The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My imitation of Chad Robertson's Country Sourdough

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

My imitation of Chad Robertson's Country Sourdough

Have you ever seen a photo of very stiff starter wrapped up tightly in cloth then tied up in string (as if making absolutely sure that the little beasties have no way of escaping)?  I never understood the purpose of the tight string until the other day when I was writing about Chad Robertson.   A Day in the Life at the Bay Village Bakery in The Bread Builders says Chad "uses a brief two-hour final stage of leaven expansion before he mixes up his dough" (page 221).  In both of these two cases maximum natural yeast population is achieved without them further fermenting (because there will be plenty of fermentation once final dough is mixed).

Chad Robertson's rustic sourdoughs from Tartine Bakery were my most favourite during my recent stay in San Francisco.  I wanted to see if it was possible to reproduce his style of sourdough at home.  I was told that a bread cookbook is coming out soon (in addition to their existing pastry cookbook), but no date is given.  Alain Ducasse's Harvesting Excellence quotes Elizabeth Prueitt as saying that Chad's breads were hand-made from the very beginning to the very end, and that "it is one person's expression" (page 19).

By the time The Bread Builders wrote about him, Chad Robertson had acquired a mixer from Europe which helped him in meeting the growing demands for his breads.  A brief description of timeline for a typical load of breads that he baked at his (then) one-man bakery at Point Reyes, Califorina (before he and Elizabeth moved to San Francisco and opened Tartine) is as follows (according to The Bread Builders): 

  1. At 8 am, he mixes his final intermediate levain and let it sit in room temperature for two hours (note: I assume the levain is fully mature before the two-hour final expansion);
  2. At 10 am, he mixes the final dough by first putting all the ingredients or all except the levain into the mixer and running it for 2 - 3 minutes at 45 - 50 revolutions a minute;
  3. Autolyse 15 - 30 minutes
  4. Adds the levain if necessary, then mixes it for 4 - 5 minutes
  5. Bulk fermentation 4 hours (counting from 10 am to 2 pm), during which time several stretch and folds in the tub are done;
  6. At 2 pm, divide the dough and pre-shape them, then rest for 15 minutes
  7. Shape the dough and place them on the bannetons or couche dusted with a mixture of bread and rice flours;
  8. Proof in room temperature for 2 hours before going into proofing boxes (at 55F) to retard for 8 - 10 hours (Harvesting Excellence says up to 12 hours); and
  9. The next day, start baking between 4:30 - 5 am.

Based on this timeline, my formula for Chad's sourdough follows:

My formula for Chad's Sourdough

Two nights before bake day - first stage of levain build-up

  • 82 g starter @ 75% hydration
  • 164 g bread flour (i.e. two times starter amount for me)
  • 124 g water

Mix and ferment for 6 - 8 hours at 18C / 65 F (depending on your room temperature, you may need more than 2 times bread flour, or shorter or longer fermentation time for your starter to mature)

The morning before bake day - second (and final) stage of levain expansion

  • 370 g starter @ 75% hydration (all from above)
  • 370 g bread flour (I figure one time starter amount in flour is enough)
  • 277 g water

Mix and ferment for two hours only

Formula for final dough

  • 1,017 g starter (all from above)
  • 1,017 g bread flour (Australian Laucke's Wallaby bakers flour, protein 11.9%)
  • 651 g water
  • 30 g salt

Total dough weight 2.7 kg (divided into three pieces) and total dough hydration 68%

  1. I followed the timeline above but I did everything by hand.  I fully intended to fold as many times as necessary to build up dough strength but as my dough was not very wet the gluten developed very fast and by the end of first set of stretch & folds, the dough already felt silky and smooth.  I did only two sets of stretch & folds in the bowl.
  2. After the dough was divided into three pieces, I pre-shaped them to tight balls, rested them 20 minutes, then shaped them into batards and placed them on bread & rice flours dusted couche.
  3. The shaped loaves proofed for 2 hours in room temperature then went into my refrigerator to retard overnight (for 12 hours).

