Baguettes and 40% whole wheat

After a business trip to Barcelona, which exposed me to baguettes and their crusty potential, I started experimenting with the long and thin dough shape. Results were good, but they became great recently when I decided to cut down on the amount of whole wheat in the dough (I'd been doing more than half whole wheat flour, with AP taking up the rest).

So, using Peter Reinhart's sourdough method as outlined in The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I used approximately 8.25 oz of whole wheat flour and 12 oz of AP flour (or around 40% and 60% of flour weight, respectively, which excludes the completely unbleached all purpose flour starter).

It's very good bread. Retarding the shaped baguettes overnight allowed for an even better flavor and texture.

Notes for next time: build up more gluten, maintain hotter oven for longer.

Catch up

I'm sure almost no one has passed by this blog, but as it was initially intended as a means for me to document and take notes on my development as a sourdough baker, I am ashamed at the lack of updates here. Since the beginning of all of this, I haven't taken a break of more than one week from working with the New Zealand culture I woke up way back in June 2009. Looking over these previous entries, I laugh at how deflated and strange my old boules looked. I am not going to be humble about it; I've gotten pretty good with baking sourdoughs, thanks, in short, to perseverance in the pursuit of good bread without commercial yeast.

My latest sourdough experiment was a potato rosemary recipe that used a commercial yeast starter, but I used my still developing skills to adapt the recipe for my starter, and it came out great. I used blue potatoes (and the cooking water) in an attempt to make it a noticeable shade of blue, but it turned out rather normal, ruining the marketing brainstorm session I had while mashing the potatoes up before adding to the dough.

ALSO, a breakthrough for me has been using my dutch oven to bake the breads. I preheat it along with the oven and drop the dough into it, close the lid, and then after about 20 minutes insert my probe thermometer and remove the lid. Otherwise, I just follow the same procedures as always, and the breads have way more spring and look amazing!

A lot of my breads have been at least photographically documented, but instead of trying to find as many different loaves as I can in all of my photos, here is a photo of the sourdough I think came out the best of recent baking sessions. I added some crushed garlic I sauteed briefly in olive oil, my favorite variation so far for sourdough.

Blueberry pancakes and an attractive overnight boule

Blueberries grow all around Amy's mom's house!

The punch of the wild berries went well with the wild yeast pancakes.

Amy put together the dough for these two breads and baked the first one. As is my new ritual, we baked one as soon as it was ready to go and refrigerated the other overnight. Overnight is the way to go!

No refrigeration

Holy crap I've impressed myself. Must've been Amy's magic touch.

Notes for next time:

-more salt... kosher takes up more space than table salt, which is what Peter Reinhart uses. MUST REMEMBER THIS or else I will keep making bland breads

Garlic!

Today I busted out the most delicious sourdough I've ever made, all thanks to some olive oil and garlic--and, you know, these past two months of experimentation and learning.

Basically, I wanted to copy a bread I love from Beach Pea Baking Co. in Kittery, ME. It's a roasted garlic boule that is so good I've had dreams about it. Wonderful dreams, in which I am prancing through a flowery meadow towards the boule, the sun lighting my grin in the most delicate and subtle way. But I didn't feel like roasting the garlic, since we didn't really have a good head, and I didn't really feel like waiting a while for it to fully roast, so I pan fried about 10 smashed cloves in extra virgin olive oil and added to the dough before the first rise.

The result was a fantastic blend of garlic and sour that I can't really figure out. Is it garlic that is making me feel so great or is it the sour? My breathe must be awful right now.

The only major issue with this bread came when I slashed it just before baking. It seemed that as soon as I punctured the skin the swelling monster I'd been patiently proofing exhaled deeply and deflated to about half its height. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I read just now that the blade should perhaps be wet when scoring. I need to research that more, but it sounds about right. Also, it could definitely use a darker crust.

Lucky for me, I followed Peter Reinhart's method closely and have a second boule retarding in the fridge right now. Tomorrow I will bake again and hopefully nothing will collapse.


