Overnight Country Blonde, from FWSY

I have been maintaining two active levains. One white at a 1:1:1 feeding ratio and one Forkish style, 1:1:4:5 levain, ww flour, strong bread flour and unlike KF I like to go 100% hydration as it lends more to the sweet lactic acid side of the flavour spectrum. I like Ken's discussion on tailoring the flavour profile of your levains.

The first week or so with my new levains I fed daily. Then they both lived on the counter for 24 hours after feeding, then into the fridge for two days. I think my Forkish style levain is ready. I feed at 4 - 5 pm and in the morning this is what I had:

To hit the top and collapse this beast would have had to go more than 4x. I think this starter is ready! I think I need a taller starter container! Twenty our hours after feeding this levain I began the second levain build for this bake.

After my first KF style boule stuck to the brotform, I have taken great pains to use a LOT of rice flour, prior to adding the dough. Now my dough isn't sticking and the extra flour really puts some nice markings on the crust. I also love the organic bloom.

This formula worked rather well despite the high hydration @ 80%. I am getting better at Ken's wet hand S&F in the bowl technique and find that using an extra large bowl helpful.

This is a really tasty bread. The crumb has great chew and the crust snaps when you bite into it! I need to work on my shaping a little bit, but the holes where the baker sleeps didn't affect the taste and flavour one bit!!!

All in all a very satisfying bake.  A fun process and nice looking, great tasting bread. What is not to like? I am loving bread baking again now that I have natural levains. What a difference!

Oh yeah, it was like Christmas for this old ski bum today. A nicely turned out loaf and some soft PR style soft, pull apart dinner rolls. Stay tuned. I was so impressed with my fancy surgical steel bread knife I ordered their 100 year anniversary Chef's knife. Light and beautifully balanced with a 5" blade, this is easily the sharpest knife I have ever owned. A real pleasure to use!

Happy baking folks! Ski