Sourdough Bread from Advanced Bread & Pastry
I've been baking the San Francisco Sourdough from Michel Suas' Advanced Bread and Pastry frequently over the past few months. It's very good. This weekend, I decided to try a couple of his other sourdough breads.
Right after the formula for “San Francisco Sourdough,” Suas gives two other formulas for Sourdough Bread, differing in the levain used. One uses a 100% hydration levain and the other a 50% stiff levain. Both differ from the San Francisco Sourdough in using a smaller starter inoculation for a levain that ferments for 24 hours. This week, I chose to make the one with the stiff levain, which Suas calls “Sourdough Bread One Feeding.”
|
Levain Formula |
Wt (oz) |
Baker's % |
|
Bread flour |
3 1/4 |
95 |
|
Medium rye flour |
1/8 |
5 |
|
Water |
1 ¾ |
50 |
|
Starter (stiff) |
7/8 |
25 |
|
Total |
6 |
175 |
|
Final dough |
Wt (oz) |
Baker's % |
|
Bread flour |
14 7/8 |
100 |
|
Water |
10 7/8 |
72.8 |
|
Yeast (instant) |
1/8 tsp |
0.1 |
|
Salt |
3/8 |
2.53 |
|
Levain |
6 |
40 |
|
Total |
2 lb |
215.43 |
Note: The over-all hydration of this dough is 64%.
Procedure
-
Mix levain thoroughly.
-
Ferment for 24 hours at room temperature.
-
Mix the dough ingredients to medium gluten development. DDT 75-78ºF.
-
Transfer to an oiled bowl. Cover tightly and ferment for 2 hours.
-
Divide into two equal pieces and pre-shape into balls.
-
Rest for 20-30 minutes, covered.
-
Shape as boules or bâtards.
-
Proof in bannetons or en couche for 90-120 minutes at 80ºF.
-
Pre-heat oven to 500ºF for 45-60 minutes, with baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.
-
Pre-steam oven. Transfer loaves to the peel. Score with “chevron” or “sausage” pattern, and transfer to the baking stone.
-
Steam oven and turn temperature down to 440ºF.
-
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done.
-
Remove loaves to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.
Note: My oven has a convection mode and a conventional baking mode. My actual baking procedure is to pre-heat the oven on Convection-Bake to 500ºF. After the bread is loaded and the oven steamed, I turn the oven to the recommended temperature using conventional (non-convection) baking. When the bread has started to color and has had full benefit of the steam, I switch to Convection-Bake again and lower the temperature by 20-25ºF. (This assumes I'm not baking with “falling temperatures,” as with some rye breads.)
The loaves were proofed at 80ºF for 2 ½ hours and expanded by 50-75%. I was concerned about the long proofing. One of the boules did deflate slightly with scoring, but I got very nice oven spring and bloom.
The crust was crunchy and the crumb was soft - not very chewy. (I made this bread with KAF AP flour.) The flavor was sweet and wheaty with the barest hint of sour, and that was of the lactic acid type ... I think. Frankly, I missed the tang and the flavor tones of whole grains, which my preferred breads all have. On the other hand, this may approach the French ideal of a pain au levain, which is not sour in flavor.
For those who prefer a not-sour-sourdough, I would recommend this bread without hesitation.
David
Submitted to YeastSpotting
Comments
I've been pretty much off the grid, and cannot find enough time to bake, let alone to prep such complete and informative blog posts, and here you are, relentless! And excellent! While I am barely able to make time to keep up with our need for daily bread, two bread posts in a single day seems to be the norm for you, and the breads are gorgeous. I'll be watching for your tasting notes on this, and on your rye post earlier as well. You are tempting me to splurge on Michel Suas' Advanced Bread and Pastry book. Hmm... Father's day is coming up. I shall have to drop some hints.
Thanks for the inspiration David
OldWoodenSpoon
It doesn't take much of a change to make a big difference does it? That's a really good looking boule/s
Eric
David
For your kind words.
I think it would be interesting to make this bread with cold retardation of the levain and of the shaped loaves. I presume it would make a tangier bread, but a different bread.
David
Those are sure purty! wish we could all sample!
Betty
How many times have I had the same wish? Wouldn't it be great if we could?
David
Indeed, these boules and your rye batard look brilliant, David!
