Starter's maiden voyage
Hi All,
It's just under two weeks since I first mixed up some rye and pineapple juice; of course, I was chomping at the bit to see if my starter would actually go anywhere.
I decided on Trevor's 65% hydration loaf: http://www.breadwerx.com/how-to-get-open-crumb-from-stiff-dough-video/ and then proceeded to do all kinds of things wrong:
- for starters (no pun intended), I completely forgot to take the pre-mix out of the fridge before going to bed, which meant
- rather than letting the premix come back to room temperature overnight, I only gave it six hours to warm up
- I agonized a bit over the timing, having had the time to read just enough to make me worry about terms I'd never encountered: refreshment, build, peak… but I finally decided to just go ahead and do it. I'd wondered too whether or not to add a pinch of instant yeast, just in case the starter wasn't quite ready. Opted out, figuring that if I did that, I'd never know if Bonne Maman was indeed ready.
- bulk fermentation didn't go well; I kept feeling like I was degassing with each S&F
- poked myself with the bench scraper and bled on the pre-shape
- and then it got to be so late that I took my poor little loaf, tucked it into its basket and stuck it in the fridge overnight.
So I baked this morning:
Given that I'd mangled the dough, I didn't dare think of scoring (I'm even worse at that than at shaping), so figured the safest thing would just be to let the loaf open naturally (if it would open at all).
So… Bonne Maman seems to be a viable starter; will my loaves rise more as the starter ages? Or is it just down to my dough handling (lack of) skills? Those pale "birthmarks" at either end are where the loaf ran up agains the Dutch Oven.
Am I on the right track? Any suggestions for the dough-handling challenged?
Thanks again to all of you.
That loaf has very decent oven spring! Your starter can definitely leaven a loaf and no need for commercial yeast.
As to your handling skills, you will find that it’s a learning curve that doesn’t seem to end. I have been at this for just over two years and I seem to be always trying something new.
As to suggestions, keep reading, keep practicing and keep baking. Oh and don’t forget to share with us!
Let us know how it tastes!
I cut open the loaf this morning and look what I found:
So the middle bit is a bit compact, but I sort of expected that, considering that I was losing volume as I handled. I'll try to do better next time.
I found the crust, especially at the bottom, a tad hard, but not off-puttingly so. The taste was a major surprise: the crust had notes of caramel, while the chewy crumb tasted fruity and, well, wholesome. Eating it felt -- satisfying!
I'll be curious to see how this loaf keeps.
If I may pick your generous brain for a moment, I do have two questions not related to starter (which I'll post elsewhere, once I've figured out how to formulate):
Thanks again for your support!
Best,
c
That loaf is bragging rights for a first foray into levain territory. No misgivings here.
Since you are a kitchen scholar, just for some perspective, check out Hamelman's Bread from your local library, or interlibrary loan, or borrow from a friend, or email me, and check out his sections on handling, retarding, using starters.
It may make you more comfortable with what you are already doing.
Some suggestions for the future: First, I bought a large size baking stone online when I found one on sale for a ridiculously low price and it even arrived unbroken. I much prefer baking two loaves on this to using a dutch oven, BUT using a dutch oven is fine, great even, nothing wrong with that, except you are limited to one-loaf recipes. Avoid dinky baking stones. Second, buy, double-edged razor blades from a dollar store, carefully run a wooden satay skewer through the center slot (you have to bend the blade slightly in order to do this) and you have a perfect lame for your scoring. Don't score striaght down, but score at a 45 degree angle and do it unhesitatingly.
I would wish you good luck, but you do not seem to need it.
B.B.
I have no idea what leads you to think I'm a "kitchen scholar": all I've done so far is wander from one site/blog/forum to the next, which of course has resulted in a hodge-podge of bits and scraps of information that may have been taken out of context. I shall look for the Hamelman book, although I doubt that it'll be available at my local library in Paris. If I have the time, I'll try the English or American libraries in town. Failing that, I'll try to see if it's not available in electronic format. Thanks for the suggestion, I wouldn't have known where to begin in choosing a book, there are so many…
While your suggestion of the baking stone will be stored away in the back of my cluttered brain, I'm ok with the DO solution for now: I have a 3-quart round and 4-quart oval, which was used for this inaugural loaf. Baking one loaf at a time isn't a problem; it usually takes us three days to get through one 250g baguette! (And when I first started playing with yeasted breads a month or so ago, I was halving recipes and trying to make bread with 250g of flour; I surmised later on that there was no way I was going to develop good tension that way).
I like the idea of a DIY lame; whenever I've tried scoring, I got reasonable results with kitchen shears, believe it or not. I did make one attempt with a cutter, thinking that the fact that I could control the depth of the cut would help. It snagged like crazy, so I gave that up as a bad job. And for this loaf, as I said, I was so afraid it was degassed beyond help, and that the last thing it needed was the creation of more weak points.
And your good-luck wish is most welcome, I shall continue to need it.
See you around the campus.
As you cast yourself off on this voyage accept your inability to resist the maiden's siren call.. it's delightfully obsessive and maddening.. you'll be day dreaming about bread bakes in the strangest places at the strangest times and find your desire to hit the bench undeniable.. but what fun it is! A great bake! Enjoy the journey..
I'm spending more time visiting here than I am working -- lots of fun, but at some point, there'll be hell to pay. Fiddle-dee-dee.