Only bake One loaf at a time? What purpose does the honey serve?
Can I bake both loaves at the same time? Also does the honey add just flavor to the loaf or is it essential for the chemistry of the bake?
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Recipe question for:
Easiest Sourdough Ever (Using Unfed Starter)
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1 Comment
These are truly amazing questions. Firstly, sourdough baking requires a consistent, high amount of concentrated heat to create that iconic crust. Industrial baking ovens can evenly distribute that heat over multiple loaves. We are trying to replicate the environment of a higher power oven by baking in a dutch oven.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of home ovens aren't powerful enough to generate the heat necessary to bake off two loaves totally successfully. If you tried to bake both at once you'd absolutely get something edible, maybe even delicious! But for the best results we recommend baking one at a time.
Now on to your honey question! The honey is providing flavor AND helping the bread chemically. Sugar helps feed the natural yeast and bacteria that helps to make bread rise (hence why you activate factory yeast with liquid and some form of sugar).
Hope this helps!
- Justin from the Hotline team