The SD boules are truly eye candy in the second photo above... c'est magnifique :)
Both of these breads make me want to take a bread tour of France. Just to re-center, you know.
David
Especially the contrast between the slash and the outer crumb. Colorful, very colorful. With that nice crumb, delightful too. A keeper. I can almost smell your photography!
Mini
David
Beautiful as always, David! Lovely, lovely lovely! In every respect!
Two details caught my attention. The first detail is that the recipe calls for bread flour and you indicate you used AP. This and your indication the bread has 64 percent hydration suggests that you may reduced the water in your recipe for I keep getting that the hydration is close to 68 percent (but my brain may be a bit scrambled this morning).
Thanks for sharing!
Jay
My calculation was 64%, but I'll check again.
"Bread flour" in formulas is ambiguous, as you probably know. I used KAF AP, which has a higher protein content than many AP flours. Also, my thinking was that this bread was meant to be like a French-type pain au levain, which would use T55.
Having made this once, if i make it again, I'll probably tweak the formula.
David
As you point out, KA AP is definitely a slightly odd bird in that it is a bit stronger than most. I started experimenting with flours last year but striving to lose weight has pushed me to curtail my experiments and concentrate on the breads I like best. I haven't tried a true stiff levain bread like this and I should to help round out my understanding of dough. I will try this soon.
I understand you on the flour/French bread texture. I did some 72% pane Pugliese last week that was truly amazing - made from KA AP. I love my artisanal bread flour boules but the texture of the Pugliese was a nice change - soft and not so chewy as you describe.
You are always an inspiration!
Jay
Beautiful boules, David! This is right up my alley, crunchy crust, soft crumb, not too tangy, TAKE ME BACK TO FRANCE...
Don
On our trips to France, we had baguettes, mostly. I did have Pain Poilâne and a Pain de Campagne, in the Dordogne. I never had an all-white flour pain au levain, as far as I can recall. So, I have no reference point, unfortunately. Must correct this deficiency!
David
Gorgeous loaves David - especially the scoring. I was comparing Suas's formula to Hamelman's - very similar overall, but Suas uses a higher proportion of levain than Hamelman. As much as I like sourdough, I really have an affection for the classic pain au levain: it's so full of subtlety (like the difference the small amount of rye makes) that gets overwhelmed in the world of 'tang.' I guess each helps us appreciate the other more!
As usual, beautiful work.
Larry
David
I am in TN with pasta ready for the kids when they get in from work. I want to ask you a couple questions. I have a Miele double oven. I usually use convection for everything. I have looked at the settings and the only way to switch from Convec to reg baking mode or to anyother mode for that matter is to turn the oven off and then quickly turn it back on. Do you think that would work for what you are doing? I realize your oven must operate in a different way at least I am assuming that it does.
I also wanted to ask about the Suas formulas. I haven't used the book yet although I have had it well over a year...are you using the "test" amounts? Have you tried increasing them to get 4 loaves ? Also he states in one formula for the Semolina bread that he uses Durum flour and semolina flour. My understanding is they are the same...sorry to have so many questions. Thanks for your help. Off to look at your other post!.
My oven works as you describe yours. You turn it off before switching modes.
I use the "test" column in Suas. I've haven't scaled any formulas up yet, but it shouldn't be a problem.
If a book says "Durum" flour, it seems to me it usually means "fine Durum." Semolina is a courser, sand-like grind, of durum wheat. (Although i've recently learned that "semolina" refers to the grind and can be from other grains than durum wheat.) A good formula should be clear about which grind is called for.
David
Nice bread David! You just keep raisng the bar.
Michael
David
I was just worried about how to get from the one to the other w/o the cooling fan really lowering the temp in the minute it takes to change modes. It comes on immediately. Will give it a try when I get home.
The semolina flour that I buy is all that is available in our area. It is quite fine like silk not sandy, course at all. Will check this next month when I am in Chicago and see what the stores have there. c
can't get over how really pretty your breads are...
They look ever so tasty! I love having a loaf like this around...it just goes with everything!
Sylvia
We went to a huge Oriental Grocery here in Knoxville. I found durum flour among LOTS of other treats that we can't get at home in AL. So I am set and will try Suas's formula for the Semolina bread.c