Baby Steps and a Cry for Help
I've been lurking on this website for awhile, and decided it was finally time to woman-up and try some of the techniques that I've seen.
I started my sourdough-ing with the Rustic Sourdough from KAF, a cheaters sourdough, if you will (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/rustic-sourdough-bread-recipe [1]). I have no elitist qualms about cheating with yeast, and I appreciate the training wheels. While we're on the subject of my being a big fat cheater, I must admit I use citric acid to increase the tang, a la (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/extra-tangy-sourdough-bread-recipe [2]). I'm a girl that loves consistency and reliability, and true sourdough can be a fickle mistress.
What I felt I was missing was the open crumb and structure of the breads I see here, as both of these loaves turn out rather sandwich-y. So I upped my game as follows
- bought a scale, so I could measure by weight
- figured out bakers percent and the hydration of my starter
- adapted my old standby recipe to increase hydration from 62% to 76% (baby steps)
- used autolyse
- used stretch and fold
- got a lame so I could score my dough with confidence
- and tried to steam the oven
After some mad scientist action, this is the recipe
- 236 g KAF bread flour
- 236 g KAF white whole wheat flour
- 340 g water
- 230 g 100% hydration sourdough starter
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2.25 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp citric acid
- Mix the flours and water and let sit for 30 minutes
- Add other ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes, then stretch and fold
- Do 2 more rounds of stretch and fold then sit for 30 minutes
- Shape into two round loaves and cover, let rest for an hour
- Bake at 425 for 25min with steam
I was very happy with the crumb and the balanced flavor, so now I'm looking for more ways to improve.
I mixed this dough with a wooden spoon, but I'll try it with my food processor next time, as I noticed plenty of lumps during the stretch and folds. Ice cubes in the oven were a rather cumbersome steam method, but I'm sure I can find a better one around here. The loaf baked on a stone in the top half of the oven became far browner than the loaf baked on a jelly roll pan in the bottom of the oven, but I'm not sure how to remedy that.
Does anyone have additional guidance?