No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

[fishn4daze]

Here is my 1st attempt at baking bread in my wfo. These photos are from 2 days ago, today I'm baking 3 more loaves. I will post the results in a few hours. The cool thing was my oven was still 120 deg 48 hours later..easy start up. That's with a non-insulated door. Outside temp has been around 40-55 deg.

[Les]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

When I made No kneed dough, I had to keep it in a container becasue it was so wet. How were you able to keep it together?

[fishn4daze]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Les, I followed the you tube recipe from the NY Times video on "no kneed bread". Blended the dry ingredients 1st then added water. That's the sticky part. Rested for 12-18 hours. Folded it and put wheat germ all over it. Rested again in a floured towel for a couple hours. Pre heated the cast iron pot and plopped her in for 30 min. Then uncovered for about 15min

[texassourdough]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

This approach is a lot like using wheat bran to keep Pane di Genzano from sticking. It appears the wheat germ dried out the outer skin enough to give the wet dough some dimensional stability. Crumb is nicely loose and open except for the mousehole across the cut face which is larger than desired. The profile suggests it was rather overproofed which is consistent with the crumb. The wheat germ precludes evaluating the crust color. While yeast level is important to proofing time - pushing 20 hours and not overproofing is not easy without a retard. The dough was handled rather gently to not destroy the crumb texture.

There is no particular advantage to using a cloche or cast iron pot in a WFO. It will work just as well inside and it is a lot easier to get the right temp indoors. But it is a good use of residual heat. Nothing wrong with it - just no benefit to the bread.

[fishn4daze]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Here are todays results. Better color than day 1. I'll take them to work tomorrow and have my peers taste the bread. Can't wait to cut into them and taste them.

@texassourdough..thanks for the input..my goal will be sourdough, just not wanting to feed the starter yet.

[texassourdough]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Getting good with commercial yeast will help when you try to work with SD. The proofing looks a lot better as evidenced by the rip. They look a lot like Genzano but not as dark. I will guess that if you look at them in profile the ends are rather rounded and the bottom "lifted" off the hearth at the ends (well the end is round, but on each side as you look at it in profile). That is a sign... along with the rip.

A modest amount of rip is generally considered desirable - but mainly in breads that are slashed. (The slash helps control the rip by giving the loaf a place to expand.) There are also breasd that are not slashed such as Pane Pugliese and Pane di Genzano. In those the magic goal is to get a loaf that expands (and is somewhat football shaped - sometimes described as flying saucer) but doesn't rip.

All that said, those loaves look good. Some people like random rip. It's all up to you. The goal is to get to where you can consistently make what you want.

Hang in there!
Jay

[fishn4daze]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Jay, thanks again for the positive feedback. I have bought several books on baking bread and still in the experimental process. It's fun to just fire up the oven. I'm not tired of pizza yet, just alot of prep.

Kurt

[Taxin]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Fishinfordaze I am not even a beginer in preparing dough but I am looking forward to learning the wife works the dough for the bread and pizzas. Your bread looks good and sure is nice to have input from other members who know how to bake the artisan breads. Are the counters on your oven granite or concrete kinda hard to tell from the pictures I have a small yard and patio similar to yours

[fishn4daze]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Taxin, the counters are concrete, poured in place. Acid washed then sealed.

Thanks Kurt

[Taxin]

Re: No Kneed bread, 1st try in WFO

Thanks I thought they might be they look awesome did you do them or have them done ?