66% Sorudough Rye
Greetings, everyone. I am new to the site and relatively new to baking. I've been learning breadmaking by perusing a bunch of sourdough blogs and also reading Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread" book.
Last weekened, I started a 66% Rye Sourdough that is listed in his Sourdough Rye chapter. It's proofing in the fridge right now, and I was amazed at its transformation this morning from essentially a giant lump of paste to something that looks like bread. I'm really hoping it turns out nicely when I bake it later today. (I had to stick it in the fridge because of that whole having to go to work thing, otherwise, it would have been done baking by now)
I am surprised that the recipe didn't call for any kneading at all. I was figuring I'd at least have to do one stretch and fold or something.
Anyway, one thing that I wanted to ask is... What do I do with the 2 tablespoons of paste I was told to save from this recipe? Do I feed it like a sourdough starter, with Rye flour? Does it stay pasty like this? Can I go from here and make some of his other breads that require a Rye sour as an ingredient? Do I need to feed it first?
Also, since I have started baking sourdough bread, I find myself getting up at 3am to do something. This morning it was to add the rest of the flour to the Rye starter I had going (the paste) so that 2 hours later, when I woke up, I could drop it into my Banneton for proofing. Is this behavior normal? :)
Happy Baking,
Steve