Sourdough Batard Questions
Tomorrow I am planning on baking a WW sourdough batard and have some questions.
I have never made a batard before but want to try it, my baking stone is 13 inches diameter. Is this big enough for a 1000gm batard?
Tonight I fed my starter and started a soaker with buttermilk, flour, salt.
It seems that sourdough is normally not enriched, is it normal not to add sweetener and oil? Normally I add barley malt syrup and butter or oil.
Tomorrow morning I will make the dough let it rise 6 hours and then form the loaf and let it rise another 6 hours.
Should I do some stretch and folds during the first rise? If so how many how often?
Do I need to support the batard on the sides after I shape it?
Normally what I do is use a sourdough starter and then yeast in the final dough to reduce the rise time and get a more dependable rise.
This time I am going without the yeast, I have done this several times with pretty good results but its been a while.
What oven temperature and how long should I bake it? To 200 degrees internal temperature?
Thanks
I make a hearth loaf for weekly sandwiches; usually 30% rye and of late almost always sourdough. So I will try to provide some answers. But the best thing to do is just try it a few times!
Should be fine. My weekly loaf is around 1000-1200g and usually ends up 10 inches (23 cm) long. I try for more of a loaf shape than a true batard, but you should be able to fit it in. Don't make it too pointy, and know that in my experience the loaf does not spring laterally much after it has proofed.
Up to you. Oil will tend to make a tighter, softer, and possibly smoother crumb. 1-2 tbs oil (I use olive) does make the dough easier to work, so you might want to use it the first few times and then try without. The malt syrup will make the dough rise a bit faster but will mostly cause the crust to be browner and crunchier.
If your dough actually needs six hours to ferment, then I would fold at 2 hours. But I would also ferment it in a dough bucket and note when it hits 2x or 2.5x; I do not think it will take 6 hours of fermentation time.
Aye, there's the rub. I personally think that doughs over 20% rye would benefit from some support. I just haven't found anything that works. I would really like Chicago Metallic to take their rye loaf pan and drill it the way they do their french/baguette double pan. But they don't, and I haven't found anyone else who makes anything like that. Perhaps if you have linen for couche'ing and are good at setting that up you could use it. I just go ahead and proof on the peel About 1/3 of the time I get great oven spring and a nice oval loaf; 2/3 of the time the loaf is wider and flatter but still works fine.
Let us know how it goes and post a picture!
sPh
Thanks for the tips SPH.
I added barley malt syrup but no oil.
What I ended up doing was one stretch and fold during bulk rise.
It did take about 6 hours to double.
Then I shaped it and put on an aluminum baking sheet to rise.
It sort of spread out during the rise and I tried reshaping a few times.
I decided to keep it on the sheet pan instead of trying to put it directly on the stone.
In the past I have not had good luck cooking at high "hearth" temperatures, the crust comes out hard and burnt. This time I found a recipe in Laurel's bread book that said to bake to 425 until the crust browns and then reduce to 325. I decided to start at 450 and then reduced to 325. The result was a perfect crust, crackly but not hard. It had a slightly blistered look like you typically see on white sourdough. The taste is phenomenal, good sour but not too much. I didn't have any butter, but put some Canola margarine on it and gobbled three slices. I threw in 60g of cracked grains to give it some crunch too. I will defeinitely be repeating this recipe. Things that I would like to improve: Bigger irregular holes (not sure how to acheive that), a rounder shape with less speading (maybe more stretch and folds? reduce hydration now at 80%, use a linen and couch).