Except for some sticking problems, I'm going to give these a 9:
The loaf on the right was cooked in my usual 3-qt All-Clad casserole. The loaf on the left was cooked in a similarly-sized enameled cast-iron pan of unknown provenance. The All-Clad loaf cooked pretty much like they always do. The other loaf was taller and much more of a ball -- almost perfectly shaped, in my opinion. The cracks on top of it were gorgeous. (One can induce cracks by slashing loaves before or during baking, but I usually don't think of it.) However, as has happened to both a commenter here and I, the loaf stuck like crazy. It took me about 10 or 15 minutes to get it out without seriously damaging it, and I bent up a small offset spatula doing so. I made sure the pan was scrupulously clean, because I thought some water spots might have caused my last problem, but I guess that didn't have anything to do with it. I'd really like to figure that out. It only happens when I use enameled cast iron.
But the taste was gorgeous. I measured everything by weight this time and wrote it down. I'll even put in product information (except for the flax seed, as I used the last of it and threw the bag away).
- 600 grams King Arthur bread flour
- 300 g. King Arthur white whole wheat flour
- 900 g. (900 ml) tap water
- 22 g. Morton kosher salt (about 4 teaspoons)
- 25 g. Hodgson Mill rye flour (about 3 tablespoons)
- 19 g. whole flax seeds, coarsely ground (that was how much I had)
- 47 g. Bob's Red Mill semolina flour (about 3 tablespoons, further pulverized in a grinder)
- 29 g. Bob's Red Mill garbanzo bean flour (about 3 tablespoons)
- 2 g. Fleischmann's Bread Machine Yeast (about 1/2 teaspoon)
Water percentage is pretty high (100%, unless you count all the flours together, in which case water comes out at about 88%). Cooking was pretty much standard: oven and cooking vessels pre-heated at 450 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes; dough divided evenly between the pots; cooked 30 minutes covered, 30 minutes uncovered; loaves cooled on rack. The rye flour adds a little flavor, but also gives some moistness; at a much higher percentage, the loaf would start to seem gummy.
A final note: it tasted really good. :)
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