Sourdough Irish Soda Bread with Spelt

St. Patrick’s Day is over so why am I posting about Irish Soda Bread?

For starters, who said you could only enjoy soda bread on St. Patrick’s Day? And secondly, this bread is not your normal soda bread. Traditional soda bread is made with flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. This one is leavened with sourdough instead of baking soda, although you can use a bit of soda to mute the sourdough tang if desired.

I’ve always liked Ireland and pretty much all things Irish, particularly Irish music, but I must admit, I was not a big fan of soda bread. That is, until I visited Ireland last year and tasted some soda bread with Guinness Beef Stew. I enjoyed that meal a lot. I’ll be honest, it was the stew that I really enjoyed, but the experience gave me an appreciation for soda bread.

When the Sourdough Surprises Baking Group decided to make sourdough soda bread, I thought, “this is going to be interesting.” We had made sourdough quick breads in a previous challenge so I knew it would work. I just wasn’t sure if I would like it.

I started my experiment with the Irish Soda Bread we made in the Artisan Bread Bakers FB Group a couple of years ago. I actually liked that version as well. Okay so maybe I do like soda bread; however, not all soda bread is equal.

This version utilizes sourdough instead of baking soda. I changed the recipe up even more by substituting all-purpose spelt for the regular all-purpose flour and added in some whole grain spelt flour for good measure.

I made two loaves and baked them at different times. I’m so glad I baked the loaves at different times because I had to throw out the first loaf. I forgot the salt.

I should have performed the taste test to make sure I had added the salt. Tasting the dough while mixing is something I read in Lionel Vatinet’s book A Passion for Bread. I remember chuckling when I read his quick mixing tips. The third tip is “always taste the dough to be sure salt has been added.”

How many times have I gotten distracted and forgotten the salt?  One too many I’m afraid. In fact, the weekend I made this bread, there was a discussion on Facebook about this very thing. Not about leaving salt out per se, but about getting distracted and omitting an ingredient. It happens to the best of us so I can understand why Lionel Vatinet pays special attention to it. Salt is a very important ingredient. It retards yeast activity, contributes to crust color, and helps flavor the baked bread.

Because I forgot to add the salt, the bread didn’t rise very well and it was gooey on the inside. I inserted a skewer into the loaf while it was baking to test for doneness and noticed it wasn’t done. I let it continue baking until it was baked through. 

When I took it out of the oven, it smelled really good (due to the sourdough) so I had to try it right away. I was so disappointed. It tasted blah. I kept thinking and thinking but I couldn’t remember if I added the salt. Most likely because I didn’t.

Fortunately, I was able to fix the problem for the second loaf. I tasted the dough this time and it was salt less. So I added the salt on top of the dough and a little extra water and kneaded it until the dough wasn’t grainy anymore.

I tasted the dough again and this time, it tasted just fine. I baked the loaf and it turned out great. It doesn’t taste like your average soda bread and that’s fine by me.

 

Sourdough Soda Bread with Spelt

Adapted from Jeff Smith, aka The Frugal Gourmet

Makes: 2 Round Loaves 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sourdough starter, recently fed
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose white spelt flour 
• 1 cup wholegrain spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, optional
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the sourdough starter in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients (don’t forget the salt) and mix thoroughly. Pour in the buttermilk and stir, using a wooden spoon, just till a soft dough is formed. 

Transfer the contents of the bowl onto a lightly floured counter and knead for a minute or so till everything comes together.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to ferment overnight.

 

 

The next day when you’re ready to bake, divide the dough into two portions and shape each into a round loaf, pressing the top down a bit to just barely flatten it. Place the loaves on a large ungreased baking sheet or in a round baker. I used a ceramic baking dish. The first loaf stuck to the dish so I lined it with parchment paper for the second loaf.

Sprinkle the top of the loaf with additional flour. Using a sharp knife, or scissors, make the sign of a cross in slashes on the top of the loaf.

 

Allow the loaves to rest for 10 minutes and then bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes or till the loaves are golden brown and done to taste.

Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack before slicing or serving.

