Indulging my inner nerd...

I mentioned two days ago that I'd started a new sourdough mix. I worked on it a little yesterday and this morning baked three loaves. The basic mix was 70% wheat and 30% rye flour. Half the mix had cranberries added (the two smaller loaves) and the other half was baked as it was. Although the process took three days most of that time it just sat in the kitchen, or out in the much cooler hall, developing gluten and flavour.
I was playing around with some new knowledge and techniques gleaned from YouTube films. The dark loaf was baked inside a pyrex bowl with a lid. The darkness comes partly from it being slightly singed, but mostly from the bran which helped to avoid it sticking. The toasted bran has a delicious taste, which was a surprise to me.
The lighter loaves were baked in a ceramic pot with a lid (previously mainly used for chicken stew.)
The dough was very wet (hydration 85%+), absolutely on my limit of what I can handle. I thought at one stage it was going to be disaster but it did work and these loaves are definitely amongst the tastiest I have produced. Both the crumb and the crust are good, but could be better.
I also wrote two days ago that sourdough was "Definitely indulging my inner nerd...". I think today's blip rather proves that.