The Kitchen of the Month for March was Elle, of Feeding MyEnthusiasms. Elle chose Horiatiko Psomi, or, Greek Village Bread. My first thought was – Yay! A bread I can’t screw up! No special ingredients, minimal kneading, Dutch oven baking. Ah, but that last item did cause an issue. Why don’t recipes tell you the size of the Dutch oven? There are a range of sizes, and mine happens to be a 4-quart. Many of these recipes require a larger pot.
So, I ended up making this bread twice. First time, I followed the recipe. The dough was barely contained by my banneton, which did not bode well for my Dutch oven. It barely fit.
For the second bake, I halved the recipe, and experienced no volume issues with either the banneton or the Dutch oven. In fact, it came out perfectly, and had a much nicer crumb. Having an analytical mind, I intend to study the ingredient list and make notes for amounts for future bakes based on my Dutch oven size, so I don’t have similar issues.
This is a straightforward, lovely bread, which I definitely plan to bake many more times.
For the recipe and instructions, go to Elle's website.
Check out the other Bread Baking Babes:
- Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
- Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
- A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
- My Diverse Kitchen – Aparna
- Bread Experience - Cathy
- Thyme for Cooking - Katie
- My Kitchen in Half Cups – Tanna
- Feeding My Enthusiasms – Elle (Kitchen of the Month)
6 comments:
Interesting. My Dutch oven is fairly small and it seemed to work out. Maybe you got a better rise than I did! Gorgeous loaf.
I did the same thing with a recipe this month that I made twice and halved the second time. It baked better in the Dutch oven too although it didn't call for that method. I think my Dutch oven is a 7-qt.
A straightforward and lovely bread is a great way to describe this one. Your crust is beautiful!
What a beautiful golden brown color you got in your crust...must be sizing the Dutch oven properly. I hadn't thought to check on sizes...I only have one. Will try the half recipe next time because my bottom crust was slightly burnt by the time that the full loaf baked. Thanks for including links to the other Babes!
I have to say that your first so-called too large loaf looks really good. And your second smaller loaf looks perfect! I like your style of scoring too.
Our Dutch oven (that I refused to use) is really really big. It's too big even for the full recipe of this bread.
I have a small oven so another thing to consider.
Regardless, it looks like you got a great loaf!
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