I’ve been baking in the Challenger Bread Pan for a few years now. I can assure you that almost any sourdough bread recipe will turn out better if you bake it in the Challenger Bread Pan. Having said that, my favorite loaves to bake in the Challenger are ones that are extra tall and lofty (perfect for this huge cast iron pan). In this post, I’ll share with you my favorite sourdough bread recipe for the Challenger Bread Pan.
What makes this sourdough bread recipe different?
While you can bake almost any sourdough bread recipe in the Challenger Bread Pan, this recipe was specifically designed for the large, oblong shape of the Challenger. This recipe will yield almost a whole kilogram of dough (990 grams), which will give you a relatively large loaf of sourdough bread to fill the specific dimensions of the pan. It makes an enormous and beautiful loaf!
The sourdough bread recipe that I usually make only yields about 800 grams of dough. Today’s recipe will get you a slightly bigger loaf, with even more slices than my standard sourdough recipe.
Tools I use for this recipe:
– The Challenger Bread Pan (link to the pan on the Challenger website)
– Baker of Seville Bread Lame (link to the product on Amazon)
– Oval Banneton Basket (link to the product on Amazon)
All links are affiliate links for which I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
What’s different about baking in the Challenger Bread Pan?
It’s made of heavy, black cast iron (not enameled cast iron)
The Challenger Bread Pan is different than most Dutch ovens in that it is made of heavy, black cast-iron. Most popular Dutch ovens are made of enameled cast iron, which is cast iron covered in a smooth coating. Enameled cast iron is great for easy clean-up, but it may not be as effective for bread baking. For the best sourdough bread, Modernist Bread and Tartine Bread both recommend going with a heavy, black cast iron baking vessel.
It’s long and oval-shaped (not round)
While most Dutch ovens are round and designed to cook a multitude of foods, the Challenger Bread Pan is oval-shaped and designed specifically for bread making. It has multiple handles that make the lid easy to remove, and its oval shape allows you to bake oblong loaves and even demi-baguettes.
Recipe – Sourdough Bread for the Challenger Bread Pan
Ingredients
- Bread Flour – 500 grams
- Water – 328 grams
- Sourdough Starter – 150 grams
- Salt – 12 grams
Feeding the Starter
- Feeding the starter: The night before you want to make your dough, take about 25 grams of starter out of the fridge and feed it 75 grams of water and 75 grams of bread flour. Stir the starter, water, and flour together until no dry bits of flour remain. The following morning, the starter should have doubled in size and it will be ready to use in your dough.
Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
- Mixing: Mix water, active sourdough starter, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Stir until the starter and salt are dissolved in the water.
- Adding the flour: Add all of the flour to the bowl and mix until there aren’t any dry bits of flour left. (Squeeze the dough with your hands a little bit if you find it hard to incorporate all of the flour with just a spoon).
- Short rest: Cover up the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes. During this time the flour will hydrate and the dough will be easier to handle.
- Kneading: After the 30 minute rest, it’s time to develop gluten in the dough. You can knead the dough by hand for 6-8 minutes, or give 6-8 minutes of slap and folds on the counter. You can even knead the dough on medium speed in a stand mixer for about 6 minutes – the method is up to you! Just keep it simple.
- Bulk Fermentation: After the kneading, cover the dough up inside the mixing bowl and let it rise for 5-8 hours at room temperature, or until it has roughly doubled in size.
Shaping and Proofing
- Shaping: After rising, take the fermented dough out of the bowl and pre-shape it gently into a ball. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes uncovered. Then, sprinkle flour on top of the dough and flip the dough over. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle. Fold the right third of the dough over the middle third, then fold the left third over the middle third. Then, starting on the end that’s furthest away from you, roll the dough inward toward yourself until you have a tight oval shaped loaf of dough (see video for shaping tutorial).
- Proofing: Flip the dough, upside down, into a flour-dusted banneton basket. Move the dough to the fridge (covered or uncovered) and let it proof in the cold environment overnight – anywhere from 8-24 hours.
Scoring and Baking
- Preheating: 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 500dF with the Challenger Bread Pan inside on the middle rack. The pan needs to preheat along with the oven for at least 30 minutes so it’s nice and hot.
- Scoring: Take your dough out of the oven and flip it out onto a small sheet of parchment paper (you can also flip it out directly onto the hot Challenger Bread Pan base, but I like to use parchment). Score the dough with a razor blade in one long slash from the far end of the dough to the near end. This will ideally open up and create an ear on your loaf of bread.
- Baking with the lid on: Transfer the dough, parchment paper and all, onto the base of the Challenger Bread Pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 500dF with the lid on. Then, remove the lid.
- Baking with the lid off: Once you’ve removed the lid, let the bread continue baking for another 15-20 minutes with the lid off until your loaf has the color that you’re looking for. 15 minutes should produce a fairly dark brown loaf, and 20 minutes should produce a very dark brown loaf with plenty of caramelization on the crust.
