Same Day Baked Plain Sourdough Bread

High temperature and steam is essential when it comes to baking artisan bread.  Unfortunately, it's difficult to generate steam in my small countertop oven and worst, the highest temperature it can reach is 210°C to 220°C.  Baking in a closed vessel such as dutch oven or Romertopf clay baker solves the steam problem.  However, it produced bread with gummy and shiny crumb.

After poring over multiple bread making blogs, watched countless Youtube videos, shortening the baking time in the closed vessel is the solution.  The trapped steam in the crumb has longer time to escape while the bread continues baking.  In fact, in Teresa's Youtube video, she removed the lid of the dutch oven after 15min baking instead of 30min, which is practised by most people.  Now, I contentedly bakes artisan bread within the limitation of my countertop oven.

The Same Day Baked Plain Sourdough bread uses about 40% starter and 68% hydration.  The dough is kneaded to windowpane and without further stretch and fold, it goes into bulk fermentation.  For this recipe, the dough was baked in Romertopf clay baker.

Further reading:   Health benefits of sourdough & How to make sourdough starter

Ingredients

134g      Active Sourdough starter (40%)
203g      Chilled Water (68% hydration, includes water in starter)
320g      Bread flour
  10g      Rye flour

 3.5g      Salt (about 1%)
  18g      Butter 

Instructions

1.    In the stand-mixer bowl, add water and sourdough starter.  Stir to mix well.
2.    Add bread flour and stir to mix well.

3.    Use our hands and dough scraper, briefly knead the dough until a shaggy mass forms.

4.    Autolyse for 45min - 1hour.
5.    Add butter and salt.
6.    On speed 1, using the dough hook, knead the dough for 4min.  
7.    Chill the dough in fridge for 15min.  The local weather is about 29°C-30°C, so chilling lowers the temperature of dough for further kneading later.
8.    On speed 2, knead the dough for 5min.  Cover the dough and rest 5min.

9.    On speed 2, knead the dough for 5min, then speed 4, knead 1min.  Dough would have become silky and reached windowpane.

Silky stretchy dough

Reached windowpane

10.  Proof at room temperature (RT) for 2hr-3hr or until double in size. (RT was about 30°C)

Before bulk proof

After bulk proof, about 2hr

11.  Pre-shape the dough into a boule.

12.  Cover and rest the dough for 15min.

13.  Final shape the dough into any shape of your choice.

14.  Dust a proofing basket with rice flour.  

15.  Place the shaped dough into the proofing basket with its seams facing upwards.

16.  Proof the dough till it passed the finger poke test, ie. leave a slight depression when poked.  (Took roughly 30min-35min)

17.  Retard in the fridge for about 20min-30min, this makes the dough slightly easier to score.

18.  During the start of the final proofing, preheat the oven with Romertopf clay baker to 240°C for 45min-1hr.  (My oven can only reach maximum 210°C with the baker). 

19.  Tip the proofed dough onto parchment paper.

20.  Score the dough.

21.  Take the clay baker out from the oven.

22.  Remove the lid and carefully lower the baking paper together with the dough, into the clay baker.

23.  Put the lid back and put the clay baker into the oven. 

24.  Bake for 20min at 210°C (the highest my oven can reach with the clay baker).

25.  Take the bread out from the clay baker and put on a smaller tray.  Continue baking another 20min-25min. 
26.  Transfer the bread onto a cooling rack.  Cool for at least 2hrs before slicing.

 27.  Voila!  Same Day Baked Plain Sourdough Bread is served!

Lettuce & egg fillings