March 14, 2014 - 1:59pm
It's Been Awhile ... BBA Basic SD, Half WW, 77% Hydration
Made 2 batards for my first Engineering Staff Meeting today. I followed the Reinhart BBA recipe but used 50% WW flour, upped hydration to ~77%, warm fermented for ~1 hour at 100dF followed by cold fermentation for 48 hours in the fridge, and hearth baked at 550dF for ~15 minutes followed by 450dF until done. Nice oven spring this time, got a nice ear on one loaf. Co-workers liked it. Gave one to a friend (of the 2 loaves about 1/2 of 1 loaf was eaten by my coworkers).
Cheers-
Dave
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Looks great and I love your improvisation for the shaping "baskets"....
Your co workers must have been thrilled. You must have a proofer for 100 F proof but the sour had to really be good for it and the long old retard to. Well done!
@island66:
Necessity is the mother of invention. I need to get a linen couche but I don't have the time or money at the moment to get one. I can't recall where I saw it suggested to use rolled-up towels in lieu of a linen couche, but I added the rubber bands at the end because it naturally forms the correct shape. Seems to work pretty well.
@dabrownman:
I also served pizza at the meeting, so I'm not sure they were "thrilled" although all who ate some mentioned how much they liked it. A friend and former coworker is up the road at my former employer, we met after work and I gave him the other loaf (I gave him some from a recent, previous, bake and he really liked it).
I proof my loaves in the utility closet of my house (where the furnace and main HVAC fan is located). I have a thermometer in there, and when I proofed these loaves it read 100dF. I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the summer when the A/C is on and the room is cold. lol.
About the sour ... this bake and the previous bake (about 2 weeks ago ... I didn't post it here) the loaves had some nice "bite" to them, moreso than usual. I attribute it to the starter, which sat for about 3 to 4 weeks in the fridge without feeding. It was quite pungent (in a good way) when I went to bake 2 weeks ago. The yeast activity was a bit slow due to the long rest in the fridge, but it got the job done. I am beginning to think that the sour is more a function of the starter (and it's "ripeness") and not as much the main fermentation as part of a loaf. Dunno ... just discussing my observation and experience. It would be interesting to do some analysis on the starter and bread ... if I had the equipment, time, etc.
Regards-
Dave
doing everything out of the fridge; develop, ferment and final proof at 93 F and everything else in the fridge at 36 F is the key. Using whole grains in the levain and starter, storing the firm starter for 4 cold weeks without feeding and the levain for 48 hours in the cold as part of the 3rd stage build with a long cold proof of the shaped dough in the fridge is how to make bread really sour. Now you can make the bread as sour or less so any way you like - well done.