Bake day

  1. I baked the loaves cold (straight from the refrigerator).  I pre-heated the oven to 250C / 480F.  Once the loaves were loaded, I poured 2/3 cups of boiling hot water onto lava rocks (enormous steam was generated), and turned the oven temperature down to 230C / 450F.  They were baked for 20 minutes, then another 15 minutes at 210C / 410F, and rested for 5 minutes in turnoff-off oven.  (You can bake them for 10 minutes more if you like darker crust.)
  2. There was an impressive oven spring with this bake.

              

                 

                                                 

I am quite pleased with the result, although without rye and whole meal flours, I probably cannot call this country sourdough.  Also, Chad's country sourdough has a very rustic look (quite dark) as if from a wood fired oven. 

As I was drafting this post and looking at the black and white picture of Chad's bread in Harvesting Excellence, my daughter came by, I said to her he is the reason why I bought this book; she asked, is he "hot"?  I never understand teenagers' lingo - why "hot" and "cool" mean the same thing.

                   

                                         

                                           

The crumb is really tender and moist.  It has a very supple texture and open crumb that I did not believe I would have been able to achieve with low hydration dough.  I really don't know what hydration level is Chad Robertson's sourdoughs; I did 68% here because I wanted to have good volume and, possibly, good grigne.  Well, it worked. 

I like the flavor very much, more so than my Sourdough 50/50.

Shiao-Ping

Comments

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

Your breads always have such a lovely-looking crumb :-)

Salome's picture
Salome

Shiao-Ping, you're somewhat like my baking idol here on the fresh loaf. Your breads simply look perfect, post after post. Am I right that you started baking just a couple months ago or did I misunderstand something? I'm dreaming of such a crust. and I'm dreaming of such a crumb.

Salome

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Time is flying, very soon it will be six months.  I still remember that first ever comment that I made at TFL back in mid Arpil.  I always love arts and crafts.  My mother is one of those rare Mums who still sew and my father is one of those rare Dads (Chinese Dads) who still do calligraphy with ink and brush.  When you were in primary school, did you ever do home economics or craft?  I must have been in grade 6 or 7, we knit a scarf and my teacher gave me a A+, not that what I did was perfect although it was quite a daring intricate design with flowers, leaves and stems for a youngster to try; in fact he gave me A+ for the obvious imperfection in my execution as a proof that I did it, not some old aunty who helded out.

wally's picture
wally

Shiao-Ping-

Gorgeous loaves as usual! I'm envious of the crackling effect you always seem to get with your breads.

Ok, though, I still don't get why he ties the starter up tightly with a string.  Inquiring minds want to know!

Larry

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

 

I don't mean Chad Robertson ties his starter up tightly with a string.  I meant that I see a connection between his 2 hour final "levain expansion" method and the stiff starters that are tied up with a string - both want wild yeast reproduction/multiplication but not fermentation.   You know when we ferment our starter, we mix the flour and water and we use a container roughly three times the size of the starter we mix.  The wild yeast first go through aerobic stage where they multiply, and when all the oxygen is used up, the wild yeast will then go into an anaerobic stage where their main function is fermentation, which is also the stage when they produce a lot of gas.  When the stiff starter is tied up with a string, I imagine the wild yeasts can multiply but cannot gas up.  For Chad Robertson, the way he limits fermentation is by shortening the time so the wild yeasts barely complete their aerobic stage.  I notice after 2 hours, the size is not yet doubled. His purpose is to reduce the sourness.  He said that in France there is a lot energy spent on producing a dough that doesn't keep too much sourness.  

I was trying to look for a picture of a stiff starter tied up with a string for you. It is in several of my Japanese and Taiwanese bread books; the Japanese learned it from the French, and the Taiwanese in turn learn it from the Japanese.

wally's picture
wally

Now I see....thanks!  All I could think of were accounts of how the 'sourdough' prospectors used to roll their starters up in a sack of flour they carried with them, but that was strictly for convenience sake.

