This is the recipe I most often use, modified somewhat from the original. It makes 2 large loaves that are tasty indeed. Note: I have updated the directions for warmer weather. While the original directions were great for a 60 degree kitchen, my 80 degree kitchen was leading to overproofed loaves.
Warm weather directions:
Have starter bubbling and ready to go (feed the night before). In the morning mix together:
2 oz white flour (56 grams)
2 oz whole wheat flour (56 grams)
8 oz starter (230 grams)
118 g of water
Start checking after about an hour or two and start the autolyse mix. Once it's doubled in size, add into the autolysed mixture:
Autolyse:
31 oz flour (mixture of white, whole wheat, rye, millet, oats, etc.) (880 grams)
1 T salt
679 g water
After mixing together, do 5 stretch and folds at 15-20 minutes apart.
Let double (start checking at about an hour).
Shape into two loaves. Let double again.
Before doubling, start heating the oven to 450 degrees (with pans in oven) Once heated, bake for 30 minutes with lid on, then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes.
*I would quite like to figure out how to use a solar oven for this, but haven't gotten there yet.
Winter directions:
The night or two before starting, pull starter out of fridge and revive it by feeding it. (I found that by usually keeping starter in fridge instead of regularly feeding on the counter, the sour taste is stronger, which I like.) I never measure these things - I do a high proportion feeding, meaning an eyeball of about as much flour as there is starter and then adding about that much water and stirring it up and leaving it at room temperature in a bowl with a plate on top. Note that I use nonchlorinated water; now that I no longer have an artesian well or Berkey water filter, I need to leave a bowl or jar of water out or boil it for 15 minutes for the chlorine to evaporate.
At about noon or 1 pm on start day, make sure the starter is bubbling and smelling right. Then,
STEP ONE
Mix together:
2 ounces of wheat flour
2 ounces of white flour
8 ounces of starter
118 grams of water (1/2 c)
STEP TWO - Autolyse
This can be done at the same time or a bit later, but I do find that a long autolyse really improves the quality of the bread.
Mix together:
31 ounces of flour (19 oz whole wheat, 12 oz. white ... or any other configuration of flours such as barley or rye or millet)
1 T salt
679 g water (2 3/4 c. + 2 T)
At about 6:30 pm, combine the two bowls (I use crab hands). Then do a stretch and fold every 20-30 minutes, about five times total.
Leave the dough overnight, covered with a shower cap. (New thing because I often am not free weekend mornings: I will try to refrigerate it overnight, pull it out first thing in the morning, give it a couple of hours, and then proceed.)
In the morning, separate into two bowls, first shaping and putting onto parchment paper (parchment paper is not mandatory, but I find it challenging to get the loaves into the preheated cast iron without burning myself if I don't use it).
Allow another 2-4 hours rising time.
Heat oven to 450 degrees, with pan (cast iron with lid is best) heating in oven. Bake bread for 30 minutes covered then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes.
***
Right now I'm heating up the oven to bake loaves that were 8 oz. millet, 10 oz white, 13 oz. wheat, and the liquid for the autolyse was almost all whey from cheesemaking. It's been rising very nicely and I may have even overproofed it. My oven now is tiny so can only do one loaf at a time, and the temperature regulation is sketchy at best. I was getting aggravated and then I realized that folks have been baking bread in fires for a very long time, and you can't adjust a fancy knob on a fire. Bread is adaptable and I find it hard to go wrong, in part because I've been making it so long. It took me a long time to start on sourdough, only been doing it a year and a half or so, but my decades of yeast bread baking are definitely helpful for intuitively understanding how bread acts and responds.
The night or two before starting, pull starter out of fridge and revive it by feeding it. (I found that by usually keeping starter in fridge instead of regularly feeding on the counter, the sour taste is stronger, which I like.) I never measure these things - I do a high proportion feeding, meaning an eyeball of about as much flour as there is starter and then adding about that much water and stirring it up and leaving it at room temperature in a bowl with a plate on top. Note that I use nonchlorinated water; now that I no longer have an artesian well or Berkey water filter, I need to leave a bowl or jar of water out or boil it for 15 minutes for the chlorine to evaporate.
At about noon or 1 pm on start day, make sure the starter is bubbling and smelling right. Then,
STEP ONE
Mix together:
2 ounces of wheat flour
2 ounces of white flour
8 ounces of starter
118 grams of water (1/2 c)
STEP TWO - Autolyse
This can be done at the same time or a bit later, but I do find that a long autolyse really improves the quality of the bread.
Mix together:
31 ounces of flour (19 oz whole wheat, 12 oz. white ... or any other configuration of flours such as barley or rye or millet)
1 T salt
679 g water (2 3/4 c. + 2 T)
At about 6:30 pm, combine the two bowls (I use crab hands). Then do a stretch and fold every 20-30 minutes, about five times total.
Leave the dough overnight, covered with a shower cap. (New thing because I often am not free weekend mornings: I will try to refrigerate it overnight, pull it out first thing in the morning, give it a couple of hours, and then proceed.)
In the morning, separate into two bowls, first shaping and putting onto parchment paper (parchment paper is not mandatory, but I find it challenging to get the loaves into the preheated cast iron without burning myself if I don't use it).
Allow another 2-4 hours rising time.
Heat oven to 450 degrees, with pan (cast iron with lid is best) heating in oven. Bake bread for 30 minutes covered then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes.
***
Right now I'm heating up the oven to bake loaves that were 8 oz. millet, 10 oz white, 13 oz. wheat, and the liquid for the autolyse was almost all whey from cheesemaking. It's been rising very nicely and I may have even overproofed it. My oven now is tiny so can only do one loaf at a time, and the temperature regulation is sketchy at best. I was getting aggravated and then I realized that folks have been baking bread in fires for a very long time, and you can't adjust a fancy knob on a fire. Bread is adaptable and I find it hard to go wrong, in part because I've been making it so long. It took me a long time to start on sourdough, only been doing it a year and a half or so, but my decades of yeast bread baking are definitely helpful for intuitively understanding how bread acts and responds.
***
I have a bunch of old yogurt to use up so I'm going to put it in and add more water. Here's my first try:
679 grams of water x .035 (% of fat) x .13 (approximate % of milk solids) = 109
I think that some of the milk solids may break down during autolyze, so I'd just add another 110 grams of water and 679 grams of yogurt and see how that goes.
BUT. I don't want to waste all the flour if it doesn't work right. So I think I'll just add
300 grams of yogurt
425 grams of water + more water until texture is right
No comments:
Post a Comment