Greetings!

I'm a newbie, consumed with bread baking . . .

Yesterday, I made Dan Leader's Whole Wheat Sourdough Miche. I got creative after preparing the pre-ferment; I wondered what would happen if I mixed the dough portion of the recipe (combined it with the water, less the remaining yeast) while waiting for the pre-ferment to do it's thing. Everything seemed to combine normally. I got a good first rise, but not much on the second rise after forming the loaf. I did not get a huge oven spring. The taste and texture were very good, not too dense, but not much in the way of an open crumb.

Has anyone got thoughts on the merits/advisability of doing this? Waste of time, or potential flavor enhancer?

BTW- I am in AWE of the amazing breads you all create!

Phxdog.

How do I figure out what the hydration % is of my starter.  This is what I do.  To 1/4 c. of active starter, I add 1/2 c. of water and 1 c. of bread flour.    If I wanted to have a starter at 100% hydration, how would I adjust my feeding?

I wouldn't think so. I'm going to make a whole wheat sandwich bread and I want to try it with buttermilk. Would I use the same amount of buttermilk as I would water for a dough with 65% hydration. I think I would need more.

Larry

Well it's been since I first found TheFreshLoaf in 2006 that I posted to my bread blog. Up until recently I hadn't had much time or energy to do much baking. Couple that with my love of crusty breads and whole wheat and my wife likes non-crusty, white breads and all the married folk can understand how this variable can decrease the amount of bread time for Jason.

Hi all,

I've discovered and found this blog fascinating. I've taken some of the books discussed out of the library but do not have any on hand (going to buy The Bakers Apprentice this week) so please excuse the elementary nature of my question.

Hi all,

I have a question about the hydration of a pre-ferment. I realize that changing the hydration makes it either a biga or a poolish, but I don't care so much about the name as I do the result! I just made Hamelman's Rustic Bread with a few changes, and the family loved it. I doubled the ww (there's not that much to begin with), and used it in the pre-ferment instead of the final dough. It worked wonderfully, but I'd like to go a little further and up the ww % even further, maybe to 50% eventually.