Hello Diane,
Always very interested to know if and how the recipe works for you.

Enjoy your sourdough baking 🙂

Hello Keoni,
Yes, the Dutch oven method is great, with direct heat and capturing of steam under the lid. The best way to go about baking these boules would be to use the stones and preheat them very well and long enough to get the heat in, and then use a large amount of steam at the beginning of the baking process. You can use the suggestions we give in the recipe for that.
Also check out our oven tips for some more info on how to get the most out of your ‘household’ oven. www.weekendbakery.com/posts…your-oven/
Just give it a try and take it from there, maybe adjusting the oven temp just a bit higher at first for example.

Hope it will be great and you will enjoy the baking and tasting of the boules!

I absolutely will! Thank you so much for your response!

Hello Lisa,
Always hard to judge without seeing, but did your boules feel ‘sturdy’ after shaping and when you put them in the oven with enough surface tension after shaping? It could be a combination of the flour you use and the hydration level. If your flour cannot absorb the amount of water in the recipe, it could explain (partly) what happend.
You could either lower the amount of moisture a bit or use a different flour.
Use a good quality strong bread flour. If your flour has not enough protein it cannot hold the right amount of water.
For this recipe we use organic wheat flour with around 12.5 to 13% protein.

Hope you will give it a few more tries, it really is worth making it your own!

Do you have baking adjustments for “open” home ovens using baking/pizza stone for this mini-boule recipe? Unfortunately, a Rofco type oven just isn’t in the cards.

PS – I love your 80% hydration baguette recipe! I use it to make demi-baguette using a very large Dutch oven in my home oven.

Hallo Jessica,
Wij zouden deze boules niet omschrijven als zacht en luchtig. Het kruim is wel open en heel mals, maar een desemkorst is toch vrij stevig en dik. Wij hebben en kennen ook geen goed recept dat het resultaat geeft waar je waarschijnlijk naar op zoek bent.Maar deze boules zijn echt een favoriet van ons, dus wie weet kun je ze toch eens proberen.

Succes ermee en veel bakplezier!

Zo nee, raden jullie een ander recept aan voor zuurdesem pistolets?

Alvast bedankt!

Hello Rosemarie,
Thank you for your thoughts regarding the mini boules recipe. It is of course very possible to use a percentage of whole wheat flour for this recipe. This obviously would mean the result will be a bit different, for crumb and crust and taste. Based on our experience we found that up till around 30% whole wheat the recipe can stay about the same, more than that and we would add just a bit of extra water. Normally we would always advice to try the recipe as is and then make changes, gradually increasing the amount of whole wheat. You just have to make the recipe your own by baking it a few times, make some notes and see what works.

Hope you will give it a try soon and maybe let us know how you like your result (with the whole wheat).

Enjoy your sourdough baking!

We assume you have found our recipe here Claire:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…asy-steps/

Good luck with your project!

Oh wait I found a recipe nevermind.

I am new to bread, so i do not really know much. is there some kind of recipe or something for an “active sourdough culture”? I am trying to do a project on baking chemistry, so I need to figure out what each step to that is. Or could I just have a ratio of flour to water and what kind of flour?

Hello Victoria,
Very sorry to hear this. We do not think that what we own is a Combi cooker the way you use or mean. For the boules we use our Rofco stone oven and for ‘everyday’ use we have an ‘household’ oven that has functions for conventional heat, steam and hot air / convection. It is an oven that is from Germany (brandname Neff). I do not think this is what you mean by Combicooker?

Good luck with your oven challenges

What Combicooker do you own please? Our Instant Pot died today and my oven is broken.😞 It won’t heat up past 420F even with the temperature maxed at 550F. I researched Combicookers today and I don’t know what one to get?

Hello RaJeana,
We bake them ‘freestanding’ (so they do not need any molds when baking) on hot stones in our Rofco oven (you can see this oven here to get an idea of what we use: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ven-users/

Alternatively you can place a boules on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Hope it will be a success.
Happy Holiday baking!

Hello Kelly,
We would advice to use strong bread flour for this recipe with a higher percentage of protein (at least 12 but preferably 13%) so the dough can develop a good strong gluten-network when proofing. All purpose flour usually has a lower protein content (check the bag) and is not ideal for this sourdough bread recipe. If you do want or need to use this flour, keep an eye on the dough when proofing, so it does not over-proof and collapse.
If you would like to learn more on the subject we can recommend this piece about gluten: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…ut-gluten/