Benito's blog

I based my recipe on Maurizio’s Fifty-Fifty Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread.  I decided to lower the whole wheat just a bit.

For single loaf weight 750 grams 40% Red Fife

Hold 50 g of water

Levain for single loaf weight 750 grams

I started the Levain and autolyse at the same time.  With a room temperature of around 80ºF this ran for about 4.5 hours.

I then added the levain to the autolysed dough working it in using half of the hold back water.  Then sprinkled the salt on the dough and worked it in with the remaining hold back water.  

Next for 5 minutes I did slap and folds for the first time.  This was interesting to do and I think it might have been easier if I was making a larger loaf.

Bulk fermentation went for about 5 hours and I did 5 sets of stretch and folds during the first 2 hours or so.  

Once bulk was completed and the dough was bubbly I did an initial shaping.  After a bench rest of 20 minutes I shaped into a batard and placed in the banneton.  The banneton was put into a plastic bag and left on the counter for 30 minutes before placing it into the fridge for about a 16 hour cold fermentation.

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After heating my cast iron Dutch oven in my oven for 1 hour at 500ºF I inverted the banneton onto a sheet of parchment and used a butter knife to remove excess rice flour.  I then spritzed the dough with some water and then scored the dough.  I quickly placed the dough into the Dutch oven and baked at 500ºF for 20 minutes.  I then removed the lid and dropped the oven temperature to 425ºF baking for a further 20 mins at which time I took the loaf out of the oven and placed on a baking rack.

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This is the first loaf I have made that had any sort of ear, so I’m excited that maybe I’m getting a better handle on final shaping.  Hopefully I can build on this success and get even more tension on the skin of the dough to get even better oven spring and better ears in the future.

A bit of background about me, I quite new to bread baking having only really starting this year and having some success following the methods of Peter Reinhart in Artisan Breads Everyday for commercial yeasted breads.  I decided that I would like to try sourdough and if I was going to do that I would also try my hand at making a sourdough starter.

My first attempt didn’t seem to work out, I followed Peter Reinhart’s instructions from Artisan Breads Everyday, but after several days and little apparent activity I gave up and started again.

My second attempt I followed Peter Reinhart’s instructions for a seed culture again and things were going fairly well, however, the phase 4 seed culture seemed to have only a bit of vigor.  After two days in phase 4, I decided to discard all but 100 grams of the seed culture, which had a very pleasant acidic smell and then added 100 g of water and 100 g of unbleached bread flour.  I am hopeful that this will become more vigorous with regular 1:1:1 feedings.  I should say, I didn’t really know any better and started this with all purpose whole wheat flour that wasn’t organic.  I will keep this one fed and going and see what happens.

 Now my third attempt, but this time with Sourdo Lady’s instructions found on this site.   I found some organic sprouted rye flour at Whole Foods and decided I’d use this flour to make a seed culture.  Hopefully third time’s a charm. 

I will try to update with photos in the next days of my adventure.