March 20, 2010 - 5:33pm
Three cheers for ears!!
Today, finally, I got some bloomin ears!
I've been playing with Susan (Wild Yeast) Norwich Sourdough and Floyd's San Joaquin sourdough on this site. I found the first too firm and sour, the second too slack and not sour enough, so I worked out my own formula...a happy marriage between the two. And lo and behold---ears for the first time ever (in a dough not cooked in a dutch oven). As it happens, I donated the bread for a friend's dinner party so no crumb shots.
I'm not sure what made the difference...it could be that I added about 200 gram Gold Medal AP to the Morbread AP I usually use.
The formula:
300 g firm starter
620 g water
730 g unbleached AP flour (530 g Morbread, and 200 g Gold Medal)
120 g dark rye flour
23 g salt
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Comments
The bread and ears look great!
Eric
Those look great, quite an accomplishment
bnorm, Your ears lok very nice. IMHO the additional/different flour didn't make the "ears" but the fact you are most likely getting better at scoring. ATo get good "ears" you must go in at at an angle of about 45 degrees and then use steam. This information was learned directly from Jeffery Hammelman at King Arthur -Professional level classes. The additional flour didn't change your overall hydration level, so I believe that your scoring is getting better!!
We spent hours on scoring different breads correctly and on day 4 I FINALLY scored my baguettes perfectly. Practice makes perfect. Wish you had some crumb shots, the bread looks beautiful and what a wonderful gift to the hostess of the dinner party!
I read somewhere else on this site that lower protein flour contributed to better bloom and, thus, ears --so that's why I tried using it. Next time I'll just use my regular Morbread flour and see if it's the slashing thats improved.
Fab.......hopefully one day I'll follow.....Well done......did you use a straight blade or serrated one ?
Thanks! I used a curved lame ... a specifically designed bread slashing tool. You can make your own using a double sided razor blade and a coffee stirrer, though I bought mine.