Whoohoo!! Wild Bread that ISN'T sour!
I did it!!! I did it!!!
After weeks of angst with babying my jar of wild yeast, feeling I would never be able to bake a loaf of bread that WASN'T sour (not to mention the several times I was going to throw in the towel altogether), I have achieved my goal.
Not only was it not too sour; it wasn't sour at all! And it was light!! Light as a feather!!
And here's how I did it: I virtually started over with feeding. Some time in March or so, I brought the sludge out of the fridge and returning to McKenna Grant's (Piano Piano Pieno) original formula, and started a twice a day regimen:
- 2 Tbsp wild sludge
- 3 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp water
And kept at it for days until finally finally, it began to look like a real starter again.
Now the question is whether I'll be able to repeat the success...
I like to balance cookie cutter(s) on top of the just shaped bread to etch a design in top of the loaf. For this loaf, I used 3 heart shaped cutters. Instead of removing them just before baking, I left them there for the first half of the baking and removed them when turning them around to account for uneven heat in the oven.
The bread really was outstanding. Wonderfully crisp and chewy on the outside and light and open-holed inside.