Baking sourdough bread outdoors...

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Wartface
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Joined: 2015-02-11 20:41
Baking sourdough bread outdoors...

This is my Big Green Egg. It's an outdoor ceramic oven, smoker, grill. imageInstead of using my Dutch oven to bake the bread in I'm using a pizza stone covered with a stainless steel mixing bowl. Before I put the dough on I'll score it and then you the spray bottle to apply water to the dough. The SS mixing bowl will trap the steam during the first 1/2 of the cook. That will help give me the maximum oven spring and help the ears to form. On my wood bench I have a heavy plastic work surface so I don't scratch the wood surface of my BGE stand. I place the following items on or near the work surface.

  1. A silicon baking sheet. I use that instead of parchment paper.
  2. A pizza peel. To transfer the dough onto the pizza stone.
  3. A bread Lame. A razor blade to score the bread.
  4. An IF thermometer. To tell when the pizza stone has preheated to 500°.
  5. A Thermapen. To make sure the interior of the bread reaches 203/205°.
  6. A silicon glove. To remove the preheated stainless steel bowl that's 500°.
  7. A bench scraper. To help lift the the hot stainless steel bowl.
  8. A spray bottle. To mist the surface of the dough before putting it on the pizza stone. That water will be trapped under the SS mixing bowl and it will allow the bread to rise and the ears to open. Steam is important for sourdough bread.
  9. An elevated cooling rack. To cool the bread down before slicing it. (Pictured below)
  10. A silicon brush. To brush off the excess flour from the banneton.
  11. My premixed dough in the banneton covered with a clear plastic shower cap.
  12. A plastic cup of water. To dip my lame in before I score the bread. This is a loaf I baked yesterday. It's a 70% hydration dough that was cooked in 6 hours. I was just fine tuning my technique and methods on the BGE so I rushed it. imageThe crumb... image