Alaskan Sourdough (adapted from Teresa Greenway)

A few weeks ago I found an excellent sourdough website created by Teresa Greenway and saved a few recipes to add to my future bake list.  I finally decided to give one a try and baked her recipe for an Alaskan Sourdough bread.  This bread is slightly sweet similar to a shepherder's bread.  The overall bread is 67% hydration and uses some interesting ingredients like evaporated milk.  You can find the original recipe here http://www.northwestsourdough.com/files/extra/Alaska.pdf.

I of course couldn't follow the recipe exactly the way it was written and had to make some modifications.  I decided to add some whole wheat flour and also used KAF European style flour along with KAF bread flour.  The original recipe calls for bread flour only.  I also use evaporated organic cane juice sugar instead of white sugar and used my 65% hydration starter in place of the 168% starter in the recipe.  I used this nifty hydration calculator to adjust the amount of starter and water to fit my starter and it worked out great.

The other thing I changed is the method of preparing the dough as I followed my normal version based on Peter Reinhart's procedures which fits in my schedule much better.

This bread turned out as good as I could have hope for and ended up with a more sour flavor than expected.  I did forget to put the glaze on the breads but it turned out great without it.  Next time I will have to give the sugar based glaze a try.

Ingredients

11.8 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

18.92 oz. Water (90 degrees F.)

4 oz. Evaporated milk

2 Tbsp Evaporated cane Juice Organic Sugar, 1 oz. (or use white sugar or honey)

2 Tbsp Melted butter (unsalted), 1 oz.

8 oz. Whole Wheat Flour (I used KAF)

16 oz. European Style KAF

10 oz. Bread flour

4 Tsp Sea Salt, .8 oz.

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the evaporated milk and water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours and butter and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.   Do not add the salt yet.  Let rest for 20 minutes and then add the salt by sprinkling it over the dough.  Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and need for 1 minute and form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours form the dough into Boules being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl or banneton and cover it with a moist lint free towel or oiled plastic wrap.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

When ready to bake make a hole with your thumb down the middle of the dough and then slash in 4 places around the hole.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to signify something Alaskan, but it looks pretty cool when it is baked off.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

I was very happy with the look and taste of this bread.  It will make 2 pretty large loaves around 2 lbs 3 oz. each.

Please visit the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/ for lots of cool recipes.  You can also visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts.