How to Bake Great Sourdough Bread

all right so I’m gonna get ready to cookyour bread you got to preheat the ovenyou want it hot as far as your elementgonna get I got this one up to 500 justabout so the last 28 degrees or so I’vegot both of these Dutch heads ovens inthere getting hot I have a pan in thebottom which is filled with water andthat helps to build the moisture in herethat’s gonna be so important when itcomes to compress the time so I’m gonnapull these things out I’m gonna get thedough I’m gonna throw it into thesedutch ovens in just a second so you’regonna have two loaves of bread here I’vegot a giant Dutch oven and that’s theone I use for my round then I got asmaller one that I used for my loavesso it’s hot I got gloves on here’s ourdough which we’ve let rise for quite awhile in a proofing basket it’s notreally a basket it’s just a bowl you canget an expensive basket if you want toyou don’t need it ready gently pullingit off sometimes the towel will stick alittle bit in this case it came outperfectly so what I’m gonna do themtaking just two ribs are bladessometimes they call this a lead you cancut a hole in the top so this will helpyour bread to breathe and puff upwithout cracking be careful don’t touchthe sides of the Oh Oh see you like thatno I really burn myself so I’d like todo a little Halfmoon shape we see itopening up already put the lid on we’llthrow that back in the oven so you goabout 15 minutes depending on the sizeand low I go a little smaller a littlebigger with the lid on and these dutchovens are absolutely perfect forsourdough bread so I’m gonna get my nextloaf right back this is aloaf pan which I use instead of aproofing basket I love this type oftowel because it has a nice texture toit some grooves when you dump it insometimes it sticks a little bit butlook at the nice pattern that it puts onyour bread so yeah I’m gonna take mylathe or razor blade in this case cutmyself a nice opening in there to letthe bread breathe open up so it’s gonnaexpand without cracking put the lid onthrow that in there the moisture in theoven it’s gonna go in there for 15minutes all rightso we’ll just stick these out of theoven they were in there for 15 minuteson 500 then reduce the heat to 450 inorder to get your temperature down inyour oven just leave the door open for asecond I’ll go down to 450 and you’regonna go so we’ll open up this one thisis the loaf it’s got a nice foot of itdidn’t crack you can see all thebeautiful bubbles it’s gonna get alittle bit warm on the bottom so becausewe don’t want this to be overcooked orburned on the bottom this is a very hotDutch oven we’re gonna put this backinto the oven just like it is sittingover the pan of water and that’ll helpit to brown up one of the things aboutooh this one is beautiful same thing wedon’t want the bottom to get too burnsso we’re gonna throw this one in therelet it get browned up a little bit forabout five more minutes then you canwatch it but don’t worry about how Brownyou get it this is what you want youwork on this for two weeks three weeks Idon’t know how long a long time this isthe coup de Gras right you have waitedpatiently you’ve cooked your breadlet it do its thing get it nice andbrown a little burnt what’s magicalabout sourdough after you take it outand let it sit for a second on thecounter it’s gonna turn soft all rightthis is about another five minutes latergot these things nice and toasty brownedup that’s what you want like when you goto San Francisco you get your loaf it’sgot these nice bowls in itit’s nice texture almost burnt on theedges but a nice golden brown all theway around so that one’s great let’s seewhat we got here let this one go alittle bit more or does that look likesomething you’d get for I don’t know sixbucks at a boudin not $6 quality rightlet’s put that one down we’re good to goa nice part about this is I didn’t burnon the bottom a nice even cook as wetook it out of the Dutch oven so I’mgonna put these on my stovetop or if youhave a rack at home that’s fine to youbut let them cool we’ll check these inabout 10-15 minutes and you’ll noticethat they’re gonna be nice and soft justwait and here’s the breads came out ofthe oven rock-hard super hot soft crispyloafOh both of them have that nice texturegood crunchalright it’s time to cut this bread opensupersoft on the center nice pullhmm could chew that’s across to theoutside oh hey everybody hook the breadturned out awesome if you want to learnmore let us know if you have somepictures out of your bread turned upsend it to us like and subscribe