Still going at it. This bake was better though. I also Brought the hydration up a bit to 73%.
Starting temp was 550°F with the convection fan on. I turned it down to 510°F as soon as the dough was put in the oven. The idea being that there would be enough heat to jump start everything and then turning the oven down would keep the outside of the dough from hardening up so quick.
I'm also wondering, maybe I should try using boiling water instead of ice cubes? Ice cubes are great when they are used in a cast iron combo cooker, but maybe not in a larger oven?
Another thing to maybe try is to put some fire bricks on the floor of the oven? Maybe they would help soak up and then radiate heat so the temp wouldn't drop so much when steam is added?
At any rate, here's the timeline and results.
- 0m Six loaves, five ice cubes, and a bit of water sprayed to make some steam.
- 5m Another bit of spraying.
- 8m The loaves are springing up a bit and little ears are forming.
- 12m Spun the loaves around 180°
- 17m I just realized I haven't tempted the stones with the laser thermometer, so let's do that — 410°F on the bottom, 400°F on the top.
- 20m Two loaves look done so out they come.
- 22m Three more loaves are ejected.
- 24m The final loaf is taken out.
I used a lame this time when scoring the bread, which I usually don't do. Normally I'll use a ceramic utiltiy blade but I thought maybe I should use the official tools since my scoring was super bad last time.
These had a bit of everything bagel seasoning thrown in, with some extra onion powder. They were tasty, but maybe I'll skip the extra onion powder next time.
I have another batch of doing that's raising overnight and this time I'm taking out the whole grain flour.