The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough Group Bake

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough Group Bake

Hi all,

I'll be making Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough again this weekend.  Is anyone interested in joining me and comparing notes?

You can find the recipe here: http://ostwestwind.twoday.net/stories/3707371/

I made this loaf for the first time last weekend and I finally feel like my bread starting to turn out pretty good.  I'll be concentrating on this bread for awhile, in an attempt to improve my skills.

I think the things that helped me out the most the first time I made this bread was I had refreshed the starter twice in the 24 hours before making the bread, instead of once in 12 hours.  I also followed Hamelman's instructions very closely and used a scale.

This time around, I'll be making the full home sized batch and one of the loafs will be a batard.  I've pretty much stuck will boules, but I'd like to improve my shaping skills. 

Please join me in making this delicious bread.  I really learn alot from reading other people's experience with the same recipe.

 Tonya

Janedo's picture
Janedo

Sure. I think I'll be able to. I have been in his book for a couple of weeks now.

Mine will be "Corneilla Sourdough". Ha ha, since he says that he can't call it San Fran because it's in Vermont. What's yours?

Jane 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Thanks for joining Janedo.  Mine will be Michigan Sourdough.

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I think I'll do a California Sourdough but not a San Francisco Sourdough.

bakerwendy's picture
bakerwendy

I am going to try an Oklahoma sourdough. My starter is young, this will be only the third time I have used it. So wish me luck.

Wendy 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Hi Tonya and our other bakers - I've done the two folds noted in the book; now have about an hour left in the bulk fermentation. It's a very lovely dough to work with.

I had pulled out my sourdough starter from the fridge Wednesday night; refreshed it then and again last night. I don't really measure when refreshing it and didn't know then that I was going to do this bake, so after I measured out the 10.8 ounces tonight, I had maybe a tablespoon left in the jar. That's been refreshed and the yeastie beasties are gorging themselves.

Took one photo, but won't post it - it's just dough in a bowl. Also tasted it, as Hamelman suggests. A light tang. My dough temp was off by one degree: It's 77F; the formula calls for 76F.

Am guessing I'll divide and shape the dough around 11:30 p.m. Michigan time. Even though it's a weekend, I don't want to be baking at 3 a.m. (I always have timing issues!), so the shaped loaves will go into the fridge for the final fermentation. But there's no way I can keep them at 42F. Maybe 40F on the bottom shelf.

I hope I can remember their size when they go in, so I can judge when they are ready to be baked tomorrow. Maybe I'll prop a ruler next to them tonight, take a photo, and see if that helps.

I've not baked this bread before; hope I don't screw things up.


 

 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

LeadDog, Wendy & LindyD, 

Thanks for joining.  It sounds like you're off to a good start LindyD.  I'll be interested to hear how the overnight retard affects the bread.  From other threads I learned that the crust gets a nice blistery look and experienced that myself this week with JMonkey's No Knead Sourdough.

Tonya 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Michigan Sourdough

I refreshed my starter yesterday morning around 4:30 am. I took a spoonful of starter from my refrigerator and added 68g of KA Organic AP and 85g of water. When I got home from work yesterday evening I added another 136g of flour and 170g of water. That's more than the recipe calls for, but I wanted some left over.

Starter

This morning I took 306g of starter and added the water, white flour and rye flour and let it rest for about an hour. My dough tempurature was 77 degrees. Thanks for reminding me to check, LindyD.

Half the flour

All the flour

Before Autolyse

I just added the salt and mixed for about three minutes. This is much wetter than my dough last week. It is more humid in my house as we don't have the air conditioning running. I figure I'll go with it as is. Maybe I'll get great big holes!

I went to take a picture of the gluten development after mixing and dropped my camera on the tiled floor of my kitchen. Ouch. The lens will no longer retract and is stuck half way out. Hopefully my husband can fix it. He probably won't be up for another three hours though.

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

I made this bread again this weekend and it turned out even better than last as far as looks go. It was a little less tangy and flavorful though.

