This was my second attempt at making a “Pain de Campagne” using Breadric, my sourdough starter.
My first attempt came out OK but it was baked purely on a pizza stone without my dutch oven. This wasn’t planned – my intention was to transfer the proofed dough onto the stone and then score it before placing the bottom of the dutch oven over the top and then into the oven to bake. Unfortuantely I wasn’t quick enough and the dough expanded/collapsed beyond the diameter of the dutch oven! Whilst it tasted great, the rise was average and was very wide!
After reading online I came to the conclusion that my bulk fermentations may be too long – I have always noticed that my dough collapses a bit before placing into my dutch oven.
So after a bit of research, rather than sticking to the recipe and rising for 5 hours, I decided to follow a different technique second time round by allowing the dough to increase in volume by around 30% after the final fold – this took just over 3 hours. The dough then went into the fridge to proof for 12 hours.
I was very pleased with the final result! Without a doubt the most oven spring I have had since I started baking this style of bread. The crumb was much more open and tasted amazing thanks to Breadric. The crust was also a little bubbly – which I had not experienced before – and it had a great chew to it. I was a little disappointed that the surface did not naturally crack though so I still need to work more on my shaping and scoring techniques.
