New Sourdough Starter: First Bake
Back when I first started this blog, I was trying out the San Francisco starter from sourdo.com. I was never able to get a flavor I loved from it. Almost six years down the line, I've learned a ton about sourdough in the interim. I was also growing bored with the rye strain I've been baking with for the last few years -- so I'm trying again with it. I've been building the starter for the last week, finally it was active enough to use.
Maurizio Leo's The Perfect Loaf is one of my favorite baking blogs, so I decided to try his Best Sourdough Recipe.
For the whole wheat portion, I used fresh-milled organic hard red Spring wheat. For the white flour, KA bread flour. This is a really high hydration dough. I didn't quite pour it into the bannetons, but it wasn't by any means even vaguely stiff.
It came out of the basket really nicely (rice flour), even if it was nearly flat. The oven, with a cloche inside, was preheated for an hour at 500 degrees F. After 25 minutes, I removed the top and dropped the temp to 450, and left it in for another 20 minutes, turning it halfway through. No convection.
I'm happy with the result. I'm hoping it gets a little more sour with time. Next time, I'm going to try upping the percentage of whole grain flour -- it has less than 10% right now.
Comments
Hello: I had been baking sourdough for a while but I have neglect the starter and I am suffering with the result. I love the crumb in your bread and will follow your blog now. Thanks.
Thanks!
i travel a lot, and sometimes grossly neglect a starter. When i do, I start over again with just 20g of the old starter, and rebuild it over the course of 3-4 days (discarding everything but 20g each time) until it is happy and active again.
BTW, update on the starter -- the next day the bread was perfectly sour, and tasted like what I get when I'm in SF.
that it is more sour the next day and it always seems to taste better toasted with butter on it:-) I spent a long time trying to make SD bread the way it was in 1973 when I first has some. It isn't like it is today for sure but the great thing for all of us is we can make it just the we we like best! I love Maurizio's blog too! Great photos there too.
Happy Holiday baking