I have recently tried sourdough, and was really encouraged when on the second day I had bubbles. My old earthenware crock was previously used to make saurkraut. I put in one cup of strong bread flour, one cup of spelt and 2 1/2 cups of tepid tap water, covered it with a glass plate and left it to find yeast.
I have formed a loaf and set it aside to rise. But once risen, how do I transfer this slightly sticky body to a baking stone which I've left pre-heating in the oven? Is there a time tested way to do this?
Bagels, the perfect antidote to an overdose of sticky, tempermental sourdough ryes. They may not be the prettiest bagels to ever come out of the kettle, but YUM! I don't know why I didn't try these sooner. These are going to replace english muffins as my "easy, little, single-serving bread" of choice... at least for a while. The simple fact that there is nothing sticky going on makes them a breath of fresh air.
8/30/10 - 2 Stage Liquid Levain Sourdough Boules
The Second Bake
This is the most successful Wholewheat multigrain i have baked so far. The Steaming technique this time was different. I drilled a whole through the roaster Lid and purchased a steamer cleaner to push steam through the hole. This was adapted from The baker steamer set that was marketed in TFL years back, but with much cheaper components.
The result was spectacular: the loaf gained color so fast, and the crust was crispy out of the oven. Oven spring was very good too. I left the loaf in the roaster for 20 minutes (should have been less: the bottom got charred).
Hello. I’m Glenn Snyder. I’ve been a member at TFL for some time, following the baking adventures of my brother, David, and enjoying this web community. But I never baked bread before yesterday. And never posted a blog entry before now.
As a follow up to my last post on super hydrated dough, I have been making a loaf every day now for 3 days. My first batch had 10% dark rye and my daughter thought it was uncommonly delicious. That's a big statement from a 17 yo daughter.
Day 2 brought a batch with only 5% rye and a less intense bake in the early stage. The loaf was lighter in color and still delicious.
I've been on vacation and not baking for a while. I have been keeping my starter going, however. Last week I made the 1/3 whole wheat 1-2-3 sourdough ... again. I'm caught in a rut :)
I forgot the salt though, and had to mix it in after 2 or 3 stretch and folds. Seemed to work ok though. Bread was good, but I forgot to take pictures. I made 4 small baguettes. Those are just hard to shape; I need practice. Scoring was good (I did 3 - 4 lengthwise slashes) but the bread was underproofed.
Although blogging has taken a back seat to other activities, I have been baking in the background. It's just that none of those have made the leap from the kitchen to the Web. And, frankly, most of them were old favorites and I really didn't have anything new to say about them, except for yum!
