soSJSD revisited

In a recent blog about Lessons in Baking I ended by stating “perhaps that is the most important lesson of the day – that with practice and sticking to plan, one can duplicate over and over again what they create.”

I’m going to get together with the friend and son-in-law again in a few days.  This next time, if the plan pans out, he will be the hands-on person, and I’ll be the observer.  But I thought about a formula a bit simpler than the Sesame Semolina Levain batard that we did last time.  Just plain old F, W, S and Y.  And what comes immediately to mind is the sterling SJSD Levain formula by David Snyder.  My recent take on mostly everything is to use my own version of a stiff levain in place of just about whatever is called for (except rye sours).  Just sprinkle a few additional grams of water into the mix to compensate for the hydration lost with a stiffer levain.

In preparation, I ran a batch of my soSJSD* Batards.  And they came out as anticipated.  With the funny exception of two of them scored and bloomed just a bit off.  Still in all, a good bake with some lovely blistering.  And further evidence that one can indeed duplicate repeatedly what they create.

*son of San Joaquin SourDough

Steam released and rotated

Handsome little devils

And the crumb

alan