Verdict: Undercooked and overproved. D'oh! As you can see, it was starting to burn so I took it out of the oven, but it really need another 6 or 7 minutes more in the oven I think, which is a pity. In hindsight I should have covered it with foil and put it back in to keep cooking. After a year of cooking from scratch, I still haven't worked out the vaguaries of my fan-forced electric oven though; it seems that my baking goes from "not quite done" to burnt in about 30 seconds :-(
I also left the starter "sponge" out to prove overnight since it has been a little cool at night so I thought it could use the extra time, but I think I missed the peak opportunity to bake with it unfortunately. Since it was my first go I really should have left it out where I could watch it - I didn't because I was worried the whole proofing/rising process would take all day and I'd be baking it at midnight, LOL - but again that's an experience thing isn't it? The taste was *very* sour, though not unpleasantly so; I suspect it was so sour because of it being overproved (the longer you leave it the "sourer" it gets, the tutorials tell me). It also didn't have those lovely air bubbles inside that you get in a good sourdough loaf.
Ah well, it's still quite edible and it didn't turn out as a hard brick as I suspected my first loaf might (and believe me, I've cooked some pretty hideous things before!), so that's a bonus, LOL. As I've found with most things in the kitchen, a little experience goes a long way, so I'm looking forward to having a go with my next loaf :-)
6 comments:
Congratulations that looks like an awesome first try.
I have a real struggle with my fan forced electric as well. Coming from gas it has been a big curve.
Suggestions for Fan forced electric and sourdough. Preheat your oven with a pan of water sitting in the bottom of it. Leave the water in the oven once you have put the loaf in and for the first 10 minutes of bake time simply turn the oven off. If you preheat your oven to around 250 which is reasonably standard in 10 minutes it will fall to around 200, turn the oven back on at 200 remove the pan of water and finish the bake time specified.
Turning the oven off turns off the fan this is necessary as the air moving around the oven at speed tends to set the dough too fast not allowing the normal expansion sequence(oven rise) to occur making it so you don't get the nice large holes.
BTW not all sourdough recipes are designed to give large holes, that is an American trend rather than a specific characteristic of sourdough bread.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Very well done. I worship at the alter of your breadmaking. Lisa x
Looks good to me! I'm sure practice will make perfect.
It looks great , congratulations on your first sourdough.
Ooh, excellent suggestions regarding the oven, thanks Belinda. I will definitely try that next time, it makes a lot of sense :-)
I agree. Practice makes perfect! At least it was edible! There has only been one disaster in my kitchen that was bed enough to be followed by the acclaimation "jump in the car kids we're going to McDonalds for tea".
Thank goodness we 'evolve'.
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