Well here I am. It's not science. That is, it is science, but I and probably most of you don't want to be bothered with the science. And the science changes anyway. The water content is approximate and changes with each batch. As Ed Schneider pointed out, here or to me, you can always adjust the lid-on time to compensate for drier or wetter dough. The keys to me are: 1. a dough so wet you can barely handle it (a dusting of flour usually fixes too-wet dough, so I start it a little wetter than I might otherwise; the dough becomes stickier as it rises anyway, right?) 2. the long rise - 18 hours does seem optimal, but longer, shorter, depending on temp and your desire. I don't see why you couldn't slow it down a LOT and go considerably longer for more flavor. But this is pretty good. I can't tell whether the second rise is better at 2, 3, 4, or even more, hours. Opinions here? 3. the oven technique, which is the easy part it seems to me. I'm using cast iron. Someone told me Le Creuset lid handles melt at 450. Oops. 4. Sufficient cooking. I go to 210 degrees. I have tried 500DF and burned the bottom. Yesterday I did 500 for half the cooking then 450 for the remainder. That worked, but I didn't see improvement for my fussing. Though the Times piece was long-ish, clearly there was not enough space to go into as much detail as we all might like. Clearly, too, I wanted to get this technique - which I do think is brilliant, if not revolutionary as some people have been saying - into the hands of many more people than just me and Jim Lahey. Jim continues to experiment, as I reported, as do I - but a loaf or two a day is not the same as hundreds or thousands, which is what's happening now. I have never, ever, received so many e-mails in response to a piece. To me, the big questions are not marginally improving the flavor or using sourdough, which seem to be the concerns of many people here and of those who e-mail me directly, but these 1. can we adapt to other shapes (a small fish poacher for a baguette?) 2. how much whole grain flour can this dough support well? Forgive me if I have not read this whole thread - I will at some point. But since I was invited, I thought I'd jump in. In this company, however, I'm not an expert - I've made twenty loaves or so, so don't expect me to know more than y'all do, or much more. mb
