sourdough catch-up

In the last week or two made 2 more loaves, both using the Pain au Levain sourdough recipe from my King Arthur Flour baking book.

Loaf #1: I didn't have whole wheat flour yet, so I substituted the same amount of rye flour. I only folder it twice, and let rise between foldings. Slightly smaller quantity (only had 1lb white flour, not 1lb15oz)

Pros & cons of #1:

• Good crust: not as shiny or blistery as last loaf, but still nice. Didn't really stretch it enough.
  
• Nice texture: chewy, moist, tender crumb; bigger holes, more like I expect out of grandmas' bread, but not big uneven holes.
• Great flavor: the rye worked really well; a bit of sour tang without tasting like sourdough
  
• Long shelf life. Was good uncovered in the kitchen all week, didn't dry out.
  

Loaf #2: finished last night. I followed the recipe exactly this time: white flour, whole wheat flour, sourdough starter, water. Measured by weight, using exact quantities provided in recipe. Was very very wet, too wet in fact. Had to add a bunch of flour to make it manageable. This one spent a bunch of time in the fridge. I let it rise covered in the garage, which is super warm due to a recent heat spell. I folded 1st time, rise, then 2nd folding I actually folded it twice, then let rise 20 min before baking. Forgot to add salt, so added it after 1st rise and re-kneaded for 5 minutes in mixer. Forgot to slash, so it got big and broke at the top in places.

Pros and cons of #2:

• Decent crust: didn't brown as well, wasn't as smooth and blistery, but had the same nice crackle of loaf 1.
  
• Flavor: more sour, but not as flavorful, probably because of lack of rye. I missed the tang.
  
• Great uneven holes. Whatever rise and folding was done worked well for a nice texture.

For next time:

• More folding.
  
• Use rye flour
• Don't forget salt
• Don't forget to slash!
  

sourdough IV

One thing I realized after reading sourdough instructions is that you have to:

1. discard half before feeding
2. add 1:1 flour/water (usually between 1/2 and 1 cup each) every 8 hours or so
   
3. repeat for 5 days or so

Then "Seymour" starter will be at full strength, and really be beer-smelling and active! As sourdough goes thru its lifecycle, the starter will almost double in volume on its own. Last feeding should be about 8 hours before you make the bread below. So here we go again!

TRICK: let bread rise in warm oven. Preheat the oven for 1 minute at 350 degrees, then shut off. It will get to a nice 85-90 degree temp that is perfect for dough to rise.

16oz (1lb) bread flour
10.5oz starter (nice, bubbly and stringy, like wet dough)
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup WARM water (no more than 100 degrees, though; microwave 1 cup for 15-20 sec on HIGH)

1. Combine all in mixer bowl with dough hook. Knead for 5 minutes on low. Dough should come together and be pretty soft, if a little sticky.
   
2. Turn in oiled bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and leave in warm place to rise for 2-4 hours, until doubled.
   
3. Fold into 3rds, like a letter, then again into 3rds the other way. Put fold sides down back in bowl, and let rise 1 more hour.
   
4. Shape into boule, and let rest on pizza peel dusted with cornmeal for 2 hours
5. At 1hr40min into last rise, preheat oven to 450F
6. Dust with flour, slash loaf with serrated knife (scallops worked nicely!)
   
7. When putting in oven, pour 1/2 cup hot water broiler pan on top rack
   
8. Bake at 450 for 25 minutes on pizza stone (it was on bottom rack).
9. Remove from oven, check temp at bottom of bread with instant read thermometer. Should read 200 degrees to be done.
   
10. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.
    

Pros:

• Absolutely beautiful! Rose and doubled perfectly, scallops looked gorgeous
  
• Airy "crackle" of bread when removed
• Excellent top crust: 1st time the crust blistered! Thin, brown, and crisp
• Good spongy texture; even more open/fluffy than last time, soft and chewy
  
• Slightly more pronounced sourdough tang, almost like a french bread
  

Cons:

• Texture still too fine for my tastes; would like to get more big bubble, uneven texture
  

For next time:

• Reduce amount of water for steam slightly...I may have used 1 cup during this recipe. Keep it at 1/2 cup maximum.
  
• Try one of these two:
• increasing water to 3/4 cup; it will be a wetter dough, which is useful for more uneven, big hole crumb
  
• folding during 1st rise; every hour, do a tri-fold, letter style.
  

sourdough again

Here we go again, sourdough is currently on its 1st rise:

1 lb. bread flour
5oz starter (nice, bubbly and stringy, like wet dough)
0.25oz kosher salt (about 3/4 tbsp.)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp salt

1. Combine all in mixer bowl with dough hook. Knead for 2 minutes on low.
2. Turn in oiled bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and leave in warm place to rise for 4 hours.
3. Refrigerate overnight.
   
4. Shape into boule, and let rest on pizza peel dusted with cornmeal for 1 hour
5. 20 minutes into 2nd rise, preheat oven to 450F
6. Dust with flour, slash loaf with serrated knife
7. When putting in oven, pour 1/2 cup hot water broiler pan on top rack
   
8. Bake at 450 for 25-30 minutes on pizza stone (it was on bottom rack)
   
9. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.
   

Pros:

• Excellent top crust: thin, brown, and crisp
• Good spongy texture; more open/fluffy than last time, soft and chewy
  
• Extremely light sourdough tang, almost like white bread
  
• Airy "crackle" of bread when removed
• Would probably work pretty well with grandma's bread
  

Cons:

• Top crust didn't look tightly stretched, a little "gappy", but this is fairly minor
  
• Bottom crust burned a little
• Still not enough airy texture; looking for bigger, uneven bubbles
• Could be a little more tangy; probably using more starter would do
  

For next time:

• Slightly higher on rack (1 from bottom, instead of bottom rack) on pizza stone
• 25 minutes cooking time
• Use more starter (10.5oz, based on King Arthur Pain Levain recipe, which is 3:2 flour-to-starter ratio)
  
• Use more salt: 1 tbsp