So very sad

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I messed it up.

First I forgot about lukewarm water and used cold out of the tap. I converted wrong and realized I need more water. So I added another quarter cup of lukewarm water and it looked fine. I also used Whole Wheat flour. I added some cinnamon and some honey…

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I let it rise for 6.5 hours. When I took it out of the bowl – it was already pretty rubbery. Not pourable at all. I tossed down a LOT of whole wheat flour and it was too heavy to fold with a spoon, so I lightly kneaded it.

I got my cast iron dutch oven ready…

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I might have put it in the oven too early, because it was REALLY hot.

It didn’t split.

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I think it was too close to the upper element in the oven, because it was pretty hard, not crispy.  And DAMN that Dutch Oven was HOT!

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I needed a hacksaw to cut it and I STILL couldn’t get it through the bottom of the crust.

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I couldn’t bite into it, I had to tear it in chunks.

Now, it was good, very very good, but I’m going to have to experiment with it, go over and see where I went wrong.

Just not tomorrow. Or this week.

Tomorrow’s high will be 20 colder than today.  And despite my disappointing outing with this loaf of bread, THIS man is gorgeous enough to make me happy!

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Published by zeesmuse

Musician, Mother, Writer, cranky person, Conservative, Teacher of music and history. But mostly a mom. And opinionated. Yeah. Don't forget that. I'm opinionated. But I'm a mom first.

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8 thoughts on “So very sad”

  2. Oh no. ☹️I feel really sorry now that it didn’t work out for you. It’s possible that the conversions didn’t work well. Here’s a recipe with American measurements: http://www.girlversusdough.com/2015/08/13/no-knead-dutch-oven-bread/
    Note: When you use wholemeal, you definitely need to use more water than given in the recipe. Just because the coarse grain picks up more moisture than the finely ground flour. I’ve done the flour/wheat germ mixture bread twice already and it worked fine both times. The bread doesn’t rise as much as white flour (because it is heavier) and doesn’t necessarily break the crust. It is slightly flatter than the white loaf, so that is normal.
    I don’t think the heat of the Dutch oven was a problem with your bread. Did you mix the water and flour very vigorously in the first step? It could have been that, too, because that has an effect on the gluten in the flour (which is responsible for the consistency of the finished loaf.) If you do try again, only mix the water and flour until the water has been fully absorbed and don’t worry about the “clumps” that you may still see in the mixture.
    The same also applies to the shaping of the bread once it has risen. Don’t stir it, but only fold it: After you have poured the runny, elastic mixture onto the baking parchment, use a spatula to fold the bread in on itself. Do that from all sides of the bread until the dough has lost its runniness and is sort of dry to the touch. And then place back in your bowl for another hour of rising before you bake it.

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    1. LIke I said, it looks like I did a lot wrong. The first mix wasn’t a mixture or a dough. it was several hard lumps, so I added water. When I put it on the parchment paper, it was already a dough ball and I couldn’t use a spatula or a spoon to fold it so I *gasp* kneaded it. It wasn’t picking up the flour from the get go. Ah well. We’ll try it again, just not…. this week.

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    2. I’m looking and I DID mess up the conversions. I had 3.5 cups of Whole Wheat Flour to 1.25 (cold) water. So too much flour and not enough water. Also the conversion for the salt and yeast are double than what I used. Ah well. Back to the drawing board.

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