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Q&A How do I get darker sourdough without burning it?

I made my first sourdough bread recently. The friend who gave me the starter also gave me a basic recipe attributed to Ed Wood, which I followed (1 cup fed starter, 3.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 t...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by dsr‭

Question bread
#2: Post edited by user avatar Monica Cellio‭ · 2020-06-28T20:16:58Z (over 4 years ago)
added oven details per request in comment
  • I made my first sourdough bread recently. The friend who gave me the starter also gave me a basic recipe attributed to Ed Wood, which I followed (1 cup fed starter, 3.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup water). The dough behaved as I expected through the two rises. I baked it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper at 425 F for 60 minutes.
  • The sourdough loaves I've seen have a nice deep golden-brown crust. Mine... doesn't. I considered whether I should have baked it longer, but the crust was already pretty hard and I was worried about making a brick. But I've never made sourdough before, so that was a guess. While the crust is hard, the inside is soft and has the texture I expected.
  • What do I need to do to get the richer crust color I expected? Is this only achievable with a dutch oven (which I don't have)? Should I use a loaf pan instead of a sheet? Should I have made a few smaller scores instead of one long one?
  • Here's a picture of my results:
  • ![light-colored loaf](https://cooking.codidact.com/uploads/AwW8vcBFTJxRPDdGt3yrUqnw)
  • I made my first sourdough bread recently. The friend who gave me the starter also gave me a basic recipe attributed to Ed Wood, which I followed (1 cup fed starter, 3.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup water). The dough behaved as I expected through the two rises. I baked it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper at 425 F for 60 minutes. This was in my oven's standard heating mode (called "bake" on the panel), not heat from above ("broil") nor convection (fan). The oven is only a couple years old and as far as I know is working properly and calibrated correctly.
  • The sourdough loaves I've seen have a nice deep golden-brown crust. Mine... doesn't. I considered whether I should have baked it longer, but the crust was already pretty hard and I was worried about making a brick. But I've never made sourdough before, so that was a guess. While the crust is hard, the inside is soft and has the texture I expected.
  • What do I need to do to get the richer crust color I expected? Is this only achievable with a dutch oven (which I don't have)? Should I use a loaf pan instead of a sheet? Should I have made a few smaller scores instead of one long one?
  • Here's a picture of my results:
  • ![light-colored loaf](https://cooking.codidact.com/uploads/AwW8vcBFTJxRPDdGt3yrUqnw)
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Monica Cellio‭ · 2020-06-28T03:25:45Z (over 4 years ago)
I made my first sourdough bread recently.  The friend who gave me the starter also gave me a basic recipe attributed to Ed Wood, which I followed (1 cup fed starter, 3.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup water).  The dough behaved as I expected through the two rises.  I baked it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper at 425 F for 60 minutes.

The sourdough loaves I've seen have a nice deep golden-brown crust.  Mine... doesn't.  I considered whether I should have baked it longer, but the crust was already pretty hard and I was worried about making a brick.  But I've never made sourdough before, so that was a guess.  While the crust is hard, the inside is soft and has the texture I expected.

What do I need to do to get the richer crust color I expected?  Is this only achievable with a dutch oven (which I don't have)?  Should I use a loaf pan instead of a sheet?  Should I have made a few smaller scores instead of one long one?

Here's a picture of my results:

![light-colored loaf](https://cooking.codidact.com/uploads/AwW8vcBFTJxRPDdGt3yrUqnw)