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

There is a critical error in the logic, and that is assuming that fermentation generates more gas, or that the aerobic phase doesn't. In fact, yeast produce as much or more CO2 in aerobic conditions because all six carbons in a sugar molecule are turned to CO2 during aerobic respiration, vs only two during anaerobic fermentation (the rest are turned into ethanol). They have to metabolize sugar (and produce gas) to make the energy they need to reproduce. So you can't have the reproduction without the attendant CO2. Tying it up with a string isn't going to keep it from producing gas, but may serve as a useful indicator when things have gone far enough.

Reducing sourness can be accomplished by shortening the refreshment cycle, not because of aerobic vs anaerobic, but rather by taking advantage of the disparity in lag phases between yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Bacteria reproduce faster than yeast, but yeast have a shorter lag phase. The lag phase is that time between refreshment and the start of population growth (reproduction). The organisms need a little time to sense their environment and re-orient themselves to the change that refreshment brings (pH, nutrients, waste products, etc.) before they begin growing again. For LAB it takes longer, so yeast start growing first. Each time you feed, it starts a new lag period. If you stop the refreshment cycle short, so as to keep the LAB from taking off, you give the yeast a little advantage in the race by cutting the LAB off at the knees.

You can't completely eliminate LAB, but you can reduce the sour by cutting their numbers.

Hope that helps :-)
-dw

 

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Many Thanks!  That is just about enough technical knowledge that I can handle in one go.

Great stuff! 

Shiao-Ping

p.s.  Now I see where that jar of yours coming from.

 

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

Those who know me, understand why I chose it as my avatar :-)

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Frankenstein (the film, the romantic simplistic comic version of it, based on Mary Shelley's novel in 1818) is one of my favourite movies.   (The real story doesn't do much for me; I just love the scene where the crazy scientist with his mad fuzzy hair sitting on the roof gazing into the night sky.)

And p.s. great looking jars!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

And what an interesting formula and method.

Robertson uses a high percentage of pre-fermented flour in both his final levain build and in the final dough, but his fermentation time is short.

How sour was the bread flavor?

David

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

When you said "Robertson uses a high percentage of pre-fermented flour in both his final levain build and in the final dough," are you referring to my formula in this post?  I actually do not know what his formula is like (I only have the "timeline").  It will be interesting to compare once his bread cookbook is out.

The bread is only slightly more sour than my Sourdough 50/50 but not much more and the texture is also more chewy.   From what I know, I would say the flavor is more like a French sourdough (and my Sourdough 50/50 is almost like a hybrid  between French baguette and French sourdough due to the presence of poolish and a very small amount of instant yeast).  

I am finding that I am more a white sourdough kind of person (as opposed to rye or WW).  It is interesting that back in those days when I used bread machine to make pan breads, I tend to use anything but white flour.  But now I use more white than other flours.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Shiao-Ping.

Yes. I was referring to your formula.

I love sourdough rye, and I love white sourdough with 5% or so rye. I also like whole wheat bread, but I prefer it as a yeasted bread, like the 100% WW bread in BBA. Oh! And did I say I like variety? ;-)

David

SallyBR's picture
SallyBR

Oh, Shiao-Ping, you are killing me!!!!

 

WHen i saw the title of the post, I said to myself - there I will go again, following her footsteps....

 

of course, I only have another 15 breads on my "to do last week" list!  

 

those loaves are too gorgeous! You are so gifted!

 

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Gorgeous loaves, Shiao-Ping!  I love the crumb, crust and gringe and I can just imagine the flavor!

Sylvia

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

just beautiful! I love the crumb and crackly crust.

Betty

97grad's picture
97grad

Amazing looking loaves as usual Shiao-Ping, is it possible to cut this recipe down to produce one loaf only, if so should I just divide everything by 3?? Oh, and I love your comment about teenagers lingo, I'm glad I'm not the only one who fails to understand how people could be hot and cool and why suddenly everything in the world could be labelled sexy instead of nice LOL.