 

 

Soda breads generally don’t have very good keeping quality so you need to enjoy them right away. Adding sourdough to the bread extends the shelf life.  This version lasted for several days before going stale.

Happy Baking!

Cathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Water-Proofed Bread {Bread Baking Babes}

When a recipe begins with “…the dough in this recipe is fairly difficult to handle,” it makes you wonder what you’re getting into and if it’s worth the effort.

This bread is called water-proofed because it is proofed in warm water for the first rise. I call it water-logged because it’s a very sticky dough. It can be a bit tricky to handle, but the result is a soft, buttery, and rich brioche-like bread with an eggy flavor. And, yes, it is worth the effort once you get the hang of it.

Elle, the host of the Bread Baking Babes (BBBs) for March, chose this floating loaf as our challenge. The recipe is from Beard on Bread by James Beard. I have the book, but I had never tried this bread. It is a fun bread to make and can be made in an afternoon or evening. Unfortunately, the analytic in me overcomplicated things so the first time I made it, I wasn’t very happy with the results.

First Attempt at Water-Proofed Bread

As I was making the bread the first time, I looked at the amount of yeast and thought “Wow! that’s a lot of yeast, especially for only 3 1/2 cups of flour.”  Then I thought “My goodness, that’s a lot of eggs!” I was okay with the amount of butter and sugar because I do enjoy brioche every now and then. Grin.

Even though I was hesitant to use the amount of yeast and eggs the recipe called for, I trudged on and made the bread according to the recipe, with the exception of using white KAMUT flour instead of all-purpose flour.

As I was kneading the dough, I realized I hadn’t adjusted the hydration for KAMUT. KAMUT is more absorbent than bread flour so you either need to add more water or use less flour. I hadn’t incorporated any additional water in the dough and had already dumped the remaining 1/2 cup flour on the bread board (per the instructions) so I used all of it.

I did not like the results. The loaves were over proofed, and they under delivered. They were not soft and delicate like brioche; they were a little dense and eggy. My first thought when I took a bite, was Yuck! 

These loaves are water-proofed and water-logged. They remind me of an eggy-tasting sponge.  Not that I’ve eaten a sponge, mind you.

 

2nd Attempt at Water-Proofed Bread

I decided to try again the next day. This time, I went with my initial instincts and adjusted the amount of yeast and eggs and the final proofing time. I also reduced the baking temperature from 375 to 350 degrees F.

I used 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast instead of two packets and 2 eggs instead of three. I also watched the final proof closely. The first loaves collapsed during baking because they were over proofed. This was due to too much yeast.

This dough makes two loaves, but they are small loaves. Neither one of my batches could have filled a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan which is what the recipe suggested that you bake the loaves in. 

The first time I baked the bread, I used 8 -1/2 x 4-1/2-inch glass loaf pans. The second time, I used slightly smaller nonstick pans. The second batch turned out much better.

I could tell this version was a winner when I took the loaves out of the oven. When I sliced one of the loaves and tried a piece, it just melted in my mouth. Now, that’s what I’m talking about!

 

Water-Proofed Bread

Adapted from: Beard on Bread by James Beard, 1973

Look for the original recipe on Elle’s blog.

Here is my adapted version:

Ingredients: (2 Small Loaves)

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup, plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons Kosher or Sea Salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/4 cups KAMUT white flour (or all-purpose flour), divided + more as needed to dust work surface and towel

Instructions:

I recommend doing this completely by hand without the aid of a mixer or bread machine, but feel free to use the method you prefer.

Add the yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a large mixing bowl, pour in the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Let the mixture proof for 5 minutes. In the meantime, heat the milk with the butter and 1/4 cup sugar until lukewarm, then add to the yeast mixture. Add the salt and blend well.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix thoroughly. Stir in 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. It will be a very wet and sticky dough. Stir vigorously to incorporate all of the flour. I used a Danish dough whisk.

Sprinkle your work surface with the additional flour.  I only used 1/4 cup of the extra flour for kneading and sprinkling the towel, but you may need more.

