Sourdough delights

First 'real' sourdough breads with my recently invigorated King Arthur starter.

Same dough different shapes thats all.

This boule was done in the la cloche clay bakerThe sandwich loaf in a silicon pan, used another as a lid

Some baking over the last couple of weeks.


Class fermentations, see the no-salt dough has already overtaken the salted normal dough even though it was mixed after.
Class breads
Teff Injera fermenting [innoculated with spit [good source of amylase and Lactobacilli]]Dosa batter fermenting nicely [Rice and black gram beans]Bread made with 33% wholegrain spelt four 67% hi-gluten white, made as a overnight sponge 100% with brewer's yeast from the bottom of a keg. Ate bread and drank beer made with the same yeast. Interesting experience!

Really nice chewy crumb with big holes
My first Debra Wink/Peter Reinhart "pineapple juice solution" sourdough bubbling fiercly at the end of phase 1

The inevitable aftermath

straight-dough with waxy wholewheat [25%]

Baker's corner in the lab

The ovenmy new library


Straight dough method

75% "Titan" hi-gluten HRS
25% stone-ground either waxy HRW or normal HWS
72% water @ 40 deg C
1% instant yeast
2% salt
150 g sourdough

2 kg doughs [plus 1440 water] 8 mins in Hobart 20 quart mixer with dough hook.
45/45/45 bulk fermentation with folds at each step
45 min final proof in banettons
bake in steam 500 F down to 425 F during baking
[6 min of fan off and steam pan, rest with "pulsed air"]

Test bread, nowhere near as good as a poolish bread, nor even close to the best, the overnight pain a l'ancienne method, but still very nice.

A nice bold dough ready to go [25% waxy wheat]
same.. in the oven
waxy wheat blend bread finished
waxy wheat blend bread crumb structure

Crust starting to crack
Controls with 25% "normal starch" stone-ground Oregon HWS

"Pain a l'pugliese"

Made another round of pain a l'ancienne, this time shaped as "pugliese" including 2 folds of the doughs starting from after it first doubled and warmed up after the overnight in the refigerator. The dough, even at 80% water, came together to be moderately handleable especially after the second round of folding.

"Pain a l'pugliese"
Made "quick" 2 hr fermentation using the same flour, yeast, and salt at 70% water to show to the class the striking flavor differences that can be generated simply altering the fermentation protocol with plain old commercial yeast. The boules though hit the spot big time with the crust, which crackled and cracked beautifully when cooling. I got the steam better in the oven: turned off the fan fort he first 6 minutes, started the oven at 500 F and let it drift down to 425 F, added lava rocks to my cast iron griddle plate for more surface area to volume ratio [read the idea in one of my books; not mine] to generate more-more-more steam, as well as spraying the walls every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Seemed to do the trick.


Had to wait a few minutes for the oven to heat back up, the conventional straight dough boules got a bit excitable... but they still worked
Boules cooling before the cracking
Boule crumb
Anyway; the class were able to detect differences in flavor, texture, crumb structure, and crust [color, flavor, texture] although not all preferred the pain a l'ancienne batards.