- Cooling: Remove the loaf from the oven and transfer it onto a wire rack to cool for at least an hour. Then, slice into your loaf and enjoy!
Finally decided to buy your own Challenger Bread Pan? Purchase one using my affiliate link here. This will add no additional cost to you, but I’ll earn a small commission. Thanks for the support!
Sourdough Bread for the Challenger Bread Pan
This recipe produces a long, tall, and lofty loaf of sourdough bread that is perfect to bake in your Challenger Bread Pan.
Ingredients
- Bread Flour - 500 grams
- Water - 328 grams
- Sourdough Starter - 150 grams
- Salt - 12 grams
Instructions
- Feeding the starter: The night before you want to make your dough, take about 25 grams of starter out of the fridge and feed it 75 grams of water and 75 grams of bread flour. Stir the starter, water, and flour together until no dry bits of flour remain. The following morning, the starter should have doubled in size and it will be ready to use in your dough.
- Mixing: Mix water, active sourdough starter, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Stir until the starter and salt are dissolved in the water.
- Adding the flour: Add all of the flour to the bowl and mix until there aren't any dry bits of flour left. (Squeeze the dough with your hands a little bit if you find it hard to incorporate all of the flour with just a spoon).
- Short rest: Cover up the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes. During this time the flour will hydrate and the dough will be easier to handle.
- Kneading: After the 30 minute rest, it's time to develop gluten in the dough. You can knead the dough by hand for 6-8 minutes, or give 6-8 minutes of slap and folds on the counter. You can even knead the dough on medium speed in a stand mixer for about 6 minutes - the method is up to you! Just keep it simple.
- Bulk Fermentation: After the kneading, cover the dough up inside the mixing bowl and let it rise for 5-8 hours at room temperature, or until it has roughly doubled in size.
- Shaping: After rising, take the fermented dough out of the bowl and pre-shape it gently into a ball. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes uncovered. Then, sprinkle flour on top of the dough and flip the dough over. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle. Fold the right third of the dough over the middle third, then fold the left third over the middle third. Then, starting on the end that's furthest away from you, roll the dough inward toward yourself until you have a tight oval shaped loaf of dough (see video for shaping tutorial).
- Proofing: Flip the dough, upside down, into a flour-dusted banneton basket. Move the dough to the fridge (covered or uncovered) and let it proof in the cold environment overnight - anywhere from 8-24 hours.
- Preheating: 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 500dF with the Challenger Bread Pan inside on the middle rack. The pan needs to preheat along with the oven for at least 30 minutes so it's nice and hot.
- Scoring: Take your dough out of the oven and flip it out onto a small sheet of parchment paper (you can also flip it out directly onto the hot Challenger Bread Pan base, but I like to use parchment). Score the dough with a razor blade in one long slash from the far end of the dough to the near end. This will ideally open up and create an ear on your loaf of bread.
- Baking: Transfer the dough, parchment paper and all, onto the base of the Challenger Bread Pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 500dF with the lid on. Then, remove the lid, and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes with the lid removed until your loaf has the color that you're looking for. 15 minutes should produce a fairly dark brown loaf, and 20 minutes should produce a very dark brown loaf with plenty of caramelization on the crust.
- Cooling: Remove the loaf from the oven and transfer it onto a wire rack to cool for at least an hour. Then, slice into your loaf and enjoy!
Notes
- You can substitute 50 grams of the bread flour for any type of whole grain flour to add extra nutrition and flavor. (Example: 450 grams bread flour + 50 grams whole grain rye flour = 500 grams total flour)
- Some people like to add an ice cube into their Challenger Bread Pan for extra steam right before they put the lid on
Related Questions
Should you score your dough BEFORE or AFTER placing it in the Challenger Bread Pan?
You can score your dough before OR after placing it in the Challenger Bread Pan. If you score the dough before placing it on the pan, it should be on parchment paper or a wooden peel so that you can easily transfer the dough to the pan once you’ve scored it. If you score the dough after placing it on the base of the Challenger, make sure you move quickly, because the dough will already have started cooking on the hot surface.
Should you put ice in the Challenger Bread Pan to add steam?
Some people like to add an ice cube to the hot Challenger Bread Pan along with their dough. This adds an extra boost of steam during the first half of the baking time. However, this is an unnecessary step, since the dough will naturally release its own steam anyway. Bread baked with an ice cube in the Challenger Bread Pan tends to look a bit glossier than bread baked without an ice cube.
Conclusion
While you can bake almost any recipe for sourdough bread in the Challenger Bread Pan, this recipe produces the ultimate LARGE loaf that’s perfect for a vessel as deep and wide as the Challenger Bread Pan.
If you’re wondering what other things you can bake in your Challenger besides bread, check out this post I wrote here!