentle folding to get big artisan holes.
Having stooped to using the humble loaf pan, such pretensions are unnecessary, so my current process now aims for consistency.
To start at the beginning.
Bring out the starter and wake it up. If past its prime, refresh it.
Once the starter is happy, mix the dough without salt. Let it autolyze for 20 minutes to an hour.
Add salt and knead it (using wet hands in the bowl). Let it sit for half an hour. Knead it again and wait. Repeat again and again, until the dough starts to feel poofy.
By now it’s nighttime, so throw the batch into the fridge.
The next morning take out the dough. After the dough has woken up (usually a few hours) pour it into the loaf pan.
Once the dough has proofed well past the rim of the pan (a few more hours), preheat the toaster oven to 450f, and then bake it on convection for 40 minutes at 325f.
So far the loaves have been remarkably consistent. Admittedly, these instructions are still extremely fuzzy and subjective. That’s life with sourdough. Fermentation is a dance.
Of course, writing this self-congratulatory post guarantees my next loaf will bomb. Fortunately, this hobby lets us eat our mistakes.
