Good Morning from Michigan
Taking time to introduce myself. I've been baking breads for at least 10 years, primarily self taught. Started my own levain from grapes grown in the back yard and for the last 2-3 years have used it almost excluisivly to build breads ranging from SF sourdough to French style loaves with no hint of sour flavors. Still trying to perfect a nice rustic boule and bake almost exclusively with flour, water, salt and starter with the occasional specialties like roasted garlic or homemade bacon and gruyere added in. Lately I've noticed that when prefermenting overnight or too long the crust is pale and that doing a 5 hour preferment or placing a damp towel over the proofing loaves seems to give me a much more golden brown crust and trying to understand why that is. Next years project is hopefully to build a wood fired bread oven in the back yard. I'll be searching for answers to what appears to be a spent yeast in the preferment question and how best to correct it. Less preferment in the final dough? Less starter in the preferment? I'm looking forward to learning from everyone here!
Scott