Baking sourdough bread in Austria (altitude & flours)
Hello!
I am a long time lurker (and baker), first time poster. I have gotten so much great information from the Fresh Loaf over the years, and I thank you all!
I have been successfully baking sourdough breads for a number of years in Colorado at just over 5000 feet - so not excessively high altitude, but high-ish nonetheless. An Austrian friend visited us a while ago and was very impressed with several sourdough rye breads I made, and he has been trying to recreate them without much luck.
I will be visiting him in Graz (elevation 1115 ft/340 m) this summer. I am planning to bring my starter with me, both hydrated (<100 ml, to get past TSA) and dried (backup).
I feel like the challenges for me in baking successfully there will be altitude and flour, and I am interested in any and all advice.
Concerning altitude, here at home I usually increase hydration by about 3-5% and increase baking temperature by 15-25 degF.
On the flour side, I usually bake with (depending on the loaf, of course) bread flour, whole wheat flour, medium rye flour & whole rye flour. I also grind rye, wheat & spelt with a KitchenAid (so I'm not going claim that it's flour, it's more like meal) for use in some of my breads.
I have a charts comparing US with German/French/Italian flours, and a chart comparing Austrian flours with German and Italian flours. I'm aware that European flours in general don't take as much water as American flours (I have baked, some, in Germany). I've read that Austrian flours are also rated by Griffigkeit, a measure of coarseness, and I've seen glattes Mehl compared to cake flour, so I'm guessing I shouldn't try to use it for bread?
Thanks for any thoughts on the gotchas of trying to translate what I do at altitude in the US to the lowlands of Austria.
you will just love Austrian flours both the glatt and the griffig. Glatt is not cake flour and has to be thinned with 30% starch in order to get a risen cake. Glatt is just very fine and smooth in texture. It also comes as a bread flour in W700. W960 and the higher the number the more whole wheat bits can be seen in the flour. I'm in Linz. You will most likely want to drag some of the many varieties of grain flours back home with you. (Wrap each kilo in its own clear bag and don't seal tight ...><...air pressure changes...for the flight back.)
I think that if you drop the extra adjustments and hold back just a little on the water amounts you will come out right checking the dough feel. I hold back some of the water on a "1,2,3" sourdough formula. Depends on the flour. Fresh yeast is available everywhere and bring your camera to the bakery when you visit. Ask to take pictures of course and don't forget to ask about daily specials. Not all breads are baked daily. Check out the flours and bread spice mixtures available in the grocery stores and have a good visit. It will be fun and add to your learning curve. :)
I also have a pile of recipes I can throw your way to use for comparison or whatever.
Mini
Thank you, Mini!
We will be baking sourdough ryes. The bread I made for my friend that particularly caught his heart was Hamelman's Five Grain Sourdough with Rye Sourdough (whole rye flour, bread flour), so that's where we will start. I'd love to see your recipes for Roggenmischbrot.
I am really looking forward to getting some Brotgewürz, too.