December 7, 2014 - 8:23pm
White Sourdough Batard
I decided to try white unbleached flour. Man am I glad I did. It tastes wonderful. I converted my starter overnight and it was bubbly and light so on a whim I mixed this up. I used the french fold at 30 minute intervals until I felt I was bothewring my neighbors with the noise. After that folds and a 8 hour proof in the bowl. then I degassed a little, shaped, let it rise about 30 min, and did my cuts. Preheat to 500F, added water, baked 35 min and done.The crust is crispy, the flavor is great. I am loving this.
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Almost got a windowpane. Any tips on getting that?
Nice crumb there. You've also got it down to better timing.
Now for a little tip that will take you even further. A preferment with a twice fed starter will be even stronger then a once fed starter. For example lets say you need 150g of active starter for your recipe and you bake once or twice a week. Instead of pulling your starter out of the fridge giving it a feed and using 150g in your recipe try...
Get ready for explosive results.
Thanks :) I did try a preferment too yesterday but had very slack dough at the end. It wouldn't hold shape and came out ratrher flat with holes in the crust. I'll try your method and see if that helps.
As detailed as possible if you can.
I took half of the flour and water and mixed it with my starter. I let it sit for 10 hours. Then I mixed in the rest of the water, flour, and salt. I kneaded and proofed until doubled. When I turned it on my counter to shape I degassed with a few folds but it did not have any surface tension. It had holes and would spread thin.
Here's after baking:
A starter, or pre-ferment, becomes the levain when added to your recipe.
Starter and Pre-Ferment is like 6 and 2 threes.
You can either feed your starter and take from that however much you need and add that into your recipe. Or...
Take a little of your starter and build it into a pre-ferment which you add into your recipe.
Basically they are the same thing however pre-ferments are preferred when making larger quantities. But basically it's taking a little starter off and building it into your desired starter amount.
Now pre-ferments are generally for recipes which incorporate a larger quantity of starter and the recipe is generally quicker. But you created pre-ferment that was a whopping 50% of the dough.
You might have even experienced the gluten breakdown I was talking about.
I think so. I will cut my ferment to 6 hrs max.
But with smaller amount of starter. Here's a nice recipe with a small amount of starter which will give you time for longer bulk ferments allowing you to develop the gluten and flavour nicely. Very simple...
Flour : 100%
Hydration : 66%
Salt : 2%
Starter : 10%
So for example:
Flour : 500g
Water : 302g + 20g
Salt : 10g
Active Starter : 50g
Method:
1. Mix 50g of Active Starter into 302g of boiled water, that has cooled down to room temperature, till evenly distributed.
2. Add in the 500g of flour and form dough.
3. Cover and allow it to rest for 40min.
4. Pour the 10g of Salt on top and wet it with the 20g of water. Squeeze and fold dough till salt water is fully incorporated.
5. Cover bowl for a further 20min.
6. Start with stretch and folds. Do some stretch and folds every hour for the next 6 - 8 hours covering and allowing dough to rest in-between.
7. After last stretch and fold then shape and place into proofing basket (banneton).
8. Proof till ready. Allow to rise till 1.5x. Can't tell you how long as you'll have to be the judge of this. Probably between 1hr 30min - 2hrs. Then bake for 35min at 210 Celsius. Don't forget to score and get some steam into the oven.
9. If you want to do a long overnight proofing (to develop great flavour) then proof at room temperature for 40min then refrigerate overnight for 12hrs. Best to put in plastic bag to keep in moisture but if you don't have one then wrap in towel. Then bake straight from the fridge.
How are you doing your stretch and folds?
You mention that you are disturbing your neighbours with it. How so?
Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvdtUR-XTG0
Yes I know this way. Works very well with high hydration doughs I find. With lower hydration you might find the way I mentioned easier. There's also a simple stretch and fold. Or letter fold.
Sourdoughs are high hydration so I gave it a shot. It worked well.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40883/different-hydration-levain
Flour 100% (20% whole spelt, 80% strong white)
Hydration 65%
Salt 2%
Starter 20% at 75% hydration
The bread was 65% hydration taking into account the starter too. I did the starter as a pre-ferment as mine is kept at 100% hydration. A preferment also allows you to keep your starter at whatever hydration you like and you simply take off some to build into a levain.
I bulk fermented for 6-7 hours incorporating stretch and folds every hour. I then shaped and proofed in banneton for 40min after which I refrigerated for 12hours. Next day I baked straight from the fridge.
This vlooks good, I like spelt. What is strong white?
Thank you.
"Strong" Is the UK equivalent of bread flour. Strong refers to the gluten content. So flour which has protein of 11-14% is strong flour.
When using spelt remember that proofing time will be less. So 100% spelt you've gotta be careful. With a mix shouldn't be too much of an issue but something to remember. 20% is too small amount to be much different.
The bread is delicious. White bread flour for the texture with some healthy wholegrain spelt. If you want to try it then message me and i'll email you with a detailed recipe.Just include information...
1. What hydration is your starter and which flour do you use?
2. What size loaf do you want (by weight)?
2 things develop the gluten - Kneading & Rest
How about when you do the bulk fermentation for 6 - 8 hours you incorporate a stretch and fold every hour. I've taken to doing this and have been having better success. It'll only take you one minute every hour to do this. Now here's another very effective stretch and fold technique.
Wet your fingers so the dough doesn't stick to you them...
Keeping the dough in the bowl grab the far-side and gently pull up and over towards you pressing it down in the middle of the dough. Then rotate the bowl slightly and repeat. Going round the dough till it begins to resist (should take one minute). Then flip the dough over and cover. Repeat every hour till bulk fermentation is done.
If you have the time this is a great method. If not then do every 10-15min for about an hour then cover till bulk fermentation is complete.
A nice and quiet method. I'll give it a try, thanks.
has 50% preferment in it with half the flour and water + starter too. Cut it back to 205 and you will have much better loaf, A standard kind of white SD is 1 part starter, 2 parts water and 3 parts flour. 50% you will get goo in the end instead of dough.
The other, first loaf looks grand. Well done and happy baking
Actually I used 1/2/3 then used all my starter, 1/2 of my water, and 1/2 my flour. The after preferment added all the remaining ingredients. I used 100% starter as well..
After 10 hours, your "pre-ferment" was basically a new "starter". So, you had over 50% "starter" (in the form of your pre-ferment) in your dough. Try either just using starter in a 1:2:3 loaf or making your pre-ferment equal a lot less than 50% of the total dough.