The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My sourdough bus . . .

Skibum's picture
Skibum

My sourdough bus . . .

. . . just rolled in to flavour town!  This is one of the nicest tasting loaves I have ever produced.  I am totally hooked on sourdough now, am using dabrownmans excellent SD methods of work and am achieving the best tasting bread I have ever baked!  THANKS dabrownman, you are DMAN!

My next project is to re-bake all of my favourite recipes dman style in sourdough!

60 grams 100% levain

195 g bread flour

30 g whole wheat

45 g organic rye

210 g water

1 Tbs honey

1 Tbs oil

1 tsp salt

Autolyse WW and rye in equal quantity water for 7 hours, then add bread flour the rest of water and auto another hour.  Mix, develop dough and bake.  I baked this loaf in a dutch oven covered for 20 minutes @ 500F and a further 10 @ 450F convection uncovered, rotating the DO @ 5.  This recipe made a really nice sandwich loaf!

Regards, Brian

 

 

Comments

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Hey Brian.  This is one excellent looking boule.  Love how it looks like it's about to explode.

Enjoy this one, and glad you learned a new way to amp up your bread!

John

Skibum's picture
Skibum

. . . ofor your kind comments!  This is one of my best ever results and I learned it all here.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

then you do have a tasty loaf there, Brian.

Paul

Skibum's picture
Skibum

. . . thanks Paul! The flavours I am getting from the sourdough process continue to surprise me in the best possible way.

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Nice bread there Brian , nice pictures too, and generous praise. You said to me in a recent post you were knocked out that someone would take the time to help out some like you with a problem with their bread, This is the reason!

Kindest regards Derek 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

All the stars seemed to line up on this bake.  Well today's project, not so much -- bulk not coming up.  I will leave it to morning before chucking it and yeah, fed my starter again today.

Thanks for checking in mate.  The weather here has broken, but my vehicle is down.  As soon as it is fixed, I will be heading out and can't wait to conjure up a flour dust flame over the campfire!

Best regards, Brian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

I don't think we have ever baked a loaf of bread that great looking on the outside but,  my apprentice might have!  What a great sandwich bread too!  Has to be tasty or the bread gods have it in for you :-)

I'm glad you like the long autolyse of whole grain flours.  Not my idea at all though.  It makes all the difference in the world when it comes to how well the bread rises.  Taste is what I go for - all the time.  I really don't care, or could care less,  what is looks like if it tastes great but,.... if it tastes and looks great like this one does then blame it on clean living and don't change a thing!

I'm glad i could lend a hand to your bread baking inspiration and success but the truth is what little I know about bread I learned here from other Fresh Loafians right here too. The saga continues....Like you said, now you have to go back and redo all your recipes!

The method is simple and i;m writing it down so i can copy it for my ever growing cook book:-)

Make a stiff  rye and WW starter (66% hydration) and refrigerate it for at least 48 hours 72 is better.  Use a small amount of it; 10-15 g. to make a levain that is 3 builds of 3-4 hours each (depending on time of year) and equals 10-20% of the total flour and water weight of the dough that finishes at the hydration of the final dough.  After the 3rd feeding of the levain,let it rise 25%  and then refrigerate it for 24 hours too.  Do a long autolyse for wholegrain flours of at least 4 hours minimum and 8 hours if possible and in the fridge during the summer.  Autolyse all the other white flours at least an hour.  Do slap and folds to develop the gluten quickly, 10- 20 minutes depending on the flour mix bit as little as required and then do (3) sets of S&F 's on 15-20 minute intervals where each set is 4 stretches and folds from the cardinal compass points where you incorporate any add ins on the first set.  Either shape and retard or bulk retard for 12- 32 hours.  Let the dough proof to 85-90% and bake in a hot DO and hot oven or bake on a stone with mega steam using 2 of Syklvias;s steaming pans and a David Snyder 12"CI skillet full of lava rocks both half full of water - but the mini oven with Sylvia's steaming cups is tough to beat for crust on bread.

With a good mix of whole multi-grains, this method makes a fine tasting, sour and sometimes great looking SD bread. That's all I have learned about SD bread but the journey was so much fun and the sense of accomplishment is great.  Generosity is the greatest of all the many character attributes required for success and the most difficult to have and hold dear.  If you teach what you know and know what you teach then that is the minimum standard for generosity in my book.

Thanks Ski.  You made my day with your high praise.

Happy baking Ski, the dabrownman way - now I wish i would have invented it :-)

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Dabrowny, the way I look at it is, it doesn't matter who created or invented any of the processes in baking bread, or cooking for that matter.  Thanks need to be given to those who share and teach those methods onward.

Believe me, as a relative new comer to this site, I would shake your hand in gratitude, or any other member on this site that has helped me out in learning, before I would shake JH's or Chad's.

John

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

and Chad too has done more for teaching folks about bread than I ever will.  One is a great certified Master Baker and the other is just a great baker period.  Both have changes bread baking forever.  Can't wait ti see how Chad's whole grains book comes out since that is closer to my favorite breads to bake. I have to say that, as far as I know, neither is saddled with an ankle biting apprentice as wacky as mine though so, you would expect them to get a leg up on me even though I am the one with a leg up in reality :-)  Thanks for the kind words John.

Skibum's picture
Skibum

. . . inspired me with your beautiful loaves and with your no nonsense description of the methods of work required to achieve SD process.  Frankly I found your description of the methods of work far clearer than any of my favourite cookbook authors and NO I am not kidding!  I too love this site and have grown enormously as a baker since discovernig TFL!

Happy baking, Brian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Last Thanksgiving I was showing my cookbook to a relative of my wife who is a fine cook, has a way with the English language she said that she thought the recipes were straight froward, easy to understand and that she thought the way they were presented was very clear and good to follow.  I told her it has be because I started my career as an architectural technical writer where I had to write the prose for the standard drawings used by regular construction workers to build buildings.   Her husband then chimed in that Betsy used to be a really good technical writer too - unlike me!

I want folks to be able to read my posts, look at the pictures and be able to make what ever bread it is without too much difficulty.  i'm glad to see that my goals are really within reach and I'm glad to help anyone make better bread.  Mu goal is to be the best baker I can be and I figure everyone else feels the same way - except for my apprentice of course..  Without the folks on TFL I would not be anywhere toward or near being a better baker -  I proved that for 40 years no problem - never got any better but now improvement happens with every bake - always learning something new here.  Thanks for your kind words - I'm encouraged

Happy baking Ski

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

That is one beautiful loaf of bread. I too bake all of my breads in DOs. It solves the steam thing perfectly. I preheat mine at 500 and then place loaves in the hot pots and place in oven , reduce to 460 and bake covered 20 min. then remove loaf from pot and place directly on rack and complete bake for 10 min . You might try it and see how you like the crust. Either way you have really got it down !  c

Skibum's picture
Skibum

. . . time in about 2 years I have baked bread in the DO.  I originally bought my DO aftr reading about 'No Knead' bread and before I found this site.  The enamel coated cast iron DO has become a favourite cooking tool of mine and had forgotten about using it for bread.  Based on the results of this bake, I will be baking up another boule in th DO tomorrow!

Regards, Brian

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

to more pics !!  Caroline