I love this place but am way over my head. I'm just starting to delve into bread baking as a whole. And this site has so much inspiration.

I am having problems with my bread since I moved. I was in central Germany and all of my bread turned out fabulous. Now I am in Central TN and none of my yeast breads turn out. My sourdough is denser than rocks and I'm getting discouraged.

JMonkey,

I had some thoughts on all this rise time stuff.

Everyone's starter is different, but I find that a 10% inoculation of starter takes about 10-12 hours for the first rise at about 70 degrees, and then another 2.5 to 3 hours or so for the final proof. But many professional bakers, I think, like to underproof (well, by my thinking anyway) their sourdoughs so that they get tremendous oven spring and a milder flavor. Then again, it may be that I'm overproofing!

hello,

has anyone had a chance to make the "vermont sourdough" recipe in the bread book by jeffrey hamelman.   i believe he gives about one to two hours for the final rising time which seems ridiculously short.    most basic sourdoughs that i've made (e.g. from Rose's Bread bible) take upwards of 4-5 hours for the final rise.    am i missing something with hamelman's recipe? 

david