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San Joaquin Sourdough Made with Gérard Rubaud's flour mix

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

San Joaquin Sourdough Made with Gérard Rubaud's flour mix

 

The Gérard Rubaud Pain au Levain au Levain has been a smash success for all those who have made it. Thanks again to Shiao-Ping for bringing this remarkable bread to our attention after reading about it on MC's blog.

The most remarkable features of this bread are its fabulous aroma and flavor. How much they derive from Rubaud's very special flour mix and how much from his fermentation and other techniques has been a matter of some speculation. So, today I made my San Joaquin Sourdough using Rubaud's mix of flours. I did not use Rubaud's flour mix in the sourdough starter. I used my usual flour mix of AP, WW and Rye.

 Gérard's blend of flours comes through. It's my new favorite San Joaquin Sourdough version.

The aroma of the baked bread was intoxicating, and the flavor was wonderful. Rubaud is not a fan of cold fermentation, if I understand MC correctly. The San Joaquin Sourdough uses an overnight cold retardation of the dough before dividing and proofing. In comparison to the Rubaud pains au levain I've made, the San Joaquin Sourdough was noticeably tangier. I happen to like that, but others may not.

I also tried to use Rubaud's method of shaping his bâtards, which accounts for the “charming rustic appearance” of my loaves. I trust that, after another 40 years of practice, mine will be almost as nice as Gérard's. 

 

 

Flour Wts for Levain & Dough

Grams

Flour

Total Wt. (g)

Total for Levain

156.33

AP

404.38

Total for Final Dough

421.35

WW

103.98

Total of Flours for the recipe

577.68

Spelt

51.99

 

 

Rye

17.33

 

 

Total

577.68

 

Total Dough:

Baker's %

Weight (g)

Flour

100

561.8

Water

76

426.97

Salt

2

11.24

Yeast

0

0

Conversion factor

5.62

1000

 

Levain:

Baker's %

Weight (g)

Flour

100

140.45

Water

75

105.34

Starter

20

28.09

Total

 

273.88

 

Final Dough:

Baker's %

Weight (g)

Flour

100

421.35

Water

76.33

321.63

Salt

2

11.24

Pre-Ferment

58.33

245.79

Total

 

1000

 

Procedure

  1. Mix the firm starter (1:3:5 – Starter:Water:Flour). Let it ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.

  2. Pour the water into a large mixing bowl. Add the starter and dissolve it in the water.

  3. Add the flours and mix to a shaggy mass. Cover tightly and let it sit for 20-60 minutes.

  4. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix thoroughly using the “stretch and fold in the bowl” technique. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

  5. Repeat the “stretch and fold in the bowl” for 30 strokes 2 more times at 30 minute intervals.

  6. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board, and do a stretch and fold.

  7. Return the dough to the bowl and cover.

  8. After 45 minutes, repeat the stretch and fold on the board.

  9. Reform the dough into a ball and replace it in the bowl.

  10. Allow the dough to continue fermenting until the volume has increased 50%.

  11. Cold retard the dough for about 20 hours.

  12. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and immediately transfer it to a lightly floured board.

  13. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and pre-shape them into logs or rounds, depending on whether you want to make boules or bâtards. Cover the pieces with plasti-crap and let them rest for 60 minutes. (Give them a shorter rest if the kitchen is very warm. You don't want them to expand very much, if any.)

  14. Pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with a baking stone and your steaming method of choice in place.

  15. Shape the pieces and place them in bannetons or on a couche. Cover the loaves and proof them until they have expanded by 50-70%. (30-45 minutes)

  16. Pre-steam the oven. The transfer the loaves to a peel (or equivalent). Score, load them onto your baking stone and steam the oven again.

  17. Turn the oven down to 450ºF.

  18. After 12 minutes, remove your steaming apparatus. Turn the loaves 180º, if necessary for even browning.

  19. Continue to bake the loaves for another 15-18 minutes or until their internal temperature is 205ºF.

  20. Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack.

  21. Cool the loaves completely before slicing.

     

    David

    Submitted to YeastSpotting

    P.S. If your scale doesn't measure to 0.01 gms, don't be concerned. I'm playing with a new spreadsheet which generated the numbers above. Feel free to round at will.

 

Comments

Crider's picture
Crider

as usual! The crumb looks fabulous.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Nicely written up.  Looks like your not only having fun baking but also enjoying your spreadsheets.  Just curious.  Do you think you will do a seeded version of your San Joaquin sourdough?  Lovely crumb and the color shows how much flavor there is in very bite.

Sylvia

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

One of these weekends, I will make seeded ficelles. I bet they would be excellent with GR's flour mix. 

David

bakerking's picture
bakerking

David

Your San Joaquin has become one of my favorites, recently I have made GR's recipe a couple of times and I also thought of transfering his flour mix to your formula. As my family all like a seeded bread I added flax, roasted pumpkin and sesame seeds to GR's formula. It was truly fantastic, the week before I had made your posting of Michael Suas' multigrain and it was very good but I liked GR's bread with seeds even better.

Many of us have learned a lot from your posts, thanks to you and the others that pave the way. After eating my bread all the time I wonder how I am doing, when I get a chance to travel to Mpls. I buy bread from Artisan bakeries, I am always pleased with the comparisons.

Steve

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I imagine the GR pain au levain with seeds was wonderful. I have to try it.

Happy baking!

David

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Lovely and thorough explanation!! Beautiful bread, iam sure.

I love it when you erroneously typed: plasti-crap, instead of plastic-wrap, or was it intentional? hehe , true it is crap afterall, healthwise.

BTW, how do you avoid charring your loaf bottom? you seem to be getting an even heat all round your loaf.

Mebake

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

"Plasti-crap" was not a typo.

Re. even crust baking.

I have my baking stone on the middle oven shelf. I pre-heat it for 45-60 minutes. My oven does seem to heat very evenly. The only time I've had burned bottom crust was when I baked a highly enriched dough on a sheet pan. If I don't pre-heat my stone sufficiently, the bottom crust is sometimes paler than the rest of the loaf.

No big secrets.

David

SteveB's picture
SteveB

That does it!  Someone has to invent the technology to transmit flavors and aromas over the Internet.  David, your bread looks great!  But I'm having a hard time looking at the photo of your bread without getting the overwhelming urge to rip off a piece and eat it (the bread, not the photo).  Well done, David!  Although I don't know him, I have to believe that M. Rubaud would feel proud to learn that many here at TFL have embraced his bread and techniques.

 

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I agree. Scratch and sniff computer screens are definitely needed.

I believe MC has kept M. Rubaud apprised of the enthusiasm with which his bread has been met on TFL. He's your neighbor, by California standards of distance.

David