Easy method for adding a design to your bread crust using a paper towel.
This is less of a recipe and more of a technique for those who are already baking bread. I will not be providing directions on how to bake a proper loaf of sourdough bread. Those who are serious about baking already have their technique down and don't need help from a beginner like me. But, this is an easy step that can be added into nearly any bread recipe that requires shaping and proofing.
All you need is a paper towel with a desirable design, and some extra flower. The directions below seem long, but when applied it only takes about 3 minutes. There is a video at the bottom for the visual learners.
Directions:
Select the right paper towel. The best results typically come from a paper towel with a design that has deeper indentions. If the indentions are shallow, you may have a hard time getting the design to show up.
If you are following you normal bread recipe, this step would be added in right before you shape your dough, and are getting ready to place it in the banneton for it's proof.
Before you shape your dough, get a paper towel and lay it flat on the table. You want the bumpy side to be facing down, and the inverted side to be facing up. If you are using the narrow paper towels, take two and criss-cross them.
Add about a quarter cup of flour onto the paper towels and gently smear the flour around the paper towel until you have a smooth layer covering the entire paper towel. This might take some time to get good at, but the goal is just to get the layer of flour as smooth as possible, and to make sure it fills all of the holes in the design. This is where the technique can get tricky. The results can vary depending on the depth of the indentions in the design, the hydration of your dough, and the duration of the proof.
If your dough has a high hydration, or you are doing a 48 hour cold proof, you may want to make your layer of flour slightly thicker. If you have a low hydration, and are doing a shorter over-night proof you don't need as much flour.
Now you shape your dough and place it (top down) onto the paper towel. Then lift the dough using the paper towel and place it into the banneton. I do it this way because it prevents the flour on the paper towel from moving around when being transferred to the banneton. It is important to note that reducing the amount of flour you have on the surface of your dough before placing on to the paper towel will improve how well the design sticks to the dough.
Now you continue baking your bread as normal. Once your bread is proofed and the design is transferred, you can bake as normal. The design, if applied correctly, will be permanently set into the crust. It shouldn't rub off, even if touched.
Below is a short video for those visual learners. I've also included some extra pictures of bread that I've made and some results form others who used this technique. The really good looking breads where made by bakers who are much better than me :)
