Baked Starter!

You know that bubbly, lacy appearance when you look at a well-fermented starter through the side of its container? I've often wondered if that structure could be captured by baking it, and what the result would taste like. Now that I've got my new 4 X 4 X 4 Pullman pan (excuse me, "toast box"), I decided to try it out.

My standard starter these days is 90% hydration, 2% salt, bread flour.  I refresh it just before bed and it will typically be ready to use around 10 - 12 hours later. Then it slowly goes downhill until the next refresh. I use a translucent deli container for the starter. In the morning I refreshed the starter 1:5:4.5 starter:flour:water, and in the late evening I took 30g and refreshed it in the same ratio, meaning 150g of flour.  I took 5g of the remaining starter and refreshed it with the same ratio, putting it back into the deli container.** The large portion I put into the buttered Pullman pan and covered it with the lid. This was right at midnight.

** the container is getting a little gross with too much dried out old starter.  It's just about time to move to a new one.

Using this method I could use the deli jar starter to gauge how developed the ferment was, much like an aliquot jar.

By 11 AM the next morning the starter in the deli container was very bubbly and lacy and may have started to sink a bit. In the Pullman the dough/starter had risen somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the way up.  Sadly, I didn't think to make a measurement. Time to bake!

I baked lid on at 400 deg F/204C for 35 minutes in my countertop oven.  By that time the loaf was baked but the top looked pale and anemic since it had not risen up to contact the lid.  In fact it hadn't risen at all but looked like it had sunk a bit, down to about 2/3 of the pan height. I suppose the dough was overproofed, though it doesn't look sunken and the pores are still large.  To get some more color, I took the loaf out of the pan and baked it upright at 425 deg F for another 6 minutes.

Even with the subsidence it looks like those lacy bubbles did get baked in.  The crumb is obviously very full of large size holes. The crust is thin and crispy with a good flavor. The crumb is a little soft and sponge-like and it has a stronger, slightly buttery flavor than white loaves usually have.  I didn't notice any tang, which surprised me.

 I suppose you could call this a 100% preformated flour loaf. Or you could say it's the ultimate porridge loaf. It illustrates how flexible the use of a loaf pan can be (especially a Pullman pan). Dough too wet and sticky to shape?  Scrape it right into the buttered pan. Let it bulk ferment until well along then bake. Dough stiff?  After bulk ferment, shape into a log or several balls, then place into the pan.  Or anything in between.  It's hard to miss. They're all good. 

TomP