Tereze, Sydney

pattycakes's picture
pattycakes

Shiao-Ping, your loaves are beautiful, and I thank you for developing this recipe. I can't wait to try it!

When we go to San Francisco, we visit Tartine mostly for the excitement of seeing so many enticing baked goods. Everything tastes good, too, but don't plan on buying a loaf unless you plan ahead! Here is the policy on bread (copied from the website):

"Our bread is available Wednesday through Sunday after five o'clock in full
or half loaves. Advanced orders are accepted in the cafe or over the
telephone. Phone orders are not confirmed until availability has been
determined and you receive a call back from our staff.

Tartine bread comes out of the oven fresh by 5 pm. We bake our bread in the
afternoon as our oven is full of baking pastries all morning."

So we had better get good at this recipe, because most of us won't attain this level of organization on a vacation...

If you visit their bread website, http://www.tartinebakery.com/bread.html, you can also see a picture of their bread, and the crumb looks amazingly like Shiao-Ping's. The only difference I note is the darkness in the crust that comes from a commercial oven.

Delfina (and their pizzeria) is right around the corner, and they make great bread and excellent pizza, too.

Patricia

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Thanks for your note.  I was lucky, when I was in San Francisco, one classmate is a local and he had his secretary order 4 loaves of Tartine breads for him, he picked them up on his way home after class and brought them to SFBI the next morning for everyone to sample.   One of the breads was walnut sourdough and it was amazing - imagine the airy open crumb stud with whole walnuts!   I used the formula that I developed here and added toasted walnuts (30% of flour weight) trying to reproduce what I had, but the crumb came out really dense.  It is hard.

The crust of their sourdough does look darker than mine (I guess, to have the wood fired oven look, even though they now use commercial deck oven).  To get that look the temperture must be very high (but controlled), I am not willing to experiment on the very high temperture yet.  Every time I open and close my oven door, I think the plastic knobs on the top panel are going to melt. 

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Yes, you can certainly divide everything by 3, but make sure you gather everything in a bundle - for thermal mass effect.  For instance, when your starter or dough is only a very small portion to start with, after mixing, try gathering it (using a wet spoon for instance) from the sides of the container to the centre. 

I think modern day teenagers are pawns under the hands of mass media but they think they are independent thinkers.

rossnroller's picture
rossnroller

Fabbo bread, by the look of those great pics, Shiao-Ping. I've been lurking (hate that word - it sounds so sleazy, but that's the web vernacular, innit?), checking out your posts since I first stumbled on to them a few weeks back. Count me among your growing tribe of fans!

I'm looking forward to trying this one. Just one question. I habitually keep my starters at 100% hydration (one is 30rye/70flour, the other 30spelt/70flour). I've made quite a few nice breads since the sourdough obsession hit a few months ago, but am still at the stage of slavishly following recipes without really understanding properly what I am doing in terms of sourdough and bread-making technique and theory. Hence the following query:

Do you think I can use my 100% hydration starters in your recipe, instead of altering them to 75%, in line with yours? If so, I guess I need to add a little flour, or reduce the water a little, to compensate. I'm not sure how to calculate this, or whether to go the former way, or the latter. So, would you mind suggesting what sort of adjustment I would have to make to your recipe?

This sort of question is no doubt a bit of a pain, but I figure I can most easily learn by example, rather than seeking out all the theory then risk misapplying it anyway.

Keep up the illuminating and aesthetically exquisite posts!

Cheers all
Ross

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

It can be very easily done, you just need to do some simple math.  For instance, a starter that is 75% hydration means there is 100 parts flour to 75 parts water (75 divided by 100 = 0.75 = 75%).  If the starter weighs 82 g that means there is 47 g of flour and the balance 35 water.  You get this number by dividing 82 g by 175 parts, you get 0.47 per part, therefore 100 parts is 47. 