I baked the boule under a stainless steel mixing bowl for 15 minutes and I think it really improved the crust. The batard started out on the bottom rack and got a little overdone on the bottom. I got great oven spring on both loaves

Boule and Batard

Batard

batard crumb

colinwhipple's picture
colinwhipple

I am doing the retardation differently than I have in the past.  I started the levain last night and mixed the dough this morning.  Then I put it straight in a plastic container into the refrigerator.  Tomorrow morning I will take it out of the refrogerator, let it warm up for an hour or so, and do a couple of stretch-and-folds as it rises.

 Then I will shape the dough and do the second rise, and bake.

Colin

colinwhipple's picture
colinwhipple

Montebello SourdoughMontebello Sourdough

Retarding before primary fermentation seemed to work well.  It took a couple hours this morning for the dough to warm up, I did 2 stretch-and-folds about an hour apart, shaped the loaves, and finished baking around 1 PM.

Colin

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Those are very pretty loaves!  It's nice to read about the different times people retard fermentation.  From the Hamelman book, I thought maybe the only good option was to do it after primary fermentation and shaping.

 Tonya

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

Mine is out doing the bulk ferment right now.  I forgot how this recipe was designed and put all of my starter into the dough.  When it doubles I'll retard it over night and bake it tomorrow.

bakerwendy's picture
bakerwendy

I am making the liquid levian build here in a few minutes and since the fermentation is supposed to 12-16hrs at 70 degrees I am not sure what to do. The temp in my house is about 82 on average without the oven on. Should I just stick it in the frig overnight? Also any suggest for the final fermentation too? 

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I have the same problem here.  What I do when the starter is going good is just stick it into the fridge.  Then when I want to use it I pull it out and let it warm up a little bit.

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

I'm impressed you even want to turn your oven on.

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I cook all of my bread outside in my charcoal cooker.

Charcoal Cooker

 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

That is one high tech looking charcoal cooker.  Do you have any trouble with bread getting too done on the bottom and not done enough on the top?  From the pictures below, I'd say no, but I'm wondering if you do any type of barrier for the heat.

Tonya 

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I place the bread on a pizza stone.  I also normally take the bread off of the pizza stone after 20 minutes and place it on top of an inverted round pan.  The cooker is also a big heat sink so it radiates heat from the top if you bring it up to temperature first.  Here is a picture of some bread inside the cooker.  It might be a bit hard to figure out what is going on but you can see the pizza stone and the grill under it.

Pizza Stone

 

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

Well I don't know whether it's my oven or the recipe but when I read:

"BAKING: With normal steam, 240 °C/460 °F for 40 to 45 minutes."

I can be pretty sure that I will be getting charcoal at the end of it.

The only saving grace would be that my oven takes an inordinate amount of time to recover to full temperature from the introduction of steam so there was a while where the temperature was around 200C.

Needless to say, I had to pull the loaf at 25 minutes as it was already beyond brown. Everything else I followed to the letter except that I had to scale all the amounts by half (I don't have the capacity to bake all the dough the recipe states nor sadly do I have bannetons or a proper couche so shaping was pretty rough).

The bread tasted OK but the texture and crust were not great compared to other light rye breads I've had.  Of course this may have a lot to do with the problems with baking temperatures. I'd have to consider some modifications to this recipe before trying again.

Wish I could report a more successful result. Anyway, I tried.

Cheers,

FP 

 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Sorry to hear your's didn't turn out as well as hoped.  What modifications would you consider? 

I didn't bake that long either.  I think the first time I made this bread I only baked it 20 minutes. This time around it was 30, but I did 2 loaves and swapped 'em mid bake.

Tonya 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

First thing I should note is that I used my sourdough culture for the liquid levain because I wanted to mix the dough Friday night for a Saturday morning bake (it’s a lovely weekend here). After I scaled and placed it in the mixing bowl, I added the 14.8 oz. water to the container that held the culture and swished it around to gather up more of the wild yeast.

