I’m borrowing this book from my mom and have made the everyday sourdough and the high hydration sourdough from it. I split the recipe into two loaves - one to keep, one to give away. I have a new oven and am still figuring out the convection setting and in general it seems it just runs hot. I need to put a thermometer in there to figure out the discrepancy so my loaves don’t get quite so dark.
Also, I got to share the sourdough love with a friend this week too! I baked her a loaf of the no knead sourdough from this website for her birthday and she asked me to teach her how! So, I did. We had a blast in the kitchen together while our kids played and were rewarded with a beautiful loaf!
Your breads look wonderful! And what fun to teach a friend !!
I don’t have the book, but I do follow the author’s blog: The Clever Carrot. She has some great troubleshooting posts and how to’s as well as stunning food photography! Her sourdough cinnamon rolls were the first “sweet” thing I made. And I very much like how she has a baker’s schedule with the recipes. When I was starting with sourdough/natural leaven baking, it sometimes felt a bit daunting to back up to start time, i.e. I want bread for dinner on Friday so when do I need to start the process.
I do like Breadtopia’s no knead sourdough for a great bread as well as a great way to learn about the process and how the dough should look and feel…gradually experimenting with different flours and hydration.
Yikes … short novel here, but one more thing. I have a newish oven and my first with convection. I found I did not like using the convection for bread. I experimented a lot and eventually went back to regular bake. Two things I do that I read about here on Breadtopia: I have a smallish round pizza stone and I keep that on the lower rack. I usually bake in a dutch oven or clay baker and the stone helps keep the bottom crust from getting too hard/brown. Also, as I like a medium thin crisp crust vs a thick (more Artisanal) crust, I increase the covered time and decrease the uncovered time from recipe guidelines.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! I haven’t tried her cinnamon roll recipe but I’m thinking I should. Her baker’s schedule is so helpful to me too! And thanks for the stone in the oven tip - I’m going to give it a try!
We also have a convection oven and don’t use convection for baking bread (or cookies, cakes, pastries) because it tends to dry and overbake the crust. We’ve found that convection is great for turkey. Not great for bread.
Hi, these loafs look amazing. Definitely get a thermometer to verify your oven temp. And most newer ovens allow you to adjust the temp accuracy.
I have both Oven and Infrared Thermometer. I think Infrared Thermometer is better.
Those are amazing!! I just had a couple of fails this week, the interior of two different breads I made, basic baguettes and the Artisan Whole Grain Sourdough (or as I called it, the three day bread) both came out dense and not at all airy, so I’m quite envious! I’ll check out this book, and the author’s blog. Thanks for posting!