Notes for next time: will think about this more and post with the second garlic boule.

Twins

I was accidentally experimental with my last two sourdoughs. With an unplanned visit to Amy's mother, my baking was interrupted during the final rise stage. I was doing one bread hearth style and one in a loaf pan, and decided to refrigerate the boule (hearth style, in case you aren't aware), and bring the loaf with me in the car. The dough rose during the bumpy ride, and then I immediately baked. The results were good, but definitely not sour and without that desirable open crumb I've been struggling to find.

slash up the middle opened up nicely and looks good

went very well with some soup Amy pulled together

When I got home two days later, the boule in the fridge was looking alright. It had begun to spread out a little, and the taut skin I had created seemed fragile. I let the dough warm up for about 5 hours, and then baked on my pizza stone. Just after putting it in the oven, I got an important work call, and this kept me from my bread for 10 minutes too long. The result was a tough, dark crust. Amy and I ate most of it while driving, and it really wasn't too bad. The crumb was beautifully open and there was a nice touch of sour. Not as much as my first bread, but definitely there. Next sourdoughs will definitely be retarded overnight in the fridge before baking, and hopefully I can pull them at the right time and enjoy some really great bread.

didn't rise so much, possibly because of the spreading during the long refrigeration period

nice shot of the crumb showing a variety in bubble size

can't say I recommend eating crusty bread in a car

This was a very enlightening bread experience, I must say. With the added stress of interruptions in my normal laid back routine, I was able to see the drastic effect of retarding in a refrigerator and in overbaking. Any unexpected situation is an opportunity to learn and grow, even if you're just baking something. I doubt I would have considered overnight refrigeration of the dough so soon in my bread studies if it hadn't been forced on me. There must be a good philosophical quote to go with all this, but all I can think about is lemons and lemonade. Mmmm lemonade.

notes for next time:
-retard overnight in fridge!
-use more starter in initial dough to hopefully increase sourness
-bake when distractions are less likely

100% Whole Wheat (well, almost)

After the salt incident, I hungered for bread that had taste, so I psyched myself up after busting out another excellent whole wheat cinnamon raisin walnut loaf of Peter Reinhart's and fed my starter with completely whole wheat flour, mostly because I was out of AP flour. Woops.

I looked around for how to convert an AP starter to whole wheat, and the process seemed to take days. I wanted the bread now, though. I needed it after the horror that ensued at Mom's. So, I decided to risk it and just go about things as if the starter was ready to go the next day. And I think it was pretty much ready. I loosely followed a recipe I found online, and baked a single boule on my stone in just the same way I've done for my past few loaves. Actually, no, after seeing how truly hot my Mom's oven got, I preheated to 550F on my apartment oven. Mistake? Probably, because the bottom was almost entirely black.

Rose no problem.

This bread is actually my new favorite for homemade 100% whole wheat bread. No offense to Peter Reinhart's recipe, which uses commercial yeast and is definitely good. It's just that this one had just a slight tinge of sourness that made it work for almost any application, especially as a standalone piece of dry toast. Best dry toast I've ever had, I think. Adding some Nutella was pushing it, however, since the sweet vs. sour battle was quite brutal, so I will continue to periodically bake Peter's recipe.


Notes for next time:
-go back to preheating to 500 despite lame oven performance
-let ferment longer to really expand flavor

Salt

I brought a firm starter with me on a visit to my mom's for the weekend and baked bread in a much better oven on a much denser stone. And I really thought the bread was going to be my best ever. It baked into two beautiful boules.


But... as soon as I took the first bite (just as the second boule was finishing in the oven), I realized I had made the most fatal of errors. My tongue writhed and retracted to the back of my mouth and my heart sank, because, yes, you guessed it, I forgot to add salt. One of just four ingredients, and it slipped my mind. I don't even want to talk about it.


notes for next time:
-use brain