Blog posts

About a month ago, I reviewed Daniel Leader's Living Bread.  In passing, I mentioned that I had baked one bread from the book and would post about it separately.  Well, finally, here is the promised post.

Friday Feb. 5, 2021.

This is my 2nd loaf in the Semolina/durum Community Bake. Previous loaf here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67295/36th-bake-02032021-100-durum-fiber-wala

The goals here are to use mostly whole grain durum with a portion of bread flour to get a better crumb, and  to use enough sourdough starter and instant dry yeast to bake it tonight.

I was very fortunate to be given a quantity of fresh figs that i wanted to use in baking, unfortunately my first attempt proved to be a failure.Yes i still have them occasionally too.

I have been very busy with work the last week, so when I thought I found a time window where I could back I jumped on the opportunity. The idea was to build a quick levain in the morning from the refrigerated starter, go to work for a short time, and then mix the dough when I am back. As you might have guessed, I needed much more time at work than I anticipated, and basically my 1:1:1 levain spent ~9 hrs at 24°C, which is of course way too long. It was clear it had peaked a long time ago by the time I was home (although not sure how long it needed to peak exactly).

I started looking into sourdough baking in late November, and since that time, the learning curve has been steep and often times like drinking from a fire hose.  I've made bread in the past using packets of IDY and looking up a recipe on the internet.  Mix it up.  Throw it in a slightly warmed oven till it doubles.  Pat it down, roll it into a log, throw it in a bread pan, and put it back in the slightly warmed oven.  Bake it at 350 deg for 20-30 minutes after the loaf is just cresting the pan.  Never had a failure.

This is 80% whole dark rye from CM, 10% type 110 wheat, and 10% bread made with new sourdough starter raised and maintained @ 82-85°F, not even two weeks old. 

Four stage process was used: freshening, basic sour,  fermented rye scald with 0.1g of fresh yeast per 100g of all flour in the bread, final dough. All fermentations were done at temperatures not lower than 82°F.  

With plenty of ripe sourdough and a love of chocolate I came across this recipe: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-chocolate-cake Without a doubt this is the best chocolate cake I've ever baked and probably eaten. I used two cups of dark brown sugar and a bunt pan. There's no need for frosting or the like. It's a great way to use extra starter.

After bringing my starter in from the cold he's had a few very active days on the counter-top. Inspired by the Poilane Masterclass I baked her signature Poilane style wheat loaf. It's a very low hydration, very high levain hearty loaf. The wheat really shines in this loaf and the crumb is firm and hearty. The crust is thick and crunchy. Grandma and Mom would have been happy.. as am I! She talks about keeping the bread wrapped in linen so I'm going to try that this week and see how it dries out.

I've long kept a personal diary online of my bakes to help track progression and variables and thought it might be nice to begin sharing them here. Over the years I've learned an astonishing amount from contributors on this site, I've fallen down rabbit hole after rabbit hole chasing theory on microbiology (you're amazing Debra! When will you offer classes again?? Years before I found this site I started my first starter with Artisan Breads Every Day!), dough strength, gluten formation, etc. It's not unusual for me to maintain several open tabs here for weeks on end.