I did the initial mix in my KA and did the full one-hour autolyse. Used the KA to for most of the mix after adding the salt, then removed the dough from the bowl and did a couple of folds on my counter. I used just a bit of oil on the counter instead of flour, to keep from incorporating more flour into the dough.

Did the two folds at 50-minute intervals and the full 2.5 hour bulk fermentation before dividing and shaping the dough.

Covered and placed it in the fridge around 11:40 p.m.

Removed the loaves this morning at 8:30 a.m. Preheated the oven to 460F and slashed just before placing in the oven at 9:15 a.m. Much better than my disaster last weekend when I overproofed and the loaves collapsed.



I set the timer for 45 minutes, but pulled it out of the oven after 40 minutes. The crust crackled nicely as it cooled and was the nice dark color I prefer.



I give myself an “F” for the crumb. I would have preferred a more open crumb.



I tasted the bread about four hours after it had cooled. It was nice, but not tangy enough for my taste. It did start to develop more of a tang later in the evening, when I had it with dinner. On the other hand, I gave a loaf to neighbors and received a call this evening raving about the bread. Or at least what’s left, as their teenage granddaughter ate half the loaf. They rated this sourdough better than the pain a l’ancienne I bake for them occasionally, so that was nice to hear.

I decided to make another two loaves tomorrow - following the formula’s liquid levain. My sourdough starter was much firmer than the levain, so perhaps that played a part in the denser crumb: it could have used more hydration.

Another thing I realized (after the fact) is that Hamelman’s mixing instructions are for a spiral mixer. If you look at page 11 of his book, you’ll see there’s quite a time difference between a spiral mixer and a stand mixer. I didn’t remember that when I was doing the mix, nor did I do a windowpane text before the bulk fermentation. Probably didn’t matter all that much as I think I screwed up by underhydrating the dough because of the stiffer culture.

It is a lovely bread but I'm going to keep at it until it's what I think is a great bread - and for me that means a more open crust and more tang. Onward and upward!

This has been fun - and the first formula I've baked from Hamelman. I'd like to try the sourdough seed bread (page 176) in the next couple of weeks.

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I've made "Great Central Valley of California Sourdough" from Hamelman's formula a few times. My crumb was only slightly more open than yours. I think that's they way it's meant to be.

If you like that bread but want a really open crumb, try the "Miche, pointe-a-calliere" in Hamelman. It's truly wonderful with a very open crumb.

The sourdough seeded bread is also delightful, but the 5-grain levain in "Bread" is truly a taste bomb. It has a less open crumb, in spite of the unbelievably high hydration. But much of the water is in a multi-grain and seed soaker. It is terrific when first cooled, stays moist for a week (due to the high hydration) and makes spectacular toast.

As it happens, I have 3 boules of the 5-grain levain retarding in my refrigerator for baking tomorrow.


David

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Those breads sound delicious.  Thanks for recommending them.  I'll have to read through the 5-grain and get prepared to make it.  It sounds wonderful.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Thanks for your comments, David, and especially for sharing your experience about the crumb. My liquid (this time around) levain developed nicely overnight but I'm in a bit of a quandry about the final fermentation. It's 69F inside my house and I doubt if it will get up to 76F. The National Weather Service claims the high will be 77F today - but that's in town, which has lots of concrete. I hadn't planned on retarding the bread overnight, since I have to work tomorrow. I guess I'll just wing it and stay closer to the kitchen than planned, to keep an eye on the dough.

While I'm not a fan of 100% whole wheat bread, I may try the Miche since sourdough improves the flavor of everything.

Tonya, am so sorry about the camera. That's a bummer. Ditto for the steam issue. Is there any way you could bake both loaves on the same rack? Or add a second water pan on the opposite side of your current pan?

I had the same frustrations when using a round pizza stone so I bit the bullet and bought a 14.5" x 17" stone from Amazon. No more curved baguettes.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Lindy.

