Raccoon and Lobster

Even though the proofing process did not go as planned and the resulting loaf was a lot denser than it should have been, the flavor of this bread was great. La Brea Bakery’s rosemary olive oil loaf was always a favorite of ours so making it at home was a no-brainer.

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread
makes two 1.5lb boules

Day 1

18 oz water 70ºF
12½ oz sourdough starter
½ cup wheat germ
34oz white bread flour
3½ teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
4 tablespoons olive oil

Combine water, starter, wheat germ and flour and let rest for 20 minutes. Add salt and and knead for 5 minutes, then add rosemary and olive oil and knead an additional 5 more minutes. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rest until double, 3-4 hours.

Turn out onto a floured surface, cut into 2 pieces, gently deflate, tuck under edges, cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Shape into boules and place into cloth lined bowls or proofing baskets if you have them (Clearly I need some!). Cover and let proof at room temperature until it rises about an inch, 1.5 to 2 hours.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap again and refrigerate for 8-12 hours, or a max of 24 hours.

Day 2

Remove dough and let it warm up to 58ºF, about 2-2.5 hours. This is the point where the boyfriend turned on the broiler and accidentally baked half of the loaf onto the proofing cloth.

I was able to pry most of the cold dough off and reform the boule and put it in to bake as soon as the oven had heated up to the requisite 500ºF. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good for so much mishandling. The final proof not going as planned meant that the crumb was a lot denser than it should have been and it was a heavy loaf, but the flavor was good and the crust came out very well.

Bake for 40-45 minutes at 450º.

Submitted to Yeaspotting

The second loaf, which should have been the flagship of this batch did not have the excuse of an accidental half-baking, but I absentmindedly popped it into the oven without scoring it at all, and so two enormous air bubbles formed almost immediately and the rest of the loaf laid there like a flat, sad, sack.

Belated scoring was not enough to revive it and to add insult to injury, the largest air bubble began to brown and then blackened as it got so close to the oven walls. Not a banner day for bread baking.

The true failure crumb in a sadness loaf:

Update:

Pictures of a much improved loaf from a later batch