The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hurricane Isaac Sourdough Followup

nadira2100's picture
nadira2100

Hurricane Isaac Sourdough Followup

I managed to bake my loaves before we lost power. However, we lost our power 8pm on Tuesday and entertained the rest of the night by watching our neighbors shed blow away. We didn't get power back on until yesterday evening at 5:30. It's been a long few days, with nothing to entertain us but occasionally venturing out to look at the destruction that Isaac did while passing through. over 600,000 people without power, 155,000 of those people were in New Orleans. It's been boring and it's been hot. But now that I have power I thought I'd share photos of my first sourdough bread. 

My starter is only 2 weeks old, and I didn't get a strong sour flavor which I was expecting. The crumb was still chewy and creamy and the crust was still very crusty. Any tips on how to get a stronger sour flavor? (not that I really minded the mild flavor). 

I also noticed a change in my starter consistency. I had been keeping it in the fridge because I know I won't be using it that frequently and I'm attributing the change to the temperature warming up. it reached 90+ degrees on our house. I did refresh it, and it still seems more liquidy that it had before the storm. It's still really bubbly so should I just let it go? Am I worrying over nothing? Thanks all who sent your support in my last Hurricane Isaac post. It really meant a lot!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Keep it out for a few days and feed it more often.  Reduce the size to reduce discard.  Mix it up thicker and let it bubble up and thin, then feed.  The storm might have been the best thing for it.  :)   Glad to see you're high and dry and well supplied with good looking bread.  Bottom looks a little pale or is that just the light?

nadira2100's picture
nadira2100

What I meant by letting it go was should I let it keep "living/eating/multiplying" and see what happens. I have a tendency (at least with plants) to fuss more than I should and then I end up killing it somehow. Trying not to be like that with the starter :) I think the bottom is pale for 2 reasons. 1.) I don't think the lighting helped at all and 2.) I have a relatively small oven, no baking stone and I've been putting my steam pan on the bottom rack which doesn't leave any room for my baking sheet. So the loaf has to be baked on the top rack so the top is getting done quicker than the bottom. I'm going to try reversing the steam pan and the loaf for my next go around to crisp up the bottom. Thanks again for your advice MiniOven! :)