Transfer the dough to your work surface. For this part, it’s helpful to use a dough scraper or large spatula to work in this last portion of flour and make the dough firmer. Scrape the flour up and over the dough, lifting and folding inward. Repeat this process until the flour is well incorporated.

Once you have a workable dough, begin kneading. Knead by hand until the dough can be shaped. (The process of kneading with the scraper and then by hand is very effective for delicate dough. The dough will remain rather sticky, but that’s okay.)

Roll the dough in flour and place it on a clean kitchen towel sprinkled with flour. Wrap the dough in the towel, like you would a package. The original instructions say to tie the packet. I tried this the first time around, but I had to untie it partway through the water-proofing in order to give it room to expand. I didn’t tie the packet the second time around.

 

 

This is the fun part!  Gently submerge the packet in a large bowl filled with warm water (about 100 - 115 degrees F, approximately). Watch it sink.

Let sit for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until it rises sufficiently to float on top of the water. The first time I made this bread, it only took about 25 to 30 minutes for the loaf to float because of all the yeast. The second time, I let the dough proof for 1 1/2 hours before it floated.

 

 

Carefully lift the dough from the water and let the excess water drip off. Un-wrap the towel and turn out the dough to a lightly floured surface. As you can see from the photo below, it will be quite sticky. Scrape off any dough that adheres to the towel. Knead and shape into two loaves, using both dough scraper and your hands. After I had scraped the sticky mess from the towel, I incorporated all of the dough into a ball. The dough that I scraped from the towel was wetter than the other dough so I worked it into the rest of the dough. Then I let the ball of dough rest on the counter for about 10 minutes before shaping the loaves.

Butter two loaf pans and place one loaf in each pan. Cover the loaves with plastic or a kitchen towel. Let them rise, in a warm, draft-free place, until the dough rise slightly above the tops of the pans, or until almost doubled in bulk.

 

 

I used 8 x 4-inch loaf pans and the dough still didn’t reach the top of the pans, but it was almost doubled in bulk (see photo below).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  The original instructions say to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  This was too hot for my oven and the pans I used, but you may need the extra temperature, depending on your oven.

Brush the dough with cold water. Place the loaf pans on the middle rack of the oven and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when rapped with the knuckles, top and bottom.

When done, place the loaves directly on the oven rack, without their pans, to brown the bottom a little more and crisp the crusts. Cool on racks.

The baking time will vary based on the size of your loaves. I baked the second batch for about 25 minutes, then I removed the loaves from the pans and placed them back on the rack for a few minutes to let the crusts firm up. I turned the oven off so they wouldn’t over bake.

Remove and place on wire racks to cool.

I almost put all of the dough in one 9 x 5-inch pan to make a large loaf, but I’m glad I didn’t. This way, I can enjoy smaller slices for a snack or lunch. 

 

 

This is a good bread to serve with tea. It tastes great with butter, jam or marmalade and it makes great toast. It can be frozen for up to 3 to 4 weeks. Just wrap it in plastic.

Note on cleanup: The towel will get rather messy from the dough, but it’s not hard to clean.  I used a textured towel. I’m not sure if this made a difference or not. After I removed the dough from the towel, I scraped the towel really well with a dough scraper. Then, I used warm water to rinse off the towel in the sink before washing it with some other towels in the washing machine. It came out beautifully clean. Some of the other bakers found that using cold water to soak the towel worked better for them, but I didn’t have any problems with the warm water.

 

 

Bread Baking Babes:

• Bake My Day - Karen
• blog from OUR kitchen - Elizabeth
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Feeding my Enthusiasms - Pat/Elle
• girlichef - Heather
• Life's a Feast - Jamie
• Living in the Kitchen with Puppies - Natashya
• Lucullian Delights - Ilva
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• My Kitchen In Half Cups - Tanna
• Notitie Van Lien - Lien
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie

 

Would you like to join in as a buddy? Elle at Feeding my Enthusiasms is the hosting kitchen this month. If you want to join in, just make the Water-Proofed Bread and send Elle your link (instructions are included in her announcement post).  Submissions are due by March 29th.  Once you've posted, you'll receive a Buddy badge for baking along.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Bread with Sprouted Grain Flour

I’ve had this Bread with Sprouted Grain Flour on my list to make for several months. In fact, one of the reasons I bought KAMUT flour was to try this loaf.

