Joe, from The Independent Pizzeria in Madison Park, stopped by the chefsteps kitchen today with some dough he had been working on. So we fired up our oven and worked with him on developing the perfect baking time and temperature required for his bread.
It's all still a work in progress, but here are the initial three trials we ran today.
The first loaf was put into an oven at 500˚f with a moisture setting of 80% humidity.
The dough began rising within the first 2 minutes, and began browning within 5 minutes. We quickly realized the oven was too hot so we decreased the convection fan setting to 1/2 speed in an attempt to slow down the cooking.
After 15 minutes at 500˚f the crust was golden brown and ready to go, so we removed the loaf to let it cool.
This loaf was not a great success, but an informative trial indeed.
Inside the loaf
The second and third loaves were both baked at 450˚f at 90% humidity on 1/2 fan speed, for a total bake time of 28 minutes.
The only difference between the two was the way they were scored.
On one loaf we scored the dough multiple times down the middle, and on the other we scored it in an "X" pattern.
Here are the scored loaves moments prior to baking
Here are the results of the scoring
Inside the loaf
Here is the "X" pattern
Inside the loaf
We now realize our scoring technique needs improvement, but our bake time/temperature seems to be getting closer to what we are looking for.
Below, Grant points out the section of a loaf that split open unintentionally and resulted in a beautiful crispy crust layer that emerged from the split section. This is the ideal result of a good score.
(For more information on scoring bread, check out the link below)
All in all, a good round of trials. We learned some cool stuff and got to eat some delicious bread.
Next week Joe will be back in our kitchen with some more dough to mess around with. We want to try adjusting the initial oven temperature, changing up our scoring method, and cooking the bread with a metal bowl onto of it to help maintain more moisture.
Stay tuned next week to see how it all works out.
Till then, keep cooking!
