Reason and Freedom

I have been baking sourdough bread every weekend, following the Cooks Illustrated recipe as a basis for what I do. I basically have been repeating it, trying to make slight changes from week to week to enact changes from one loaf to the next. Here is the most recent iteration of the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 c active sourdough starter
  
• 10 oz distilled water
  
• 24 oz bread flour
  
• 1.5 t table salt
  

Procedure:

1. With dough hook on KitchenAid mixer, put starter and water in the bowl and mix with the machine until combined.
   
2. Slowly add flour until combined
   
3. Knead for a while, say 10 minutes
   
4. Put dough in straight-sided, tall container, cover with plastic wrap
   
5. Wait for a long time
   
6. When dough has doubled (or more than doubled) in volume, remove it onto the counter, squish it alot with your fingers (think of it like playing a piano), divide it into two blobs of equal size, then put those blobs on lightly-oiled plates, lightly oil the tops of the blobs, cover the blobs with plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge overnight.
   
7. The next day, take out the blobs, remove the plastic wrap, take them off the plates, squish them alot with your fingers again, put them into two separate loaf tins, and cover the loaf tins with plastic wrap. Let them sit there until they bulge over the tops of the tins. (Did you remember to lightly oil the tops again so the plastic wrap doesn't stick?)
   
8. Preheat oven with pizza stone (I use a terra cotta planter base inverted).
   
9. When the loaves are bulging over the tops of the loaf tins, remove the plastic wrap, slash the tops of the loaves a few times with a serrated knife, and then bake them in the oven for an hour.
   
10. Use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature of the loaves. They should be between 200 and 212 degrees.
    
11. Let them cool completely before you cut into them.
    

And they kick butt! They have a soft, sandwich-bread like texture with an even crumb and a wonderful sourdough flavor.

Here are my observations about baking:

1. Bread flour can make loaves that are both tough and rustic as well as soft and sandwichy.
   
2. Giving the bread three rises and two punchdowns seems to yield a more even crumb.
   
3. Cooking at lower temperatures yields softer crust and softer bread.