This bread can be made with sprouted wheat flour or any other type of sprouted flour. I made this version with sprouted wheat flour, but I am curious to find out how it will perform with sprouted bean flour or perhaps sprouted rice flour. I hope to try one of those soon. The proportion of sprouted wheat to the overall flour is only about 30%, but using a gluten-free flour will give it a more dense crumb.

The formula for this bread is from the San Francisco Baking Institute. The original formula made more dough than I needed so I decided to scale the formula down to a more manageable yield. Two loaves seemed about right.

I’m currently beta-testing the iPad version of BreadStorm™ and have been looking for opportunities to use it. I figured this handy little app would make this task a piece of cake – or bread, rather. Unfortunately, the measurements from SFBI were in kilograms and the software utilizes grams.

I was just getting used to the idea of doing the conversion manually when I received an email with an updated version of the software. One of the updates allows you to switch between kg and grams. Perfect!  Now, it really would be easy. I like it when that happens. I only had 325 grams of sprouted wheat flour so I plugged that into the software to get the percentages for the rest of the flour.

 

Bread with Sprouted Wheat Flour

This bread utilizes a levain made with whole grain KAMUT flour and KAMUT sourdough starter; an overnight poolish made of bread flour, water and yeast; and a soaker made of sprouted whole wheat flour and water. I used sprouted whole wheat flour that I had purchased a while back and stored in the freezer, but you can sprout your own wheat berries and grind them into flour if you prefer.

The final dough adds some additional bread flour and KAMUT white flour. The original formula also included some toasted wheat germ. I didn’t have any so I omitted it. Instead, I sprinkled the top of the dough with spelt bran before baking.

 

Makes: Two 2.25 pound Loaves

Adapted from: Bread with Sprouted Wheat Flour from the San Francisco Baking Institute

Ingredient:	Total	Levain	Poolish	Soaker	Final Mix
WW Kamut flour	53.0 g	53.0 g
Water	856.3 g	53.0 g	270.8 g	272.4 g	260.1 g
Liquid Levain	2.0 g	2.0 g
Salt	27.0 g	pinch			27.0 g
Bread Flour	541.5 g		270.8 g		270.8 g
Yeast	1.3 g		0.3 g		1.0 g
Sprouted Flour	324.8 g			324.8 g
White Kamut Flour	162.4 g				162.4 g
Wheat germ, toasted	32.7 g				32.7 g
Levain					108.0 g
Poolish					541.8 g
Soaker					597.2 g
Yield	2,001.0 g	108.0 g	541.8 g	597.2 g	2.001.0 g

Note: The hydration may vary with the quality and moisture content of the flour. I added 55 g additional water to the sprouted wheat soaker. It could’ve used more water.

 

Mix the Levain:

Mix all ingredients until well incorporated with D.D.T. of 60°F.

Allow to ferment 12 hours at room temperature (65 - 70°F).

 

Mix the Poolish:

Mix all ingredients until well incorporated with D.D.T. of 60°F.

Allow to ferment 12 hours at room temperature (65 -70°F)

 

Prepare the Soaker:

Mix all ingredients until well incorporated. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

 

 

Mix the Final Dough:

I used my stand mixer to mix the final dough.

Add the levain to the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour in most of the water to break up the levain. Since I had added additional water to the soaker, I held back some of the water until after I had added in the rest of the flour in case the dough was too wet.

Add in the poolish and the soaker along with the rest of the ingredients. Mix on 1st speed for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in additional flour if necessary.

Increase to second speed and mix for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

 

Bulk Fermentation:

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for 2 hours. I think this dough could benefit proofing a longer proofing time.

Fold the dough every 45 minutes to further develop the dough. You should perform 2 folds total or do the fold-and-turn method in the bowl. I prefer the fold-and-turn method. 

Refer to the Tartine Country Bread post for details on folding and turning the dough.

