November 8, 2007 - 6:29am
whole wheat sourdough loaf
I was in a hurry and had a couple of cups of starter handy ...
http://www.oldwithoutmoney.com/sourdoughLoafnBuns9.jpg
- Richard
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I was in a hurry and had a couple of cups of starter handy ...
http://www.oldwithoutmoney.com/sourdoughLoafnBuns9.jpg
- Richard
Very nice bread! Can we have a picture of the crumb? how did it taste?
Tasted like a nice mild whole wheat sourdough.
I prefer it with a bit more bite, but I only had time to give it one rise -- I had to go to work. I probably would have let it rise again (or another half-hour or more).
Tho' my colleagues made short work of the half loaf I brough with me.
Here's the other half:
http://www.oldwithoutmoney.com/sourdoughLoafCrumb.JPG
www.oldwithoutmoney.com
and I'm sure it tasted great too! Was this 100% wholewheat?
Andrew
Looks great!! I have never been able to get this kind of volume on my whole wheat breads. Was that 100% whole wheat. What about your starter? 100% WW too? Will you share your recipe?
I'd say it was 50% whole wheat.
This loaf was roughly 50% KA organic all purpose, 25% KA white whole wheat, 20% KA whole wheat, and 5% Arrowhead Mills (organic stone ground) whole wheat (I love the texture). [I'll buy whatever decent name brand is on sale and nut-free -- typically KA, Hodgson Mill, Gold Medal King Harvest or Arrowhead Mills.]
About 4 cups in the above loaf & rolls -- the loaf had a pre-baked weight of just under 2 lbs, and lost an ounce or two during the baking. The pre-baked weight of the rolls was 100g.
The 'trick', if there was any, was to get my relatively wet (say, 70-80%) prefermented starter to about half the total volume. This is what my starter typically looks like when I start baking (and this is from a firm starter ball that's as about as dry as I can make it).
http://oldwithoutmoney.com/yeast1a.jpg
I add a cup of this to a half cup of water, thoroughly mix/aerate, and then add a cup of flour (50% white, 50%ww). Let it go for 6-12 hours -- typically before I leave for work.
Before or after dinner (time permitting), I mixed in the remaining 2 cups of flour. Lately, I've been trying to keep the dough relatively wet for a sandwich loaf (something new for me). I'd say the final dough it was 60-65% hydrated.
I knead by hand for 15+ minutes (using flour pretty liberally as needed -- probably another 1/4 cup or so), shape the dough into a ball, and let that rise in an oiled bowl (covered with a plastic bag) for about 6 hours at room temp. Pull it out of the bowl, fold it, shape it into a log (plus the two rolls on the side) & put in the loaf pan covered with a damp cloth. Let that rise for just over 2 hours (I would've gone 15-45 minutes more, but had to go to work). Baked at 425 for 40-45 min. As soon as I can (typically a half-hour or so, I pop it out of the pan to help let some moisture out of the bottom half of the loaf.
I forgot about the rolls -- they got 25 min., tho' they should've only got 20. But my boy (who's got an offensively sophisticated palate for an 11-year-old) said he really liked them as sandwiches, so no harm, no foul.
-Richard
www.oldwithoutmoney.com