basic sourdough bread and Poilane -style miche from BBA
Here are my first two attempts at sourdough bread with my new starter. The results were not as good as I had hoped, especially the shape. Maybe my basic sourdough dough was too wet. It couldn't hold the shape. (maybe the gluten was destroyed by too much acid? maybe just a young starter?) It also seemed to almost burn on the bottom without really browning on the top. Despite the flat loaves the crumb of the bread was fairly open but it seemed sort of wet. As far as the miche, those loaves held their shape somewhat better but i had a hard time shaping without degasing. Both of the breads have a nice sour flavor which made it all worthwhile. Here are several pictures. I would really appreciate any advise on better sourdough loaves.
flat loaves (basic sourdough)
i didn't want to degas but if I didn't i couldn't get any surface tension
flat and burnt on bottom
inside basic sourdough
poilane miche
Hi Wendy.
Some queastions for you, to start the trouble shooting process. :)
1. How did you knead the dough?
2. How long was the bulk fermentation?
3. Did you fold the dough over during bulk fermentation?
4. How long was the final fermentation?
5. What rack was this baked on in your oven?
6. What temperature was this baked at?
7. How long were they baked for? (If you can specify an approximate weight/size of the loaf, that would help a lot)
When I baked my very first loaves with my 5 day old starter they too were quite blond. So to a large degree that part is probably OK. As for the rest, your answers to the above questions should give the gurus here plenty of material to give you and BaknTexan some great feedback.
Rudy