 

Divide and Shape the Loaves:

Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal pieces. I made two loaves at about 2.2 lbs. each, but you can make 3 smaller loaves if you prefer.

Preshape the dough pieces into round boules and let them rest for 30 minutes to further strengthen the gluten.

Reshape the pieces into tight boules and place in flour-dusted bannetons (lined or unlined) or shape into blunt batards and place in oval bannetons. I did one of each shape for variety.

 

Retard Loaves in the Refrigerator:

Cover the baskets with plastic wrap and/or a kitchen towel and immediately place the baskets in the refrigerator.  Let them ferment overnight until ready to bake.

 

Prepare the oven for hearth baking:

At least 45 minutes prior to baking, place a baking stone on the bottom shelf of the oven and a steam pan or iron skillet on the top shelf. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

 

Scoring the Loaves:

The loaves can be baked right directly from the refrigerator.

Remove the loaves from the refrigerator. Carefully flip each loaf from the banneton baskets onto lightly floured parchment paper. Score the loaves in the pattern of your choice.  I tried my hand at making an “S” for sprouted on the oval shape and “B” for bread on the round shape.  The B didn’t turn out so great.

 

Baking the Loaves:

Slide the loaves onto the preheated baking stone using a pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet. I baked each loaf separately because they were to big to both fit on my baking stone.

Quickly throw 3 or 4 ices cubes into the iron skillet and shut the oven door. You can also spritz the oven walls with water if you like. Bake the loaves for about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the loaves. The loaves should be dark golden brown in color and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Repeat the process with the remaining loaf. Remove the loaves to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

Here is the crumb shot of the oval loaf.  I was very pleased with those holes.

 

This bread is slightly earthy due to the sprouted wheat flour.  It’s very tasty.  I’ve been enjoying it plain with butter and as crostini topped with red pepper spread and a garlic spread.

 

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

KAMUT & Rye Levain On the Spot

Recently, I was inspired to create a special bread for a friend of mine. I wanted the bread to encapsulate some of his favorite ingredients, but also be unique, so I chose a blend of sourdough, KAMUT and rye. 

Once I decided on the flours I wanted to use, I consulted Flour, Water, Salt & Yeast by Ken Forkish for further inspiration. My bread is similar to Field Blend #2, but I used KAMUT instead of regular bread flour and whole wheat, and I utilized a different baking method.

I called this bread “on the spot” because my friend took a bite, pointed at the bread and with mouth full, said “oh this is good!. I asked him to describe what he liked about it. He thought for a minute, then said, “It’s, how do you say it? On the spot!”  I think he meant “spot on” but I like “on the spot” better.

This is a friend I met while I was working on my masters; right before I started the Bread Experience. He’s tasted a lot of my breads and has always been a gracious taste tester. He loves sourdough and has suffered through my many attempts before I actually developed my starters into something edible. So when he said it was “on the spot” that meant I had reached it. Woohoo!

I had been pondering whether to bake this bread in a bread baker or freeform on a baking stone when I saw a post on Facebook from one of my fellow bread bakers. He was encouraging us to make use of different baking methods and not just focus on Dutch oven baking. That settled it, I was going to bake these loaves freeform on the baking stone instead of in a pot.

In the process of creating the bread, I also created a new KAMUT starter. It was so easy! I’m not sure why I didn’t do this before.

KAMUT and Rye Levain On the Spot

Adapted from: Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish

Makes: Two 1 1/2 lb. loaves or Three 1 lb. loaves

Levain:

• 100g (1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp.) Mature, active levain (I used my Spelt Starter)*
• 400 g (3 cups + 2 tbsp.) KAMUT white flour
• 100 g (3/4 cup + 1/2 tbsp.) KAMUT whole grain flour
• 450 g (~ 2 cups) Water (85 - 90 degrees F.)

*I didn’t have a KAMUT starter so I used my Spelt starter to create the levain. After refreshing it a couple of times with only KAMUT flour, I now have a KAMUT starter. I have a rye starter so I could have used that one, but the Spelt starter had been fed and was ready to go.

