San Joaquin Sourdough - Still a favorite
It has been a few weeks since I last made my San Joaquin Sourdough. I had become so enamored of breads made with the Gérard Rubaud flour mix, I was starting to wonder if I would still like the flavor of the San Joaquin Sourdough as much as I had. Well, I do.
Yesterday, I made the breads with a 73% hydration dough and divided it into two 250 gm ficelles and one (approximately) 500 gm bâtard.
|
Ingredient |
Wt. (gms) |
Baker's % |
|
Active starter (75% hydration |
100 |
20 |
|
WFM 365 Organic AP flour |
450 |
90 |
|
BRM Dark Rye flour |
50 |
10 |
|
Water |
363 |
72.6 |
|
Salt |
10 |
2 |
Procedure
- The night before baking, feed the starter at 1:3:4 ratio of seed starter: water: flour.
- Mix all the ingredients and allow to rest, covered for 20-60 minutes.
- Stretch and fold in the bowl for 30 strokes, three times at 30 minute intervals.
- Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover.
- After another 30 minute rest, stretch and fold on a lightly floured board. Replace in the bowl and cover.
- Rest for 30 minutes, then repeat the stretch and fold, and replace the dough in the bowl.
- Refrigerate the dough for 21hours.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and immediately divide and pre-shape it. Cover the dough with plasti-crap or a towel and let it rest for 60 minutes.
- One hour before baking, preheat the oven to 500ºF, with a baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.
- Shape the loaves as desired and place on a floured couche. Cover the loaves.
- Proof for 45 minutes.
- Pre-steam the oven. Transfer the loaves to a peel. Score them as desired and transfer them to the baking stone. Steam the oven.
- Turn down the oven to 460ºF and bake for 12 minutes. Then remove the steam source.
- Continue to bake until the loaves are done. (20 minutes for the ficelles. 30 minutes for the bâtard.)
- Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.
The crust was nice and crunchy, and the crumb was pleasantly chewy. The flavor was wonderful, as always. There is no perceptible rye flavor, but the rye adds to the overall flavor complexity. This batch had more of a sourdough tang than usual, which we like.
David
Submitted to YeastSpotting
Comments
Hi David,
These all look awesome.
I've had a good weekend experimenting with the Gosselin formula. Want to let Don know about that too, so will post a reply to both of you in that thread.
Thank you for your great ideas and formulae
Best wishes
Andy
I'm eager to learn about your experience with the Gosselin formula. I'll keep an eye peeled for your posting.
David
I just pulled two loaves of Hamelman's pain au levain out of the oven and am trying to contain my urge to cut one open. Although they're only 5% rye versus your 10%, the small amount of rye really does introduce flavor nuances lacking in a 100% AP flour bread.
Beautiful loaves as usual!
Larry
David
Little wonder they remain your favorite, David.
David
They look perfect, all three of them.
Do you preshape the ficelles into rounds or into a more cylindrical shape?
I pre-shaped into logs after patting into more or less ovals - really only folding the long sides of the ovals to the center, slightly over-lapping.
BTW, I got a real lame from TMB (SFBI). It's really just a pretty light-weight metal handle with a narrow end that holds a double-edged razor blade. I'm sold on the razor blade for scoring. Minimal dragging, even with slack dough. I just need more practice with it.
David
Gorgeously mouthwatering! That type of bread makes me (almost) forget my German ryes I love so dearly!
Christina
Fortunately, you don't have to choose. You can bake both.
David
Mini
Excellent ficelles David. Easy to see why you still like them...
Your wonder at still liking SJSD is akin to saying you became so enamored of salt water taffy, you wonder if you would still like chocolate.
I was curious how long your follow up with the Gérard Rubaud flours went. I continue to maintain a levain using his flour mix, including the 1% salt. I have yet to post on my 3 Rubaud bakes but will try to do so soon, maybe after a 4th bake with the 2 month old levain. I realize he recreated the levain frequently, but I thought I might see what flavor profile developed over time.
I'm not fond of salt water taffy, but I totally agree with your point.
I have not maintained a Rubaud starter. Except for my first bake with his flour mix, I have just fed my standard seed starter with his flour mix once before mixing the final dough.
That said, my standard starter feeding is not that different from his. It's a mix of 70% AP: 20% WW: 10% Whole Rye. I adopted that mix a year or so ago from another TFL member. I cannot recall who it was that first described it. My recollection is that it was attributed to Thom Leonard.
David
Beautiful Sourdoughs, as usual!
It is nice to come back to an old reliable friend. Your classically scored Baguette looks perfect. I'm still using my coffee stir stick with a blade and I suspect I change the blade less frequently due to the difficulty of doing so.
Well done David. Glad to see you on the front page.
Eric
Great job, David! One of these days I'm going to slash a ficell. Yours always look so Beautiful.
