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MikeC

I've been away for a short while developing starters using the technique posted by Debra Wink.  I now have two starters that are 7 days old today, one all rye and one that I started with rye until it became active that I now refresh with white KA AP flour.  Both are refreshed at 2:1:1 (starter:water:flour)

In an attempt to reduce waste, and also because I'm anxious, I took yesterday's "discard" and mixed it 60g:60g:60g.  I placed it in a mason jar and waited for it to double, which took two hours.  I searched here for a "simple" recipe and happened upon the 1-2-3 recipe.  So, to my 180g starter I added 360g water, then 540g flour (10%Rye, 90%KA Bread) I stirred this together and let rest for 30 minutes, at which point it was STICKY.  I did the slap and fold about five times and felt resistance from the dough, which seemed to want to tear, so I put it in an oiled bowl to rest.

I came back an hour later to no rise at all.  The dough was still REALLY sticky, so I folded in the bowl and walked away. Two hours later, REALLY sticky, folded again.  All this time there seemed to be no rise at all.  After about six hours, the dough seemed to be about 150% its original volume, though I'm not sure how you can reliably tell.  I shaped a boule, which I placed into a canvas lined colander to rest before putting into the fridge for the night.

In the morning, I took the dough out and placed it on parchment on the back of a baking sheet.  After two hours it felt dense to me, and was still noticeably cold.  When pressed gently with a finger, the indentation was slow to return, giving me concern that I would overproof.  I turned the oven to 490F and preheated for a full hour.  I slashed just prior to baking, but I don't think it was deep enough.  I placed the loaf into the oven, reduced the temp to 450F, added water to the oven, and put a foil baking tray over the loaf for the first ten minutes.  I then removed the baking tray and the steam pan to finish the bake.

I got very little oven spring, which I am guessing is a combination of under/over-proofing and scoring?  Does it mean I over-proofed, didn't score deeply enough?  How, if at all, does the amount of time spent bulk fermenting affect rise, and can that period also be too long or too short?

I liked the color of the top of the loaf, but the bottom was very pale in comparison, even with a full hour of pre-heat time.  I have noticed this on my last three bakes.  I'm guessing I need to pre-heat the stone even longer??  Hmmm, maybe this affected my oven spring as well?

The crust is soft, so I'm not sure if the foil tray over the baking loaf gave me the crispness I desire.  Maybe a longer time next time?  I left the loaf in the oven after it was done for an extra ten minutes with the door propped open.

All in all, I'm pleased with the effort.  It seems my starter is capable of rising dough, though I have a great deal to learn in pretty much all respects.  Looking forward to comments and suggestions.  As always, thanks.

First Sourdough Loaf 

Unappealing bottom!

Crumb.

 

MikeC's picture
MikeC

I am still extremely new to this forum, as well as to bread baking in general.  I am enjoying reading all of your posts, and appreciate greatly the opportunity to learn from your successes and/or tribulations.  I am sticking with straight doughs for now, and working them only by hand, in the hope that I will develop my feel for the dough. 

For these loaves, I used the following recipe:

400g KA Bread Flour

200g Semolina Flour

12g SAF instant yeast

1T Diastatic Malt Powder

2t Salt, dissolved in

420g water at 125 degrees

I mixed the dry ingredients together, then added the water/salt.  I let this rest for 20 minutes.

I turned the dough out onto a lightly floured bench and kneaded conventionally for approximately 10 minutes, did a windowpane test to determine dough development, then returned the dough to a lightly oiled bowl to rest until almost triple (which took only about 1 hour)

At that point I folded the dough and returned it to the bowl to rest for an additional hour, at which point it slightly more than doubled.

I divided the dough in half, and shaped two batards, covered them with a damp towel and a plastic bag, then let them proof. I preheated my oven to 525.  When the loaves were proofed, I scored them, then I added a cup of water to a preheated sheet pan sitting on the bottom rack of my oven.  I placed the loaves, on parchment, on the preheated baking stone on the middle shelf, turned the heat down to 470F and misted every thirty seconds for three minutes.  At ten minutes I removed the sheetpan from the oven. 

Semolina loaves

Here's the crumb, apparently I manhandled the dough...

I probably should have left these in the oven a little longer.  The crumb is not as open as I would have liked, but the texture is wonderfully soft and moist.  The flavor is everything I expect in an italian bread, and I think the ratio of semolina flour is ideal.

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