You need this bread recipe

Calling this one the rescue loaf because Colorado baking really keeps me humble 😂

I left this dough to bulk ferment overnight and when I checked it the next morning, the entire top had dried into a thick skin. At first I thought the dough barely fermented, but once I started peeling the top back, I could see bubbles and webbing underneath. It had been fermenting the whole time, the surface had just dried out from the air.

So I picked off as much of the dried layer as I could, gently reshaped what was left, put it into the banneton, covered it much better, and let it cold proof in the fridge for about 2½ hours. Then I baked it the same way I normally bake my sourdough.

The crumb came out a little uneven with some bigger tunnels and tighter spots, so it definitely was not my perfect loaf, but considering everything it went through, I’m impressed it came out this well.

Biggest high-altitude lesson from this one: the cover matters so much more than I realized. The dough needs to be really well sealed here because the dry air can form a skin way faster than I’m used to.

Another high-altitude baking lesson added to the list. The rescue loaf lives.

#sourdough #sourdoughbread #highaltitudebaking #sourdoughjourney #breadmaking