The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

David's San Francisco Sourdough Quest

CAphyl's picture
CAphyl

David's San Francisco Sourdough Quest

I was inspired by David's San Francisco Sourdough Quest (see recipe link below) and set out to duplicate his fantastic loaves.  I stayed as close to the recipe as possible. I did follow his instructions for the starter and retarded it, as he described.  I was able to catch some of his suggested changes to the recipe that he amended later and added 10% whole wheat flour.  The loaves were a bit small, and I wondered if I didn't use enough flour, but I did weigh the ingredients per the recipe.  The dough was wonderful to work with throughout and really came up this morning during their room temperature proof after the overnight proof in the fridge.  The oven spring was really wonderful as well. The crust was excellent and very chewy.  My husband rated it very highly, so I will be making it again.  Thanks, David!

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/26956/my-san-francisco-sourdough-quest#comment-288993

Comments

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

SFSD breads?  Lucy picked this one.version 4 and his; San Joaquin and the Pugieisi Capriccioso as the 3 best breads of 2012 and then.... immediately banned David from consideration for any of the top 3 in 2013 :-)  They are all just fantastic and fun to compare with his baking this week of the PV Maggione.  Don't forget to try the other two as well and he makes the San Joaquin into some fine baguettes too - and they are terrific! 

Yours came out great, no worries -  few ever get David's perfect crumb very often.  It has to be tasty as these SFSD breads tend to be!  Well done and

Happy Baking Phyllis.

CAphyl's picture
CAphyl

dabrownman:  I agree. excellent recipe. I do want to try the others...I have been studying the San Joaquin recipe, I admit. I saw the PV Maggione as well.  It's great to have so many wonderful choices.  I just got the Artisan bread book by Peter Reinhart and the Tartine book by Chad Robertson, so I will be busy for some time between travels! Best, Phyllis

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks like you ended up with some great loaves from an excellent recipe.  Beautiful crust and open crumb.

Ian

CAphyl's picture
CAphyl

I will make this recipe again....we really enjoyed it.  Tough to even try to meet David's standards; I did my best!  That's the fun part of baking....there is always something new to try and something new to learn each time....Phyllis

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

A nice open crumb, too. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

Do try the version with increased whole wheat. It is the one my wife and I like best. Note that you may want to play with increasing the hydration, if you are comfortable with a wetter dough. I think I usually end up adding between 15 and 20g of water over what the posted formula calls for.

Happy baking!

David

CAphyl's picture
CAphyl

David:  I would have liked some bigger holes, so I will try a bit more water next time.  It was really tasty, however! Best, Phyllis

Darwin's picture
Darwin

Perfect to my eyes, very nice :)