I’m so irritated with Certain People in Washington DC that I’m going back to bread, something I both know a little about and can actually do something about.
This formula will show two things; how relatively small tweaks to the basic sourdough (Sourdough with Whole Wheat) we started with can produce a loaf with a distinctly different character, and how the Baker’s % notation I’ve been introducing can make life a hell of a lot easier for me when posting “new” recipes. I keep hammering on about the Baker’s % thing, I know, and it’s maybe tedious, but if you stick with it you won’t be sorry. Honest.
You’ll remember (or maybe not) the first sourdough formula was;
- BF 90%
- WW 10%
- Water 65%
- Salt 1.9%
And the post about “bread tweaking” talked about how you can just play around with that, and so long as you don’t make a big change in the overall proportions you’ll get good bread, and sometimes quite different bread.
This recipe is an example of what I mean;
- BF 85%
- Whole Rye Flour 15% (you can use WW here if you don’t have rye on hand)
- Water 65%
- Salt 1.9%
Just one tiny tweak there, really.
Here we go;
Liquid levain build
- BF 6.4 oz
- Water 8 oz
- Starter 1.3 oz
Here’s the other little tweak; the original recipe was 4.8 oz BF, 6 oz water and 1 oz of starter, which was a 15% preferment.
This one is a 20% preferment – another tiny change on the surface, but one that produces a noticeable change in the finished bread. It will be a little more acidic, which will tighten the gluten structure making the bread a tiny bit denser and more substantial. The slight increase in whole grains will also affect the flavor slightly.
Same procedure as before – mix the build the night before and let sit covered for 12-16 hours.
Final dough
- BF 1 lb 4.8oz
- Whole rye 4.8 oz
- Water 12.8 oz
- Salt 0.6 oz
- all the levain build from above
(Notice how the total amounts are the same in this recipe and in the Sourdough with Whole Wheat, only the proportions in the build and the final dough have moved around a bit)
Same procedure as before – mix everything but the salt into a shaggy mass, let sit in the autolyse for about 30 minutes to an hour, add the salt and knead to a medium development. (if you do use rye flour you might need to add a touch more water – rye captures more water than WW)
Put in a lightly oiled bowl for the first rise – about 2½ hours (at 75 degrees) with one fold after 1¼ hours. (Again, work with what the dough is actually doing, not what the clock says it should be doing – you want about a 50% increase in size, or just a touch more.)
Divide and shape normally.
Final rise about 2 to 2½ hours (again, at 75 degrees)
Score the loaves, and bake at 460 deg for 40 to 45 minutes.
See? Nothing to it.
I got up: thought must bake bread, and found myself mixing the levain build! It was 9am. Duhhh, so I’m hoping it’ll be okay if I add the flour salt and water around 10am this evening, fold it, then bung it in the fridge overnight, as some sites say you can do. I shall keep you posted.
I must add that white sour dough bread makes the most fantastic toast.
Di
let us know how it turns out …
you’re talking about retarding the first rise, right? I’ve not been forced into trying that yet.
…there are some modern baguette recipes which do exactly that, so you’ll end up with bread of some sort undoubtedly.
I’m on the edge of my chair ….
It’s a bugger getting old and forgetful
So:
I was getting tired so I added the final ingredients to the Levain build at 9 pm.
I’m still feeling my way around sour dough reactions and the feel and look of it and I read on another site that if you can get the right folding movement in the bowl and have a very sticky mixture, there’s no need to turn it out.
So, I made it very, very sticky, and as it was in a large bowl I floured my fingers and scooped mixture up at the edge of the bowl and brought it over to the middle a few times. It went smooth and springy almost immediately.
Then it went in the fridge.
11pm: I was just off to bed, but thought I’d check it. The mixture had huge bubbles and had already doubled in size!
As it was such a wet mixture, I had visions of it oozing over in the wee small hours, so I swore a bit, brought it out, collapsed and shaped it: left it for half an hour, and then stuck it in the oven.
