I was so delighted with the flavor of the sourdough version of my daily bread that I kind of accidentally made some weeks back, that I thought I should make it a regular thing. Problem is, all the big sourdough holes are big evidence of broken gluten, and even the gentlest handling unrecoverably degassed it. I was delicious, but heavy.

My thought was that if only I had something like a banneton that it could rise in, but then could also bake in, rather than degassing as it was dumped out, it would be perfect. I do have a linen covered wicker banneton, which theoretically could work that way, but I'm still trying to minimize the amount of wash water that goes into it. Plus, there's a major question of whether the dough has enough "legs" to stand on its own at that point.

So I searched Amazon. Guess what? Mason Cash make a terracotta banneton you can bake in! I finally got a chance to season it last night. First wash and soak it for half an hour and let dry completely. Then, just brush on oil, remove the excess, put in a cold oven, put the dial on high, then remove after 20 minutes and cool. Repeat. I did it a third time for good measure. You also oil before you put your dough in, just like any rising bowl.

I put my discard in the mix, and fed my starter, but it was just starting to smell hoochy, and I was concerned most of the discard was spent. It had barely risen by morning, so I dissolved the normal amount of commercial yeast in a spoon of water and mixed it in. It was well risen by mid-afternoon.

The recipe calls for a hot oven to start for half an hour, with steam, then a reduction to 350° F for half an hour. I guessed that it would bake well at 385° F for an hour would work. I didn't want to do anything to break my new banneton so I was careful about stray water, and did no steam pan. The internal temperature when I took it out was bang on 200°, so that was a good guess. I let it cool for an hour, with a cloth between it and the rack to lessen any shock. The seasoning is new, and it's not slick yet, and I didn't remove the dough and reoil when I put the yeast in, so I needed to use a spreader style spatula to separate the loaf from the form. The residue scrubs off easily with a corn scrubbie. I'm assuming that as it acquires more patina, it'll release better. I'm thinking I might want some of their terracotta bread pans, but I have nowhere to store them.

It's funny looking, because the sides are open textured (no cloak/no crust) and the crustiest part is on the bottom (top of bowl). Even though the main crust is open textured, it has some crispness and is very pleasant to eat. The bottom is also more crisp than hard, due to the lack of steam. It's very good! I took a corner off the cut piece, but couldn't leave it alone and ate the whole thing. Lovely texture and spring. Not much sour taste even with the long soak/rise, but I'll do it as a pre-ferment and soaker, early the day before next time, and then let it rise overnight. Or use recently fed starter. :)

This is 90g spent whole red wheat starter, 155g whole hard white wheat, 200g whole red wheat, 100g whole rye, 25g VWG, 13g salt, pinch vitamin C crystals, approx. 20g rolled oats, 10g yellow cornmeal, 15g buckwheat groats, 15g flaxseeds, 15g millet, 15g sunflower seeds, 15g sprouted pepitas.