The Sourdough Baking Hack You NEED
Anyone else on the sourdough baking train?
I know there is some stigma around the pandemic/bread baking. But guess what? I’ve loved bread baking for a long time because it helps me focus on something simple and calming. These days, I need that. Some mornings, I wake up and I can feel myself losing control. It is almost like there are so many different things I have to keep track of that I can’t focus enough to visualize finishing my to do list.
Baking sourdough forces me to slow down and focus on the next step. Throughout the process, I am reminded to slow down and sense what my dough needs. It is a singular focus that brings me back to earth instead of floating around in the frenzy of all the worries/to do items/distractions.
After months of spending time learning (I’ve learned the most from my sweet friend Amanda at Heartbeet Kitchen) and experimenting, I’ve settled into a rhythm with my sourdough loaves. I’ve also figured out one specific hack that has given me the best rise when baking. For some, this is done using a tool specifically for baking sourdough, but to be honest I did not want to add anything thing to my kitchen space. Instead, I experimented by using my pizza stone and my 6 quart Uno Casa dutch oven.
Here is how it works- instead of placing the sourdough bread inside a dutch oven and covering it with the lid, you set the shaped dough on the heated pizza oven, then cover it with the dutch oven. I. KNOW. Every time I have tried this, it has led to the most beautiful rise. I won’t do it any other way and I’m so glad it works with items I already own! My theory is that setting the bread on the pizza stone allows it to be flat verses constricted by parchment paper and the edges of the dutch oven itself. Laying it on the pizza stone means the parchment can lay flat and leaves plenty of space for the bread to puff up during the first bake.
That, my friends, is my sourdough hack and I swear by it! If you try it, let me know and comment here or tag me on the ‘gram!
