Lockdown loaf

Well, like everyone else, we're in lockdown, and trying to minimise shopping trips. What better excuse to bake some bread (as if an excuse were ever needed). Keeping it super simple this time around - it's a 50/50 wholemeal and white flour mix, and no frills. But I'm going for an overnight proof, and I guess we'll see how it turns out!

Lockdown Loaf
Ingredients

• 160g Aage
• 250g Strong wholemeal flour
• 250g Strong white flour
• 320g Water
• 10g Salt

Method

1. Mix all ingredients together and form dough.
2. Knead until bored.
3. Cover and leave to rise for ~2hrs.
4. Knead and shape into loaf.
5. Place on parchment paper and leave to proof overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 220C with Dutch oven inside.
7. Place dough in Dutch oven and lightly sprinkle with water.
8. Bake at 220C for 20mins.
9. Remove lid of Dutch oven and turn oven down to 200C for a further ~25mins.

Here's the dough post-proofing while I'm preheating the oven. I'm guessing by the way that it's flattened out entirely that I probably could have done with a bit more kneading. There are also some weird lumps in the surface that I'm guessing means that I've got some local, big air bubbles. Clearly my kneading and rising technique needs some work. It's also possible that leaving it to prove unsupported on a flat surface (I left it on the inside of the (cold) Dutch oven) might have been a bad idea - I guess this is why you're supposed to use proofing baskets...

Not a bad rise, all things considered. I had completely forgot to score the bread before chucking it into the oven, so perhaps it could have risen a little bit more - though given the general liquidness and lack of structure to the dough, I'm not sure how of a difference this would actually have made. The crust is a bit darker than I'd have liked, but it's not actually burnt at all, and it's got quite a pleasing colour to it. I suspect it might be a bit hard and a bit thick, but I've got to say, it's still quite an attractive looking loaf!

First, the bad: as expected, it's a flawed loaf - it's got the huge balloon of air at the top, which I suspect might be over-proofing at play. The thin skin left at the very top explains why it went so dark so quickly, and that in turn led me to underbake it - the inside is a bit overly doughy and excessively moist, and the crust could, if anything, do with being slightly thicker. But actually, despite the flaws, this loaf is quite wonderful still! The flavour is beautiful - complex and sour enough that you don't feel cheated of it being a sourdough, but not overpoweringly so. The crust has a lovely snap in the bits where it was sufficiently cooked - on the very thin top and the base (a side effect of the Dutch oven is that the bottom crust is thickened). All in all, it's a joy to eat, even if the flaws are glaringly obvious!