Sylvia
The single longitudinal scoring is good practice for the more difficult multi-slash scoring of baguettes. The key is a sure, rapid, smooth, unhesitant cut.
David
Dave ...great job as always! Do you happen to have any photos of the loaves right after they were scored? I'm still experimenting with trying to get all those perfectly consistent football-shaped openings like you have... sigh. My professional lame won't be here for a week and half... should be easier to use than my homemade version. I hope.
Brian
I don't have photos after scoring but before baking. I'll try to remember to get some next time.
I did use my lame from TMB. I love it. However, I don't know if the metal handle really has any advantage over the wooden coffee stirer. I'll await your judgement on this.
David
My only complaint about the coffee stirrer lame is that you don't get a curved end...
Brian
Brian,
Try bringing a small pan of water to boil and soak one end of a stir-stick in the hot water for a few minutes.
Then gently bend around a small diameter object - I have used the neck of a wine bottle and the round handle of a cast iron pot.
You may have to repeat <soak a little, bend a little> several times to get the amount of curve you desire...then let it dry.
Brian- That's why I broke down and bought a metal lame. It helps alot in scoring if the contour of the razor blade follows that of the lame. Otherwise, you can easily end up with a blade with too much curve that works against good scoring. For $10 it's saved me a lot of anguish and poorly executed cuts.
Larry
Hi David,
I imagine at some point you've made Susan's Norwich Sourdough. If so, I'm curious as to how you'd compare the two?
On another note, I've made the Anis Boubasa ficelles a couple of times lately. The bread is quite good but I've been surprised at the lack of life in the dough. Of course, there isn't much yeast but is the lack of springiness typical?
Barbara
Hi, Barbara.
I'm not quite sure how you want them compared. The San Joaquin SD is higher hydration and is retarded in bulk. The Norwich is retarded after shaping, if at all, and has lower hydration. The doughs are very different in consistancy. The crust on the SJ SD tends to be thinner and gets soft and chewy quicker. The crumb is more open in the SJ SD.
When you say there is "lack of life in the dough" of the SJ SD, I'm assuming you mean after it has been retarded. At that point, it is cold, not fully risen and very relaxed. I'd say, "It's alive but very sleepy."
David
Thanks for the reply David--sorry I didn't help you much by asking clearer questions. You've answered my Norwich/SJ SD question but my second question wasn't about the SJ SD but about the Boubasa baguettes.
In the Boubasa formula I've been following (closely I might add), the dough it anemic in both the first and second proofing. Frankly, I'm surprised I get any life out of it at all but it does fine once in the oven. Is this typical of the formula or is something amiss do you think?
Sorry I have no crumb shot (the dough had nice open crumb) but here's the photo I do have:
David
Anemic: Lacking vigor or energy. As you said earlier like it's sleeping...a very deep sleep.
Hi David,
Looking at your loaves always makes me want to delve right in and bake something! They are works of art.
I have a question about the lame you got from SFBI. I too purchased the light-weight piece of metal you describe, and I sometimes have trouble with the blade slipping off. Is there a trick to attaching it so that this doesn't happen?
Barbara
Hi, Barbara.
I don't know that there is any "trick." I just threaded the blade on the handle. I'll take a photo this evening. Maybe that will help.
David
I've responded to your query in a new topic, with photos as promised.
David
David, would you mind sharing whether you lightly floured these loaves before (or after?) scoring them? They are all just beautiful, and you've inspired me to give this recipe a go.
Yours is also the first reference I've seen to removing the steam source in the oven after a period of time. I'm going to try that today, rather than continuing to monkey around with the amount of water in my steam pan...my latest loaves did not brown as well as I would have liked, and I suspect a too-long steam was the problem.
Hi, neoncoyote.
The loaves were floured as they were placed on the couche. The purpose was not cosmetic but to prevent the somewhat sticky dough from sticking to the couche, which was folded over the loaves for proofing.
I've gotten in the habit of removing my steaming skillet after the first 10-15 minutes. Once the steam has done its job and the loaves have started to color, I want a dry oven. Others have pointed out that, if you put the right amount of water in the pan, it will be dry after a few minutes. Maybe so, but, in the first place, I guesstimate the volume of water I pour in and, in the second place, opening the oven to remove the pan releases the steam from the oven. What can I say? It works for me.
BTW, "too much steam" can result in a shiney loaf with good bloom but no ear formation. This is different from steaming for "too long," which results in a less crisp (and I think paler) crust.
David
David -- your steaming advice solved a problem for me today:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17399/steaming-experiment
On the subject of flouring your loaves as you placed them on the couche...do you find using the couche and transferring your loaves to the peel produces a significantly better-shaped loaf than proofing directly on the peel? And do you find your loaf shape is compromised at all when you transfer to the peel?
Can't thank you enough for the suggestion to remove the steam pan!
Carmen