The easiest way to change your 100% hydration starter to 75% is to add flour.  Say your starter is 100 grams, there is 50 g flour (30 % rye/70% flour) and 50 g water.  However, if 50 g water is 75% hydration rather than 100% hydration, the flour weight should be 67 g, not 50 g; you get this number by dividing 50 by 0.75 = 67.  Therefor you just need to add 17 g extra flour into your 100 g starter.  This 75% hydration starter then weights 117 g in total.  You only need 82 g to start my formula in this post, so you discard the rest.  And say if you only want to do 1/3 formula, you divide by 3 again to get the right number.

Another example, you have 100% hydration starter of 200 g which means there is 100 g flour (30 rye/70 white flour) and 100 g water.  If you want to convert this to 75% hydration, you divide 100 g water by 0.75 and you get 133, which means you need to add extra 33 g into your starter to convert.  (33 g x 0.3 = 10 g rye and 33 g x 0.70 = 23g white flour)

rossnroller's picture
rossnroller

Well, that's about as clear as explanations get! Thanks, Shiao-Ping!

One last point of clarification, please. Would I need to allow some time for the starter to integrate the extra flour once I had added it to adjust the hydration to 75%? Or could I just take my current 100% hydration starter, add the appropriate weight of flour to change it to 75% hydration and use it immediately in your recipe?

Cheers!
Ross

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

the reason is it is too little in the whole scheme of thing.  (You know normally you add at least double the quantity of flour to your startar weight for a 6 - 8 hour fermentation, whereas in this case it is only 17% of flour.)

rossnroller's picture
rossnroller

You know normally you add at least double the quantity of flour to your startar weight for a 6 - 8 hour fermentation

Actually, I didn't know that! Thanks Shiao-Ping, both for this bit of education on the side, and for clarifying my query.

stefchik's picture
stefchik

Here are 4 loaves based on your recipe; thrilled with the result

 

Great taste! Excellent recipe & method,

Best,

Stefan

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

missed your pictures the last few days.

Breads look great - an assortment of different shapes, love that!

Thanks for posting the photo.

Shiao-Ping

Jeremy's picture
Jeremy

I don't know if it's me but I tried this formula twice and the dough is so slack acutally very wet! What am I doing wrong?

You mention twice in the feeding of the levain, (i.e. two times starter amount for me) next to the flour, or could it be the difference in protein in bread flour here??

Shiao-Ping, help!!!

 

Jeremy

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

The total dough hydration is only 68%, so even with the different type of flour I don't imagine that the dough consistency will be very different.

Could it be that when you were refreshing (or when you were doing the 2 hour levain expansion) that, instead of maintaining the 75% hydration of the starter, you'd put in 100% hydration (ie, you put in same quantity of flour and water)?

In the feeding of the levain, the flour is two times starter amount, but the water is only one and a half itmes.  And in the 2 hour levain expansion, flour is same weight as starter and water is 75%.

Shiao-Ping

rossnroller's picture
rossnroller

Well, I've been working my way through a queue of breads, and this one's turn came up - baked this morning, and just had one loaf for lunch. I adjusted the baking times a bit, but essentially followed your directions, Shiao-Ping.

I have to say, this is the best white bread I've baked to date. Lovely golden brown crust, crisp but not too thick, and a soft but stretchy crumb, open and even. Great flavour.

Most of my bread these days has some whole-grain rye or wholemeal flour along with the white, but I do love a good white sourdough, and this hit the spot! So thanks again, Shiao-Ping!

PS: Forgot to recharge the camera batteries so no pics [bangs forehead]. Oh well, next time...

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

That was a miracle - my formula worked!  I had no idea.

These days I make it a point to always put up my formula in my post so that people don't have to trouble themselves to ask me, but I seriously have no confidence that my formula works for other people (there are just so many variables that could change the outcome).  When it does work, I have to say, sincerely, that the baker is the main reason for success, not the recipe!

davidg618's picture
davidg618

Shiao-Ping,

I, an ignorant western, have always loved this thought, attributed to an unknown Chinese sage. If true it is of Chinese origin, please forgive the clumsy translation.

"If I had two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy flowers for my soul."

