My first sourdough bread and introduction
Hi,
Although I've been following posts on this great site for the past few months, I'm pretty much a newbie compared to the level of breadmaking presented here. First, I want to commend Floyd and the site members for the amazing level of enthusiasm, expertise, artistry, support, and encouragement found here. That said, after about 3 years of baking mostly sandwich loaves (4-5 loaves a week; 20% rye, 20% WW, 60% bread flour, with yeast spiked with SD starter) and following this forum from time to time, I figured it was time to try a real sourdough first and then introduce myself to TFL while I'm at it. I picked breadsong's Shepherd's Bread (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28836/shepherds-bread [1]) for the task. Unfortunately, I didn't plan the timing of this recipe to accomodate sleep and found myself ready for the final shaping at 1:30AM. Choosing sleep over pretty bread, I popped the boule in the basket into the fridge and conked out. Of course, the loaf the was over-proofed by the time I stuck it in the oven this morning, so no amazing oven spring. As well, being time for everyone to go to school, work, etc., I couldn't wait till it was fully cooled before cutting. Still, I think it came out pretty good (at least tastewise - I still have a ways to go in shaping and scoring): crisp, airy crust and light crumb with the long-awaited SD tang. So here is my (not-such-a) masterpiece:
meir