[MKSixer]

Damn!!

You sir, are an artisan. Thanks for reporting to all of us. Amazing job!!

Originally Posted by KenB925

I made my sourdough bread on Saturday morning, I learned a lot. I'll definitely do a couple of things different next time.

There are countless ways to mess up bread making, especially if you are cooking it with fire.

The good:
-the sourdough starter performed perfectly, I fed it for about a week, bloomed it, bulk fermented it, and did a 12 hour proof in the fridge
-I used a 'no kneed' method described in the book "Tartine Bread" I worked perfectly, the crumb could not have been much better.
-linen cloths are awesome

Areas for improvement:
-I either need to make smaller loaves, or get bigger proofing baskets
-I need to get more 'tension' in the dough before putting it in the baskets (I had a feeling I should have done this a it more when I was in the middle of it)
-I think the dough needs to come up to temperature in the proofing baskets, then turn out on to the peel and quickly get into the oven. I let them sit on the peel for too long, they ended up sticking a little and were difficult to get off. Leaving them 'unsupported' out of the basket made them flatten out a bit more then I would like.
-I need to let the oven get more 'heat soaked' it cooled faster then I wanted it to, using the method that I used, you get the oven up to temp then remove the fire/coals and cook using residual heat. I have been guilty of trying to rush this before...and I did it again. Next time I'll either let the fire go for a couple of hours, maybe even get it up to 600 and let it cool back, or I'll put a fire wall in there with bricks and keep a small fire going.
-I used a water tray (you need some steam to let the bread rise) that was too big.

Conclusion, with the exception of the shape of the loaves, I could not be happier with the results.