Samhain bread

I baked a loaf of rosemary bread for the Samhain harvest holiday, which started yesterday and ends at sundown today November 1. It's similar to the loaf of bread I made for Lammas found here. That bread was an over night bread, and this one I started after lunch and it was done before supper. This one has a whole packet of activated yeast in it, the other one was just a pinch of instant yeast, but otherwise aside from the rosemary and dash of sugar to proof the yeast, they're both the same ingredients of water, flour, salt, and yeast. After proofing the yeast I mixed the ingredients in a bowl by hand, and added about a tablespoon of fresh chopped rosemary from my garden. This one was, like the other, baked inside a cast iron dutch oven placed inside my regular oven. It turned out nice for a quick afternoon bread, and I will double the rosemary next time. It's sorta there, but not as rosemaryish as I would have liked. The texture is good, but not quite the same as the overnight bread I baked for Lammas.

James, do you preheat your Dutch oven as you're preheating your oven?
It looks as if you managed to remember to slice the top of the dough with a sharp knife - I must try that next time.
I make my version with 1 cup of my sourdough starter babies and just 1/4 tsp of yeast, although if I truly start it with enough time to rise overnight, I can skip the added yeast.  Friday I was rushing, so although it raised longer than yours, it was shorter than usual. My sourdough is based on rye flour and I added a little whole wheat as well, but other than that, it seems pretty similar.

Trick for rising bread in a cold house: I heat my rice pack that I made for sore muscles, set it on a hot pad and set the bowl of rising dough on top of it. Re-heated it once. When my friend who was visiting saw what I'd done, she just grinned - worth it for that alone!

I did put the stack on the table where the sun would hit it also, but at this time of year the sun is so low, it's not that much of a help.

Hi Jay!

Yes, I put the cast iron dutch oven in the oven cold and it all preheats together. The first time, I placed the dough in the hot dutch oven bare, and the dough is kinda wet and super soft and it was slightly nerve wracking as I was focused on not burning my hands or arms. This time I had the dough on a piece of parchment paper and it was much easier to place the dough in the dutch oven holding onto the corners of the paper and the dough wasn't trying to sag and roll over the edges of my hands. After 30 minutes of baking, I remove the lid to help brown the crust for another 10 or 15 minutes. I did slice the top of the dough, making 5 short slices hoping to make a star * but I suspect subtle and unintentional variations in the depths of the slices resulted in the dough having other ideas while baking.

I'm making a mental note of your heated rice pack trick to help maintain yeast proofing and dough rising temps, that's a great idea!

James Freyr wrote:

This time I had the dough on a piece of parchment paper and it was much easier to place the dough in the dutch oven holding onto the corners of the paper and the dough wasn't trying to sag and roll over the edges of my hands.  

I grease the bowl it does its rise in, hold the bowl over the hot Dutch Oven. Use a wet silicon spatula to loosen and gently guide the dough, with the help of gravity, into the hot Dutch oven. I'm sort of "rolling it in" and so far it's working.

No Knead bread dough is pretty goopy!

And wrote:

making 5 short slices hoping to make a star *

I could see that star! Yes, it was a little "Salvador Dali" but he was famous, so why not you!

You are welcome to use my heated rice pack trick! A hot rice pack in one of those hay box cooker type things might work even better, but I don't have a haybox, and don't have a good spot to put one at the moment.