The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.
Kingudaroad's picture

Musings From A Beginner

March 15, 2010 - 9:15am -- Kingudaroad

I've been playing with Artisan bread now for a couple of months and this weekend feel I've had another small breakthrough. No where near some of the pro bread I've seen around here, but nonetheless, a small personal success.

 

I used this Pain Au Levain recipe ( http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=71 ) . I have been using wild yeast  almost exclusively and hand mixing only. I though I would share my bread pics and give a couple of observations.

 

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

From Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking, you can find recipe here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16020/essential039s-columbia

What a great country sourdough, crumb is suprisingly open (only 65% hydration, with some whole grain and wheat germs in), crispy crust and nice chewy texture inside. I am experimenting with firm stater, converted my 100% starter to 60% last week, fed it according to Glezer's instruction in the same book. Even though my wet starter has been performing great, raising beautiful breads, but I want to explore what more flavor a firm starter can bring out, hopefully a bit more sourness. 

 

I am impressed by the firm starter's rising power - 4 to 6 hours of bulk fermentation (I did 5), 3.5 to 4.5 hours of proofing(I retarted the dough after shaping). It rose quite a bit in the fridge, after taking it out, I proofed it for 2 hours, it's longer than any of the doughs I made with my wet starter before, so I got nervous of overproofing, baked the bread even though the dough was still pretty bouncy. Should've listented to the dough, it exploded a bit at the scoring marks, not terrible, but definitely underproofed. Next time I'd do 3 hours after retarding.

The most impressive part is the flavor - definitely a bit more sour than my previous breads made with wet starter, just more noticable, not overpowering at all (we don't like overly sour breads, but do like some subtle sourness to make the flavor of the bread more well rounded). Along with the barley malt syrup, toasted wheat germs, and 4 different kinds of flour, the taste is deliciously complex. I would definitely make it regularly. I might try to make it with my liquid starter (with hydration adjusted) next time just to see how the dough and bread would be different. 

Since the flavor and character of a starter takes time to develope, I am going to keep this firm starter for a while, make a few more breads before deciding which one to keep.

Niashi's picture

Sourdough Culture went dormant on it's own.

March 14, 2010 - 5:06pm -- Niashi

I'm sorry, I've been looking through these forums and I cannot find a specific answers to my issue. Mine was never in the fridge, never in the freezer. Infact, I just started this culture about a week ago. It was extremely active at the beginning then went dormant. There are tiny tiny bubbles, but that's it.

 

ZD's picture

Home Tempering, Grinding, and Bolting Wheat to get High Extraction Flour

March 14, 2010 - 3:59pm -- ZD

Wheat Tempering

Success begins with perfectly tempered wheat. Tempering consists of adding water to dry grain and allowing the grain to rest for a period of time before it is milled. The purpose of tempering is to toughen the bran and thus make it resist being broken into small particles during milling and to soften or "mellow" the endosperm and make it easier to grind. It also helps obtain bran with lowest possible starch content and flour that has ideal quality and higher extraction.

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