Son of Dutch Oven Bread

Since becoming used to the basic concepts in Dutch Oven Bread and discovering a whole area of breadmaking that we can loosely gather under the title "wet dough" bread, I have been playing with some of the different techniques involved.

I have been playing with ciabatta, a white flour bread. I make a starter and let it work overnight in the fridge, minus any salt, before adding the rest of the ingredients the next morning and giving them 15 minutes under the dough hooks. You can read about it if you want.

I wondered what would happen if I did that with the Dutch Oven Bread ingredients instead of mixing them all together and leaving them to it overnight.

What I got was quite a different loaf, very dense yet soft and chewy in texture. (I did use all white flour instead of the usual wholemeal blend. I have been hankering for something a little less wholesome and healthy lately.)

The dough, in the mixer for 15 minutes, was considerably softer, more finegrained, and more cohesive than the usual Dutch Oven dough when I set it out on the teatowel to rise, and mostly spread sideways in the time the oven took to reach 220C. There were the occasional large airspaces in the crumb, but in between these the crumb was much finer.

Next time, I'll experiment with a little less liquid, or more flour, and see what happens.

Recipe so far:

Starter:

1 cup white hi-grade flour
1.5 teaspoons active yeast grains
1 cup water

Combine these in a mixing bowl and leave the bowl overnight with a plate or sheet of plastic film covering it. In warm weather, I'd probably pop this in the fridge.

Second Stage

2 - 3 cups white hi-grade flour
8 g salt - just under 2 teaspoons
1 cup kefir (or yoghurt or milk. I use kefir because I have it, and because it has a slightly sour quality that I think improves the flavour of the bread.)

Add the kefir and salt to the starter, and mix until smooth.
Gradually add the flour until the dough has the consistency you want. It will be far too wet to knead, so that isn't a factor, but the drier the dough, the less it will collapse sideways in the final proofing, and the sooner the finished product will become stale. There are fine details, too, involving atmospheric humidity and the relative moisture content of your flour, but an appreciation of those requires at least a little experience. I'd work on 2.5 cups to start with.
Once the flour has been combined, mix for another 15 minutes at a slow-medium setting.
Turn the dough out onto a floured board or work surface. Stretch it and fold it several times until it forms an approximate sphere, then transfer it, folded side down, to a teatowel which has been sprinkled generously with sesame seed or coarse cornmeal.
Lightly oil the inside of your Dutch Oven, and place it in the centre of your oven to heat to 220C. By the time it has done this, the dough will have risen significantly.
Remove the Dutch Oven from the oven - it's bloody hot and heavy, so be careful - and place it on a board. Pick up the teatowel, hand underneath, spilling as few sesame seeds on the floor as possible, and gently up-end the dough into the Dutch Oven, sesame seeds uppermost.
Return the Dutch Oven to the oven and cook for 30 minutes, remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes. Remove the bread carefully and place on a rack to cool.

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