The Miche, pointe-a-calliere uses high extraction flour, not whole wheat. There is a big difference. If you don't have a high extraction flour like King Arthur's First Clear Flour, you can approximate it by either sifting some whole wheat flour or by a mix of whole wheat and bread flour.

FWIW, I use First Clear flour usually, but I've also made it with Golden Buffalo.

Re. your ambient temperature: I'm envious! It's over 100F here today, and the kitchen is ..... errrrr .... nice and warm. You can compensate for your cooler temp. by using warmer water in your dough or just fermenting longer.

I sometimes cold retard breads 24 hours, to bake in the evening after work. Especially since you like a tangy bread, you may prefer the longer cold retardation, and the miche and Vermont Sourdough are both more sour tasting 12-24 hours after baking.


David

Janedo's picture
Janedo

I'm with David. The Miche Pointe-à-Callière is definitely worth baking! Not WW, just a nice blend of "not white" flour.

I find it strange that Hamelman isn't for retardation in the fridge, even saying that it isn't a good idea. I personally find that most sourdoughs with rye, semi-whole wheat and high extraction benefit largely from the cold night, in taste AND crumb.

I've got the dough for my Corneilla sourdough rising and it'll be baking in about 30min. The dough is really not much different from my daily bread and I think I'll regret not having let it sit in the fridge. But my fridge is PACKED right now and it just wasn't an option.

More news later on.

Jane 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Very nice indeed.  Thanks for joining and sharing.  It was a gorgeous day yesterday!

I don't know what I'd do if I had a neighbor that shared sourdough.  Faint with delight?

Tonya

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I really like how your bread turned out.  It looks really delicious.

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

My camera is probably headed for the land of broken toys. My husband disassembled it and found the broken bit near the lens and said there wasn't much he could do.

I left off with bulk ferment...

I did some folds at 50 minute intervals and at the 3 hour mark I scraped the dough out and let it rest for 15 minutes. I think I was supposed to do some pre-shapping, but I forgot.

After 15 minutes, I shaped both loaves into batards per Hamelman's instructions. Very good instructions for shaping! I think they turned out pretty good with no overly skinny or thick parts. I put the loaves on parchment paper in sheet pans.

I let the dough rise for about 2 hours and then started preheating the oven to 460. At about 2 hours and 20 minutes I slashed the loaves, one with one slash lengthwise and the other with three diagonal slashes. It was obvious that they were a little too ready. I should have probably started the oven 1/2 an hour earlier.

For some reason, I had put the loaves on sheet pans AND had both pizza stones in the oven preheating. So I picked up the parchment paper on the edges and moved each loaf to the stones. Not the best idea. This kind of destroyed my slashing.

Baked at 460 for 30 minutes. Swapped the stones half way thru. That was probably unnecessary.

I had an old bread loaf pan in the oven for adding water for steam. It was next to the stone on the bottom shelf. I need to find a better solution. The loaf that was right next to the steam pan got the nice shiny crust I like on only half of it. The loaf on top not at all. I don't really have any old shallow baking pans that aren't pyrex. My husband stole them long ago for his meat smoker.

I got OK oven spring, but not as good as last week. The crumb was quite a bit more open though, probably due to being wetter. The bread was also not as tangy as last week. I think I had beginner's luck last week.

Tonya 

weavershouse's picture
weavershouse

I think the crumb looks very good and the nice dark crust is perfect. Great job.                          weavershouse

MaryinHammondsport's picture
MaryinHammondsport

Lindy, if I encounter this situation I sometimes use my "proofing box" even with sourdough. I don't like to, because I know I will reduce the sour by hastening the rise, but when you are between a rock (cool temps.) and a hard place (work tomorrow) it's sometimes necessary.

So what am I talking about? I put a folded towel down on the table, place a heating pad on it, and place another towel on top. I turn the heating pad to the lowest setting. I place the dough on top of that, cover it, and cover the whole thing with an inverted cardboard box. I have a spare analog probe thermometer I have jammed into the box to keep track of the heat -- it hovers about 76 on that setting. Do keep an eye open -- don't leave home with this set up and turned on. However, the box has never even gotten warm, just the air inside of it.