Well, if my posession was two loaves of your bread, I'd eat (and share) both, and let the flowers wait for another day.

David G.

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

I am the opposite.  If I had two loaves of bread, I would be happy to give away both of my loaves in exchange for ... a hungry feeling.   I have not been hungry for the longest time now.

 

Hi David G.

 

Thank you for the high praise.   Bread for the body and flower for the soul.   How appropriate.  I did not know of any Chinese sage who would say anything about the soul though.  Soul is a concept that is more Western than Chinese.   

Sometimes when I went back to my old posts, the bread pictures in this post, in particular, would fill me with delight.   Up until a few years ago I was a collector of interior design books of all cultures and all ages.   There is a French style that I like, sort of rustic but chic at the same time.   When I was photographing the pain au levains pictures for this post, I thought of using a late 19th c. French style chair that I have as a backdrop, but I did not know how to mount the bread on the chair without for them to look silly.  It was a "feeling" that I wanted to capture.  And that is hard to come by.   To me good breads are a dime, a dozen.

Thank you for your comment again and sorry for the late reply.  I had been away.  If it is possible, I would love to read the Chinese verse on which your translation was based.

Happy holidays season!

Shiao-Ping

davidg618's picture
davidg618

 

Shiao-Ping,

I googled the phrase, and immediately discovered my errors: my attribution was entirely wrong, and I misquoted the phrase, not so badly that its meaning was lost, but the beauty of its accepted English translations is more elegant, at least to me. I say translations because there are at least three:

The Prophet Mohammad is credited with,

"If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one and buy hyacinths, for they would feed my soul.

"But I also found these two alternatives:

"If I had but two loaves of bread
I would sell one of them & buy White Hyacinths to feed my soul."

-Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

I suspect this is plagiarism.

However, I am not certain about the following. At the risk of being politically incorrect, prophets are often credited with thoughts and words they never had nor spoke. On the other hand, poets have embellished prophet's words in adoration. The following is perhaps such a case.

"If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,

And from thy slender store two loaves

alone to thee are left,

Sell one & from the dole,

Buy Hyacinths to feed the soul"

-Muslihuddin Sadi,
13th Century Persian Poet

 

In my own defense, I've known this quote (wrongly) for fifty years. It has stayed with me--one of those things, like certain dreams, that have taken on new or deeper meanings as they've aged with me. I only remember it was told to me by a friend; I didn't read it, and, at only twenty-something old, lazy and trusting, I didn't question its origin.

So, there is a poem, as you wished for.

Happy Holidays!

David G.

P.S. I don't know what those two strange lines are; they resulted from my cutting and pasting the alternative quotes. And I can't get rid of them.

 

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,

And from thy slender store two loaves

alone to thee are left,

Sell one & from the dole,

Buy Hyacinths to feed the soul

Thank you, David G., for the above.  And, may I say, it is a beautiful poem.

Shiao-Ping

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

Thank you for sharing !

salma's picture
salma

Shiao Ping,When I see your name on the post, I have to read right away.  Every post is so amazing that I want to make the bread right away.  Now I am torn between this one and going for the butternut squash bread again.

Salma

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Well, what do you feel like, I mean, what do you fancy right now?  Clean and pure taste of flours or the wintry/autumn-ie warm butternut squash?  If you do choose to make this one, why not give the other Chad Robertson's bread a try (Bread inspired by Chad Robertson's country sourdough)?

salma's picture
salma

Just decided to make both!  Started the first Levain tonite and will play with it tomorrow morning and the rest of the day and hopefully bake on Saturday.   The piece of butternut  squash I had was no-good anymore, so I used sweet potato again and stared that too.  I will bulk ferment tonite and bake this one tomorrow.  Thanks again for your wonderful recipes. 

After baking the sweet potato, I threw in a piece in my chapati dough with a little bit of starter, dash of cumin and turmeric.  This came out nice and soft for dinner tonite.  I didnt have time to let the rolled chapatis sit to see if they would rise some, may be next time.

