On my last post I described how I take copious notes and document so that I can learn.
Well…. Here’s an example of what I mean.
Same Recipe and Method. Same Dutch Ovens. Same temps and timing. The ONLY change is that I threw in a couple ice cubes into the Dutch Oven as I started the bake.
Wow! Not what I anticipated (or desired)! Might need to try a deliberate experiment to see if this is actually the case or possibly something else (that escapes me at the moment).
In this first set of comparisons you can see from the the end that I had very little blooming. There is ~80% less “garage door” lifting from my score and little, if any, “ear” on the top edge.
From this angle looking directly at the side of the loaf you can clearly see the impact of the lack of blooming. No “garage door” and no “ear” development. Notice that the ends slope down significantly on the right loaf (less bloom) than on the loaf without the addition of ice cubes on the left side.
From the top you can see the comparison on the shape, scoring (expanded more on the right side), crust color/blistering etc.
Well. I’ll have to compare the crumb. Based on the bloom I expect the crumb to be tighter and more moist.
I’ll have to compare the weight of the loaves to what I normally have. I expect that they will be slightly heavier due to less moisture escaping. Normally I loose about 100g of water weight as I bake.
UPDATE: I compared the weight of the loaves and they were not significantly off my normal post-bake weights….maybe 2-3 grams heavier than normal.
Baked By Bear Sourdough 
One thought on “Unexpected Results”