SaraBClever's blog

The good news on this bread is I know my sourdough culture is strong enough, after several failed attempts this week.  However, I have to wonder (despite the great ear) if it was proofed enough.  I did the basic Tartine bread and let it rise overnight in the fridge (about 10 hours).  I'm surprised it was so much smaller than my Forkish breads, but then with many of those I've been adding instant yeast as insurance (using his hybrid dough recipe) so that could be some of the difference.  But I'm sure there's other things.  Bulk ferment not long enough?  Final proof?  Unlike the rest of this week, at least I know I didn't overproof!   And whatever it is, I got a great ear.

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I made several breads this week.  Not a ton of success aesthetically so nothing to brag about but trying to write this down so I hopefully learn something.

1.  Starter concerns.  I've been feeding my starter twice daily and giving it a jump start with warmer water (90F or so).  The ambient temperature is always around 72 which supposedly is a great temperature for yeasts.  In any event, my starter will rise, but won't double until about 8 hours, and never much more than that.  I keep reading it's supposed to double in 4-6 hours, and plus I see pictures where it's tripled.  My starter used to do that (it's about 6 weeks old) but not now.  It otherwise looks and smells right, from what I can tell.

2.  I have been trying to make some pure sourdough breads.  They keep collapsing in the oven, but I think that (despite my sourdough concerns above) they are overproofed, based on how they look, and well, the fact that they are sour!  I have generally been using FWSY and I know many people here think his rising times are too long.  I even proofed the second time only 2 hours and it still collapsed!

3.  I made a loaf with all purpose and it was so delicate to work with, it was interesting to see how different it felt.  This is one of the ones that collapsed in the oven too.  I don't know if it was overproofed, overhydrated (since it was all purpsoe?) or some combination of the above.  I can just say that after the bulk fermentation it was very bubbly!

4.  I went back to the FWSY hybrid dough (1/2t yeast) and had great results!  This one proofs overnight in the fridge rather than at room temperature so still unclear if it's a yeast problem (my starter not being vigorous enough) or an overproofing problem.  I'm going to make a pure sourdough this weekend and proof the shaped loaves in the fridge and see what happens.

Here are the pics.

Overproofed with bread flour --3.5 hour poof at 72F

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Overproofed(?) with AP flour (and maybe overhydrated)--2 hour proof at 72F.  I claim I was trying to make ciabatta the whole time!  I worry about my starter being vigorous enough but look at these bubbles!

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Nice happy overnight proof in fridge (but hybrid--is it my sourdough starter that is not robust enough or something else?)

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Today I tried Maurizio's take on the Tartine recipe today, using bolted Warthog Flour as the whole wheat and Barton Springs 00 for the remainder.  I let it proof at room temperature and then baked.  I definitely got a denser loaf than I was expecting, with the larger air pockets accumulating near the top.  I was a bit disappointed with the flatter loaf, and am not sure if it's due to the mix of flours or my shaping--I'm always a bit concerned that I don't get the ball formed tight enough on these types of breads though it certainly looks good (to me) when I shape it.    I got great oven spring on my last loaf, and perhaps it was letting it proof in the fridge that has something to do with it? 

I wonder if my leaven is still not strong enough.  I may have to switch to feeding a small amount daily rather than putting in the fridge.  I gave it a feeding before then creating the leaven, but perhaps that's not enough to revive it (even though it was only in the fridge 24 hours).  It may be a bit less vigorous vs. last week when it bubbled over!  (Later note...I think that was it--it's looking a lot more active today--still (re-) learning).

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In any case, it's still a good loaf.

Getting back into sourdough after a long hiatus and a few false starts.  I built my starter and it took almost two weeks, but now it seems strong and vigorous.  Going to try to keep track here of how things turn out.

I made several rounds of the Ken Forkish basic country blonde, but today I tried Maurizio Leo's beginner recipe.  I was really happy with the result--I had a large open crumb and a beautiful oven spring.  As I try to learn the difference between the different types of starter I'll note here that Leo's is a 100% hydration levain, vs. Forkish which I believe is 75%.  I am sure it's in my books but I wonder if the difference is attributable to the levain hydration.  the other difference was I retarded overnight in the fridge, vs. the Forkish method where I bulk ferment overnight.  This bread recipe reminds me a lot of the Tartine recipe, so I should compare it with that.  I also autolyzed for about 1 1/2-2 hours (by accident...)

It seems a lot less sour than the Forkish recipes as well.  I don't know if those have overproofed a bit, or if they are supposed to turn out so differently.  I tried a 3-day old Forkish bread today to compare with this loaf and it was suprising how much more sour it is (though i don't know if sourdough gets more sour with age).

I used Barton Springs Mills Flour--Abruzzi Rye, Ruby Lee, and their all-purpose 00 as "white" bread flour.

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I keep my own blog with my sisters at www.threecleversisters.com, but as I have a question about this bread I figured I'd repost it here too!  I'm not sure if that's how TFL community works/if others do this as well?  Do people keep parallel blogs around here?  I think my bread stuff is a little technical sometimes for the rest of my blog, though here probably pretty basic stuff ;-)  All in the name of better bread, right? 

Anyway here is the post (link is http://threecleversisters.com/2010/09/12/dark-pumpernickel-bread-with-raisins/)

This bread, Dark Pumpernickel Bread with Raisins, from Dan Leader's Bread Alone, was a lot of fun to make.  However, it takes a LONG time-two ferments rather than one (that's three rises) and 1 1/2 hours in the oven. 

I halved the recipe (and Lord knows how I would have kneaded all that dough if I hadn't) and as the rye starter I maintain (from Dan Leader's Local Breads) seems to be different from the Bread Alone book in composition (and since my starter is drastically smaller in amount than required for this recipe), I built the necessary proportions using the rye sourdough elaboration from the Local Breads recipe for Whole Rye Berry Loaf.  (I added about 5oz of water rather than the 4 oz called for in the pre-ferment as the Bread Alone sourdough seemed wetter).   I meant to only add 9oz of the final starter but ended up adding the full amount which was nearer to 11 oz.  This turned out not to be a problem, as far as I could tell. 

The recipe gives a wide range of flours, I stayed within the lower end of this range.  This seemed to work out well.  The only problem was that I think my oven got too hot over the long baking period, so as is obvious, the crust was burnt.  The inside is just fine, and I was thrilled by the dramatic oven spring.  Plus it's the first pumpernickel I've made that was truly dark (which is what I think of for pumpernickel).  It was quite sweet from the molasses and raisins, and deliciously moist:  I was happy to eat it plain.  I put half in the freezer as this is one massive loaf (and I only made a half batch!  Unbelievable.  I'll have to keep this in mind when making more out of Bread Alone-Leader is clearly baking for a crowd!)

Final question:  if anyone uses both of these books, do you know if the starters are interchangeable, as they seem to be different formulas to me?  If you use a local bread starter, how do you convert to the Bread Alone starter (not only in the hydration proportions but in the quantities required!?)