The results of the goof

This morning I took the dough that I made when I goofed out of the fridge and baked it.

I followed the advice of my friend Allaya of Stuff You Knead fame and baked it in a cast iron skillet (I used a 10″ Lodge skillet since I was using a 9″ proofing basket) that I had heated up to 500°F. I baked it at 500°F for 20 minutes with a baking pan full of boiling water for the steam and then I lowered the temperature to 450°F for another 10 minutes and removed the water pan.

I then descended to my home-office to work while salivating over the thought of how yummy the bread would be. A few hours later I came up and cut into the bread (now fully cooled) and tried it.

I had one slice of it with butter and I was mostly happy with how it turned out. It had a bit more sour flavor then the one I made in my first attempt but it wasn’t pronounced. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more sour flavor but I was OK with this (and my kids were too.) I think it was a bit denser than I would have liked which I’m chalking up to not enough starter for the flour because of the goof. We’ll find out if that theory is right when I make the bread I had planned on.

The one thing I am definitely happier about this time is that it rose up and not out. I don’t think that has to do with the skillet as a shaping device because it didn’t hit the edges of it. It’s possible (likely even) that the skillet helped by bringing heat closer to the bottom of it.

The recipe and instructions for this one are:

200g active starter (start of peak time)

543g Unbleached AP Flour

350g Filtered water

15g salt

Mix and knead the dough – I used a stand mixer with the dough hook but you can do it by hand. Just be warned that this is a soft and somewhat sticky dough.

Put the kneaded dough into an oiled bowl and let rest ~3 hours.

Gently deflate by folding the dough. Then shape it and let it proof overnight in the fridge.

About 1 hour before baking take the dough out of the fridge. Preheat the oven to 500°F/260°C with a cast iron skillet in (I used the cast iron skillet because my pizza stone broke last week and the new one I ordered from Amazon hasn’t arrived yet) and a baking pan to hold the water and generate steam.

When the oven and skillet are both hot boil some water (2 cups or so) and put the shaped dough into the skillet (I highly recommend putting parchment paper down and the dough on that), score it, and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. When you’ve put the dough in fill the baking pan with the boiling water (you might want to wait for the water to boil before you deal with the dough.)

After 20 minutes at 500°F the bread is probably still a little pale so drop the temperature to 450°F/230°C and let it bake for at least 10 more minutes or until you’re satisfied with the color.

Let it sit on a cooling rack until fully cooled – 2 to 3 hours – and then enjoy.