TCR’s Sourdough Bread

Baking the Bread

[bread]
Bread just out of oven

These instructions for two-phase baking include approximate start times of various steps for the second day of the Two-Day Process and for the One-Day Process, assuming that it will take about 30 minutes to heat the oven to 500° F.

To bake the bread:

  1. Remove dough from the refrigerator.
    2-day: 7:00 am of second day
    1-day: Omit this step.

    Put the dough (in the covered proofing basket) in a 80° F oven for about 3 hours to warm up. The warmer the dough is when it starts to bake, the thicker and crisper the crust will be.

  2. Preheat the oven.
    2-day: 10:00 am
    1-day: 4:00 pm (one hour after making dough ball)

    In 2-day process, remove covered proofing basket from oven.

    Put the aluminum pot with its cover into the oven and set the oven temperature to 500° F. (Don’t cover the pot.)

    [pot]

  3. Bake, phase 1: covered.
    2-day: 10:30 am
    1-day: 4:30 pm

    When the oven reaches 500° F:

    • Score the dough.
    • Invert the dough for transfer to the heated aluminum pot.
    • Remove the covered, heated aluminum pot and cover from the oven. (Careful; they’re hot!)
    • Quickly flip the dough ball into the heated pot.
    • Immediately place the heated cover on the heated pot and return the covered pot to the oven.

      [pot]

    • Turn the oven temperature down to 450° F.
    • Bake covered for 20 minutes.

    If the dough is still a bit cold in the 2-day process, allow extra baking time for phase 1. For example, I used to leave the dough on the counter to warm; it was still cold after sitting at room temperature for 3 hours, so I baked it covered for 22 minutes instead of 20. If I start to preheat the oven as soon as I take the dough out of the refrigerator and start to bake when the dough had been sitting at room temperature for only half an hour, I baked it covered for 25 minutes.

  4. Bake, phase 2: uncovered.
    2-day: 10:50 am
    1-day: 4:50 pm

    Finish baking:

    • Gently remove the lid from the aluminum pot and then continue baking with the pot uncovered.

      [baking pot]

      [baking pot]

      [baking pot]

      [baking pot]

    • After 10 minutes, rotate the pot 180° in the oven to even browning.
    • Bake another 5 minutes before beginning to test the bread’s temperature.
  5. Test the bread and remove when done.
  6. 2-day: First test around 11:05 am, done around 11:07 am
    1-day: First test around 5:05 pm, done around 5:07 pm

    The bread is done when its internal temperature reaches 205° F (typically after baking uncovered for about 15 to 18 minutes).

    • Remove the aluminum pot from the oven and quickly test the bread’s temperature.

      [bread]

    • If the bread is not quite ready, return it to the oven and then test again in a minute or two. Repeat, as necessary, until the internal temperature reaches 205° F.
    • When the bread is done, turn it out of the aluminum pot onto a cooling rack.

      [bread]

  7. Cool, eat, and enjoy!
    • Let the bread cool on a rack for at least 12 minutes before slicing it.

      [bread]

      [bread]

    • Any bread that is not eaten the same day should be frozen until the day (or night before) it will be eaten.

      Cool the bread thoroughly before freezing it.

This page last modified: February 6, 2021