So far it’s the best I’ve made…I cut a slice this morning, and inside the air gaps are plentiful, a good size, and uniform from bottom to top, which shows you’ve hit the rising times exactly right.
The only way I can explain what happened, is the consistency.
I love stories like that.
Yes, with wet dough you can stretch and fold in the bowl, and there’s going to be some recipes that use that technique.
Both sourdough and commercially yeasted breads use this approach, especially some of the newer (30 years or so) baguette recipes and many of the Italian breads like ciabatta. I use it quite a bit for baguettes myself. It’s best to use something to corral the loaves during the second rise – is that what you’re doing? A basket or a bowl and a teatowel or something?
I’d say you’re a natural at this – you just boldly improvise and wait to see what happens.
It’s good bread, innit?
At present I’m just making them into a rough long shape and sticking them on a big baking tray.
I read on another site that you can put the shaped dough in the fridge over night as well for it’s second rising.
So: I haven’t tried putting the last rise into a container and probably won’t because of the extra
washing up! I hate washing up. I’m the only dishwasher in the house. I will do anything to avoid it.
Quite honestly I don’t worry about the shape as long as the consistency is good and the taste is right. If it was for guests I would take more care, but as it’s only Bill and I, it doesn’t matter.
I think because I’ve been making regular yeast bread for quite a while I’m familiar with rising and the feel of a good bread dough. It’s all about confidence when you’re making bread.
I just chuck stuff in a bowl and it usually comes out edible although I have little sense of smell left and Bill eats anything that’s put in front of him, having had a very hungry childhood, so it’s pretty much down to luck.
I’m sure the most valuable lesson I’ve learned over many years is not to ‘fiddle’ too much or for too long with what’s being prepared. It’s the one thing I find myself repeating over and over again to my granddaughter’s when we’re having a baking session.
I’ve cut a few more slices from one of the loaves today and it’s looking exactly as a good sour dough should.
Reminder to self: I really must get something to take photos with.
I’ve heard cameras spoken quite highly of in that context.
I have a built in camera/webcam on my computer, but somehow I’ve erased the means to use it.
BTW: Have you seen this recipe for a mother mix?
http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/sourdough.htm
PS:
I wonder if my neighbours caught the smell of baking bread at midnight last night and if they did, knew where it was coming from. In the meantime I was so tired by the time it was baked, I went to bed in flour spattered pyjamas.
I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b012wcl6
Every Sunday they have a food programme and this week it was about natural yeast.
I was in the car while it was on and missed some of it, but got home and was able to replay it on the computer.
It was very interesting and I took a few notes in case you can’t listen in.
There is a ‘Real Bread Campaingn’ over here. Haven’t yet checked whether they have a website.
You can drink the liquid that sometimes forms on top of your starter. It’s alcoholic.
The starter makes a noise. They’ve recorded it in a lab in the US. And it’s intelligent.
Evidently another starter was the scum that forms on the top of fermenting malt in the beer making process. They call it ale balm. They didn’t give out any secrets, but said although it takes
even longer, it makes the most fantastic tasting bread.
Sourdough bread is pre digested so much easier to eat.
There is also another sort of bread with natural yeast over here which is called Yeoman bread. It’s one of the earliest breads baked in England. The Australian guy that makes it in Gloucestershire, said it’s high in vitamin B12 which is what they call a ‘get better’ vitamin. For some reason the yeasts they use in factory bread kills the B12, but the yeast they use in Yeoman bread actually increases it. He said that during hard times when there wasn’t much else bar bread to eat, the B12 it kept people alive despite the lack of a balanced diet.
I need a hearing aid too! It should be Ale Barm Bread not balm.This explains what went on in the programme a bit more.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2011/07/the-ale-barm-method-worthy-of.shtml
Take heart Di… Your way ahead of me.
I just finished batch 3 of oatmeal bread and it’s turned out different each time.
Next week I’m goin for 1st batch of sourdough using the Pro 600.