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Can you exchange milk for the water in this recipe?
Yes, you can use milk instead of water. There are some solids in milk, meaning you might need a little more milk to get the dough to feel as wet as it would with the same amount of water.
Also, the protein and fat in milk will make the dough ferment a little slower, and the crumb may be a little denser and softer.
I’m used to bake my sourdough bread in an American bread loaf pan with a lid the 20 first minutes, then, I remove it for the remaining time.
May I proceed like I do habitually?
May I omit brushing some water on bread before baking?
Thank you so much !
Joanne
Will this work in my Pullman pan?
What size Pullman pan do you have? With that info, we can calculate if it’s bigger or smaller than the pan used in the recipe.
The pan I used is 9" x 5" x 2.75" = approx 124 square inches volume
You can fit the dough “as is” into a pan with a similar or a somewhat smaller volume. (I noted the pan was a bit spacious for the amount of dough.)
But if your pan is bigger, you’re going to want to scale up the recipe.
your bigger volume / my volume = 1.something
Multiply all the recipe ingredients by that 1.something
I am planning to bake this using parchment paper directly on a pizza stone and following the temps and times for the cloche. Do you have any suggestions or changes?
Thanks!
If you bake on a stone or steel, you’ll need to add steam to the oven at the beginning of the bake.
Here’s an explanation why and some strategies for getting that steam:
I believe the crust will darken faster, which is beautiful and a style preference of many, but if that’s not your goal, you may end up wrapping the bread in foil halfway thru.
Starting at a lower temp (450F) and baking for longer would take care of this but I’m not sure it’s going to be the case.
Either way, I would keep an eye on the dough as you’re baking.
@denisebrownell Your batard looks lovely. It’s good to see that a big oblong baker works well on a smaller batard.
@FumbleBee What a pretty and springy pan bread! With pan loaves, I sometimes score when not needed (a sad line down the center of the bread) and don’t score when I should’ve (side explosion). You clearly do not have this judgment issue. Congrats!
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and the timing works for you.
Do you have a link to the older recipe for basic sourdough on your website?
Thank You
Absolutely!
It can be hard to find and we’re working on it – here’s the link to the full Breadtopia blog with search🔎
I sed this basic recipe and followed the directions, but I don’t think that my bread rose as it should. I am in Denver at 5280 ft. I did the initial start build and got the 1/3 of starter, measured out all of the flour as indicated. I let it sit as indicated. I might add, we keep our house at about 64 degrees. So I heated up a cup of water in the microwave and got that warm then put the dough in there for the allotted time, actually 4.5 hours. It seemed to have doubled in size. I put the dough in my bouler and let it rise. I did the proof again at room temperature (microwave, again) rather than overnight in the frig. I used a Wearever stainless steel dutch oven and did the 500 for 17 minutes, 450 lid on for 10 minutes and 450 for 15 minute with lid off, since when a thermometer was put in it didn’t register 205 until about 20 minutes. You see the results. I read somewhere that at this altitude, you need to adjust the flour. What can I do different to get my bread to look like yours. Taste is good though. Thanks.
Why all-purpose rather than bread flour? My bread always ends up looking like a frisbee. I’ve heard switching to bread flour works to keep the boule shape. I’m going to try tomorrow when my starter is nice and bubbly. Thanks!
@ganderson That looks great to me! I understand you’re hoping for more oven spring. Sometimes that is simply about getting more tension during shaping. Your fermentation looks pretty good, which is why I’m trying to think of other pathways. Did you preheat your stainless steel dutch oven to 500F? Starting very hot can prevent some of the initial spreading of the dough. Also, stainless steel has a lower thermal mass than cast iron and clay, and that likely impacted your bake time. Some additional “tricks” for taller bread are to lower the hydration and pop the dough into the freezer for 20 minutes just before you load it into the oven. There are a few threads in this forum about baking at higher altitudes, but I think the general consensus is that the process doesn’t need to change until you’re even more elevated.
@diane54martin I agree you’ll have a dough with more potential gluten strength using bread flour, and thus may end up with a taller bread. Being on target with fermentation/proofing and getting tension with shaping are also factors that come into play. So many variables!
Bread flour can hold a little more water, so you might up the amount in this recipe by 10-20g. It’s not imperative though.
I have a question regarding the following baking method for cast iron…
" * 500°F for 15 minutes lid on and then place a baking sheet under the cast iron on the same shelf"
I’m used to baking rustic boule loafs in a cast iron pot but this will be my first attempt with sourdough. The above method from the recipe has me confused. What is the purpose of placing a baking sheet under the cast iron on the same shelf? And is the total bake time 15 minutes with the lid on?
Please advise. Thank you!
If you don’t experience burning of the bottom of your loaves in your cast iron pot, then skip the baking sheet step. It’s there because many people seem to find this a problem, but it’s certainly not universal.
15 min lid on 500F
10 min lid on 450F
5-10 min lid off 450F
Total bake time ~35 minutes, but use your judgment and a probe thermometer too, if you have one 
Interesting and good to know. I usually put about a half a cup of flour on the bottom of my cast iron to keep the bread from burning on the bottom. A baking pan is a cheaper alternative. I’ll give it try.
Thank you for your help!