Final Dough:

• 540 g (4 cups + 3 tbsp.) White KAMUT flour
• 85 g (2/3 cups) whole grain KAMUT flour
• 175 g (1 3/4 cups) whole grain rye flour
• 620 g (2 3/4 cups) + 30 g (2 tbsp.) Water (90 - 95 degrees F.)
• 21 g (1 tbsp. + 1 scant tsp.) Sea Salt
• 2 g (1/2 tsp.) instant yeast

 

Create the levain:

Take 100 g of recently fed starter (within 24 hours) and pour in 450 g of warm (80 – 90 degrees F.) water to break up the starter. Add in 400 g white KAMUT flour and 100 g of whole grain KAMUT flour and mix until it is incorporated. Let the levain rest for 6 to 8 hours or overnight at room temperature before mixing the final dough.

Autolyse:

In a large mixing bowl or container, whisk together all of the white KAMUT, whole grain KAMUT and rye flours.  Pour in 620 g of water and mix by hand until incorporated but don’t over mix. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

This dough will probably be a little stickier due to the rye flour, but it’s a wonderful dough.

 

Mix the final dough:

Sprinkle 21 g of sea salt and 1/2 tsp. instant yeast over the top of the dough.  Using wet hands transfer 360 g of the levain into the bowl

Mix the dough by hand using wet hands to incorporate the salt and yeast thoroughly into the dough. Use the fold and turn method to fully incorporate all of the ingredients. Pour in the remaining 30 g of warm water if needed. My dough needed extra water at this point to help dissolve the salt.

 

Bulk Fermentation:

Let the dough bulk ferment for 1 1/2 – 2 hours and perform three or four folds, one every 30 minutes. The dough will be ready to divide once it’s about 2 1/2 times its original volume, about 5 hours. I started this process in the evening so after the 2 hour bulk fermentation (and folds), I retarded the dough in the refrigerator overnight.

 

Divide the dough:

The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature for a couple of hours before dividing it.

Gently remove the dough to a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal pieces depending on how big you want your loaves to be.

 

Shape the loaves:

Preshape the loaves into round boules by sprinkling a little flour on the top of the dough and then flip the pieces over. Shape each piece into a tight ball and let them rest for 15 to 20 minutes.

Dust 2 or 3 banneton baskets with a mixture of KAMUT and rice flour. Shape them into tight boules again and place them seam side up in the floured baskets.

 

Proof the Loaves:

Cover the loaves with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and place the loaves (in the baskets) in the refrigerator.  You can let them proof in the refrigerator overnight if you did the bulk fermentation at room temperature, but I had refrigerated the dough during the bulk fermentation so I only let the loaves proof in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. Then I took them out of the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature for about 2 hours.

 

Prepare the oven for hearth baking:

At least 45 minutes prior to baking, place a baking stone on the bottom shelf of the oven and a steam pan or iron skillet on the top shelf. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Carefully flip the loaves from the banneton baskets onto parchment paper. Score the loaves in the pattern of your choice.  I had two rounds loaves and one oval loaf. I scored one of the round loaves with an M (sort of) for my friend and the other round one (not shown) with a B for (bread). I scored the oval loaf straight down the middle

 

Using a pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet, carefully transfer the loaves to the preheated baking stone. I baked one round loaf and the oval loaf together and baked the other round loaf separately. 

Quickly throw 3 or 4 ices cubes into the iron skillet and shut the oven door.  Bake the loaves for about 25 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the loaves.  The loaves should be dark golden brown in color and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Repeat the process with the remaining loaf. Remove the loaves to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

 

Here is a shot of the crumb.  It was delicious!

 

It was dark when I finished baking the loaves so I didn’t have the wonderful sun shining through my kitchen to capture lovely photos.

My friend had arrived by the time I took the loaves out of the oven, and we had fun photographing and tasting some of the bread. He helped create the still life display. I like the shot even though the lighting is a little yellow.  The crumb shot was taken the next day.

The lighting may have been a bit off, but the bread was “on the spot!”

Happy Baking!

Cathy