Salma

longhorn's picture
longhorn

I am really glad this recipe popped back up. Gorgeous crumb! Shiao-Ping, you should tell your daughter your bread is "hot"!

Well done!

Jay

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Thank you, Jay.

Laddavan's picture
Laddavan

Thank you Shiao-Ping for sharing recipe and thank you for the pictures. I llike your bread a lot. I'll try it out soon then I'll let you know.

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Let us know how you go.  Thank you for your comment.

Shiao-Ping

crumbs's picture
crumbs

That is my ideal kind of crumb. Absolutely beautiful! I'm just starting baking bread and getting crumb like that has so far eluded me. It could be partly because I am using a lot of wholegrain (mostly 100% loaves) but it's been very difficult to get large (5mm+) holes in the crumb. Although the do occasionally pop up.

The recipe is quite long so I probably won't try it as my first sourdough recipe, but I definitely want to try at some point. Great job!

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

If you like wholegrains and want big holey crumbs, why not try this formula?

Shiao-Ping

la vecchia saggia's picture
la vecchia saggia

Hi,

sorry for my bad english and mistakes.. I´m italian ... I tried this bread with medium gluten organic wheat flour...now is sitting in the oven for the last 5 minutes...

It has an awful shape :-/ ... My dough was too much soft and wet... Is it right to be in such a way? Is more like a ciabatta...

My questions:

after 12 hrs of refrigerator, do you put outside down the dough and score it immediately before baking?

Did you bake on the stone or in a pan?

Do you suggest also for this bread the technique of a longer S&F to rise gluten - as per the Hamelman´s miche point a callier - instead of only four hours, as this recipe says (but I made only two hours, as per your advice)?

thank you so much

Linda

p.s. - in the meantime the crust is singing out of the oven (I made two loafs, with 2 out of 3 parts of the total amount) .

p.p.s. - in the meantime I tasted a little warm slice (I know it´s not nice to do.. but;-)) ...wonderful flavour - dry crumb - big holes;-)

I´ll try again and again I suppose, but have to develop a nicer shape...

p.p.p.s.

here a shot

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Your bread looks very, very flavourful.   And thanks for the photo.  I very much like the look of your crumb.

The shape is because of the wet dough.  It looks to me that you cannot use the same hydration that I used with YOUR flour.   My Australian 11.9% protein is problably equivalent to your 14% or even higher because your measurement is different from mine.  Anyway, not to worry, cut down at least 5% hydration next time if you are using the same flour and see if you like handlying it better.   

You score it just before you load the dough into the oven.   My bread in the post was baked on a baking stone.

Instead of a longer bulk fermentation, why not try more frequent S&F's, but be careful not to overdo it - if you see that the skin of the dough is "tearing," that means you have done too much.   Also, each time when you finish your S&F's, try turning the dough over and place it in the lightly oiled bowl (but remember to turn it back again to do the next S&F's).   It would be okay, too, to increase up to 1/2 to 2/3 hour bulk time, but you'll need to watch - I don't normally let my dough rise for more than 100%. 

If you cut down the hydration, you may find that you don't need more S&F's.  If the dough is still too soft, cut it down by 10% next time, and see how you like it.  (If you end up cutting down 10% hydration, you may need the extra 1/2 hour bulk time after all as dryier dough ferments slightly more slowly.)

Great effort, Linda.

Shiao-Ping

la vecchia saggia's picture
la vecchia saggia

Hi Shiao-Ping,

thanks a lot for the answers.

Only one thing more: did you take upside down the loaves before scoring and baking?

Ciao

Linda

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

because the dough was proved right side down.  You turn over the dough, so the right side is up, to score and bake.

la vecchia saggia's picture
la vecchia saggia

Hi Shiao-Ping,

it's not like yours, but thank you very much for the recipe (I found out the mistake of last time: a wrong long fermentation of about 8-12 hours before the retard time in the fridge ;-/ ... but sure not so bad the taste of that bread ;-)

and this is a wholemeal bread with the same recipe (a little smaller)

hugs

 

Pages