This has worked for me for years. Try it!

I agree, it's a rotten shame about Tonya's camera. I just flinched when I read that.

Mary

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Thanks, Mary, for the proofing box suggestion. I have 27 minutes left of the bulk fermentation - done the two folds - it is gorgeous outdoors; sunny, light breeze, and I really want to go out and play.

The thermometer on my back (screened) porch reads 75F. I just may shape the loaves, stick them on a peel, cover, and put them outdoors to proof. It's 71F in the house and I don't see it getting much warmer - not complaining by any means. Air conditioning here means opening your sliders and windows.

I noted that the liquid levain results in a dough that is a bit stickier than yesterday's. Also, I was concentrating so much on mixing that I forgot to add the salt! Seven minutes into the bulk fermentation I saw it on the counter (duh). Dumped the dough out, flattened it into a rectangle, scattered the salt, did a few folds, and popped it back into the bowl.

I am tempted to retard the loaves immediately, pull them out around 9:30 or 10 tonight, and bake. Decisions, decisions...

 

 

 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

I frequently almost forget the salt, especially since I now autolyse almost everything.

Glad to read you're giving it another go.  Did you retard and bake later?

Tonya 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

The heating pad sounds like a great idea.  I don't have one currently, but I'm never one to shy away from buying the "tools" I need for a job.

 At least the camera was a realtively inexpensive one.  Just not something I wanted to have to replace anytime soon.

Tonya 

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

There are three formulas for Vermont Sourdough but I didn't have any bread flour.  I ended up grinding some wheat and rye for my bread.  

90% Red winter wheat

10% Rye

75% Water

1.9 % Salt

I forgot and put in all the liquid-levain build.

Oak Flat SourdoughOak Flat Sourdough 

 I cooked it at 460° for 55 minutes. 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

I love the scoring and color! Great looking loaf.

KosherBaker's picture
KosherBaker

Doh!!!!

I missed it. :) I mised the Bake Off. I keep Sabbaths. So on Saturdays no computer, Internet, TV or anything else for me. I'm happily resting, especially because on Fridays I run arounf like a chicken with my head cut off preparing for Saturdays.

Oh well. I enjoyed reading all of your comments though. And boy the pictures really are worth a thousand words.They really teach a lot.

Tonya so sorry about your camera. Not only did it break, which is quite aweful, but it also deprived us of your pictures.

I finally received my copy of Hammelman's Bread so I guess I'll have to go it alone. Up until now I've used Jane's adaptation of this recipe. And afterwards I tried to modify it experimenting with different hydration percentages and fermentation times. Very interesting stuff. But now I can do one straight by the book.

Rudy

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

You didn't miss it.  Plenty of people were still baking on Sunday.  Thanks for the condolences for my camera. 


There are at least three versions of the Vermont Sourdough in Hamelman’s book.  I think I’ll begin trying the variations soon. Good luck and  I look forward to  reading  about your adventures with this recipe.

Tonya 

 

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

OK I had another go at this today: 

Hamelman's 'Vermont Sourdough'

This time around, I tweaked the recipe a bit (increased the amount of starter and adjusted the bread flour and water in the final dough accordingly). Folded 3 times at 40 minute intervals and a total bulk ferment of 3 hours followed by a further hour in makeshift bannetons (pyrex dishes).  Finally, I baked for a shorter time (10 minutes at 450F and 20 minutes at 375F) Scoring was tricky with the dough as it is quite sticky (it was sticky the first time around also). As you can see I had to use quite a lot of 'dusting' flour.   

FP 

Janedo's picture
Janedo

Hi hi, your like me... do it til you get it right! And that looks darn right to me! And the crumb? Seeing how springy they are, I bet it's perfect. I'm a very big fan of lots of dusting flour. I think it makes prettier bread. Way to go FP.

Jane 

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

Hi there!

