Nearly 3 decades ago, I did sourdough bread for a couple of years, then lost the start I was using, failed to resurrect it and returned to yeast breads. Back then, the Internet was new, sourdough journeys were personal and largely unpublished. I gave up. Over the decades, my mastery of yeast breads grew, I experimented with different ferments (that start out with commercial yeast) and I have been pretty satisfied, however, I have always wanted to return to sourdough for many reasons including survivalism, health and FOMO.
I'm just finishing the creation of a my own, new start and plan to get back in. I have spent a great deal of time looking into prevailing not to mention passionately religious practices. This page contains notes on some of the more worthy boastings.
|
He keeps starter in refrigerator, gets it out on weekends, feeds it, awaits activation, then steals levain for baking, but puts the remainder back into the refrigerator for the next week. Use more starter in winter, less in summer.
40g starter
800g water
20g salt
900g bread flour
100g white whole wheat
Mix in the measuring container. Cover and rest for 15 minutes, fold, then rest for 15, fold again, then rest 15 and fold for third time. At this point, double the dough (in the measuring container). May take 12 hours at room temperature. The dough is domed, fermentation healthy, remove it to floured surface to divide into 2 (or more depending on your intent). Preshape by pulling dough out, pressing into center, turning, then pulling again. Etc. Let rest for 15 minutes before final shaping. Do not allow dough surface to dry out. For bâtard, make rectangle, fold in thirds like a letter, then roll it across the short width pressing down sealing with heel of hand as you go. Dust banneton evenly and up the sides with courser flour (fine semoulina, rice, whole wheat, etc.). Invert pâton into banneton (so the loaf is upside-down in banneton; the seam side will be up). Rest in cold refrigerator for 12 hours. Prepare Dutch oven, bell baker, etc. for baking. Invert the pâton onto parchment paper, lift and drag the pâton and paper to the chosen baker. Tuck an ice cube under the paper for extra humidity during the bake. Slash the pâton as desired. Cover and place into the oven heated to 450° for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake for 20-25 more. |
|
He uses an explicit levain, make levain by mixing thoroughly...
100g sourdough starter
15g bread flour
15g whole wheat flour
5g rye flour
35g water
Set this aside to double, about 5 hours. Meanwhile, a couple of hours before the levain is ready, autolyse the bread ingredients:
135g wheat flour
365g bread flour
[ 500g flour total ]
425g cold, filtered water
Mix well in bowl, scrape down the sides. cover and let rest until levain is ready. Add...
70g levain
...to the autolysis just down. This will leave 100g over as starter for next time.
11g Kosher salt
...around the outside of the dough in the bowl. Wet fingers to pull and tuck the autolyzed dough over the salt and levain turning the bowl just a bit before repeating until mixed. The dough will already be very elastic because of the autolysis. Cover for 15 minutes. Perform first fold using pull and tuck method. Go until the dough gets stiff (because awakened gluten). Cover for 15 minutes more, then repeat folding as described. Cover, rest and repeat a third time. Rest for 30 minutes then remove pâton to wetted surface for another set of foldings: make 12" rectangle, fold into thirds, then fold/roll across the narrow width. Make into a tensioned ball. Return to bow, cover, rest for 30 minutes, then, as above, repeat twice more for a total of three times. Rest in bowl at room temperature for 4 hours (bulk ferment). Turn out onto surface and refold once as done before bulk fermentation. Do not deflate the dough anymore than necessary. Make ball (preshape). Dust with flour and rest for 30 minutes. Dust surface next to pâton and roll it over onto that surface. Perform final trifold taking care not to deflate. Final shape into boule tensioning the top keeping the bottom against the surface. Prepare the banneton. Invert boule into it. Stitch the bottom to tighten the boule even further. Refrigerate over night for 14 hours. Preheat oven and baker to 500°. Prepare parchment. Invert pâton onto parchment from banneton, transfer to baker bottom, then slash. Cover baker and bake for 20 minutes, reduce oven to 450°, then finish baking uncovered for 35 more minutes. Allow to cool for an hour. |
This is taken from her video on bulk fermentation.
Bulk fermentation is trickiest part of sourdough baking. It's the most common reason behind beginning mistakes!
Dough temperature directly affects length of fermentation.
See The Sourdough Journey bulk-fermentation chart on this.
Use proofing container with volumetric gradations on the side. For example, if your dough is at 80°, it should be fully proofed after rising 30%. The gradation and a calculator will tell you how much this is for the size of your dough.
Best practice is long proofings in the refrigerator. Tom's chart covers this.
The amount of starter used has an effect on the rise.
Stickiness of dough is an indicator of the maturity of the rise. This is less useful the greater your hydration.
If dough pulls easily and cleanly away from proofing container, this is a sign of maturity. Glass containers work best for this, metals do not.
Grasp proofing container and shake. If "jiggly," this is a sign of maturity.
The poke test will indicate whether the dough is in danger of over-fermentation. This test is not so valid when fermenting whole-grain doughs. How to test? Flour or wet a finger and poke it into the dough for 1 second. Remove finger and observe if...
Over-proofing is when the yeast has consumed all the nutrients it can get, so will no longer produce CO2. The lift (oven spring) during the bake will be gone.
If during preshaping there are no "subdermal" bubbles, dough is either dead (over-proofed) or insufficiently fermented. If the latter, finish shaping, put into banneton then leave out to proof longer before returning to refrigerator.
If your dough consistently over-proofs, use less starter. (Same advice for yeast doughs too.)
These notes aren't specifically sourdough in nature, but I wanted to capture them. I admire the Chain Baker. This set of notes are about converting from bread-making by hand to using a stand mixer.
If you want to convert a recipe from hand mixing to machine, ...
An important take-away is that the machine, especially at higher speeds, will heat up the dough. This will have the effect of...