(welcome back btw - I saw the blog post about Bouabsa Baguettes - amazing!)

The crumb in the vermont sourdough...or should I say 'somerset' sourdough :) was OK...not amazing but had a fair 'rustic' (read: uneven!) holey look.  I was surprised at how moist it was. Sorry I didn't take pics.

I've seen pictures of the same bread on other websites/blogs and wondered how their more open crumb was achieved and then I noticed that they used malted flour....which got me thinking more generally. 

Apparently it is normal in the US for a small percentage of malt to be added to the flour although not so much here in the UK unless you are buying a specific type of flour (eg granary). This might go some way to explaining the differences I see. Just a thought...

FP 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

That breat looks amazing.  Glad to see you gave it a second go.

Tonya 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

What lovely loaves, FP! And LeadDog, I like the chevrons on your bread. Very cool.

I followed the formula precisely on Sunday - was that only yesterday? Seems like a year ago because after I baked and cleaned up, my water well pump decided it wouldn't work any more. You never really appreciate running water until it stops running!

The liquid levain made it somewhat of a challenge to shape and slash the dough. I did the final fermentation for around 2.5 hours (outdoors). In my panic about the water problem, I forgot to check the bread in the oven and should have pulled it out earlier.

The crumb was better, but the bread lacked any noticeable sourdough flavor. It definitely needs to be retarded.

I'll try again and hopefully find a levain hydration level that will provide both a nice crumb and a firmer dough. And definitely a long spell in the fridge.

But not until my water is restored....which hopefully will be tomorrow. One of the benefits of giving freshly baked bread to your neighbors is that you get to use their shower when needed!

Edited to add a note of thanks to Tonya for starting this group bake.  It's been fun and very informative! 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

So sorry to hear about your well.  I hope it was repaired easily and uneventfully! 

And thanks for playing along.  I've learned so much by reading everyone's comments and methods.

Tonya 

bakerwendy's picture
bakerwendy

The overall results were quite tasty. I had some trouble scoring so I just gave up on my second loaf. Also, I have been having problems with my sourdough loaves getting very brown on the bottom but remaining pale on top. I am baking on a pizza stone and have been steaming. Any suggestions? The crumb was pretty open but it seemed sort of wet (i do not really know how to describe it other than that). 

Thanks Tonya for starting the bake group.

Oklahoma SourdoughOklahoma Sourdough 

 Wendy 

 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Do you have a thermometer?  When I think the bread is underdone, I stab it with a meat thermometer.

Tonya

bakerwendy's picture
bakerwendy

Yes, i checked it and it was 208 F. 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

I know it looks a lot better than my early sourdough loaves!  I'd say it's a success. 

Tonya 

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I let my bread sit for over 24 hours before cutting it.  The flavor has some sour flavor to it.  The crust is crunchy but the crumb is light and wonderful.  I'm really happy how the crumb turned out.  I expect the taste will get a bit more sour over the next few days.  Here are some more pictures.

Bottoms Up!Bottoms Up!

Oak Flat Sourdough CrumbOak Flat Sourdough Crumb 

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

That bread looks great.  I’m in awe of anyone that makes such great looking bread, especially from wheat they grind themselves.

 

Tonya 

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Sorry I'm late to the party, but I only get the chance to bake on weekends.

My attempt at Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough, fresh from the oven, can be seen here:

http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=71

SteveB

tbednarick's picture
tbednarick

Gorgeous bread!  I wouldn't call you a snob, just naming it in such a way as to indicate how special it is :).

 Thanks for sharing.

Tonya 

abracapocus's picture
abracapocus

I gave this one a shot last weekend and compared two different starters that I got from Northwest Sourdough: Australian & Danish Rye.

The whole loaves both came out looking about like this:

vermont sourdough loaves

Rye starter crumb:

vermont sourdough rye starter

Australian starter crumb:

vermont sourdough australian starter

Side by side:

vermont sourdough comparison

Whole write-up here.

 

Laura