Sourdough Chronicles: Loaf #6

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached bread flour
25 twists of kosher salt
1 cup-ish of purified water at room temperature
3/4  cup of "fed" sourdough starter "Thomas"

Technique:

1.  At 3:00 PM: flour, water, salt, and starter were mixed together in a glass bowl.  Enough water (roughly 1 cup) was added to make the dough barely shaggy.  Set aside at room temperature.

2.  6:00 PM: the dough was folded in the bowl, once on each side. 

3.  6:30 AM: The dough was taken out of the glass bowl, placed on some floured parchment paper, and folded again, once on each side.  Set on the parchment, seam side down.

4.  8 AM: The dough was scored with an "x" on the surface.  Dough and parchment paper were placed into the Dutch oven preheated to 450 degrees.  Baked/steamed for 30 minutes with the lid on. 

5.  8:30 AM: The Dutch oven was uncovered, the bread was allowed to cook for 13 minutes, and then removed. 

Notes:

1.  Scoring the surface made it deflate a bit... maybe use a sharper knife the next time. 

2.  Decent sour flavor, mayhap from being allowed to ferment for essentially 15 hours.  I'll try for less time next time and see if i can still get the same flavor profile.  

3.  Not sure what the effect of using bread flour vs. all-purpose flour is. 

4.  I'll try to not fold 2-3 hours in the next time... to make it truly "no knead." 

VERDICT:  Decent.  I think this is the one. 

Sourdough Chronicles: Loaf #5

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
20 twists of kosher salt
1 cup-ish of purified water at room temperature
1/4  cup of "fed" sourdough starter "Thomas," + 1/2 cup of Thomas "discard"

Technique:

1.  At 7:30 PM: flour, water, and starter were mixed together in a glass bowl.  Enough water was added to make the dough barely shaggy.  Set aside at room temperature.

2.  9:30 PM: the dough wasn't as wet as i'm used to, but i kept the faith.  Folded a few times in the bowl, mainly to mix the wet parts with the dry.  Since i forgot to add salt in step 1, i added salt in between each fold.  

3.  6 AM: surprise!  The dough had risen, almost as if i had used actual yeast!  The dough was taken out of the glass bowl, placed on some floured parchment paper, and folded, once on each side. 

4.  8 AM: The dough and parchment paper were placed into the Dutch oven preheated to 450 degrees.  Baked/steamed for 30 minutes with the lid on. 

5.  8:30 AM: The Dutch oven was uncovered, the bread was allowed to cook for 13 minutes, and then removed. 

Significantly more volume than previous attempts.

Somewhat holey, but definitely less dense than before.

Notes:

1.  "Thomas" is a new starter to replace "Martha" (RIP).  He was generously shared with me by an old friend in southern California.  He seems more mature/robust than my previous starter, exhibiting significant rising after being fed.  It seems that my main problem was a "weak starter."  Consequently, this loaf was significantly "airier," almost like i used commercial yeast.  

"Thomas," doubling in size after being rehydrated and fed 3 times, 12 hours apart.

2.  Needs more salt.  I've already previously said that i need 25 twists... but i only did 20.  

3.  Barely sour.  Needs more time to ferment, perhaps?  

4.  Now that i've achieved (IMHO) optimal rise... time to make it pretty.  

VERDICT: Not bad.  Thanks, Marnie!  

Sourdough Chronicles: Loaf #4

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
20 twists of kosher salt
1 cup of purified water at room temperature
1 cup of "sourdough starter discard"
1/4 cup instant yeast (we found some!)

Technique:

1.  At 6 PM: Flour, 3/4 cup water, and sourdough starter were mixed together in a glass bowl.  Set aside at room temperature.

2.  10 PM: yeast was added to about 1/4 cup water, mixed in with the dough.

3.  6 AM: The dough was taken out of the glass bowl, placed on some floured parchment paper, and folded, once on each side. 

4.  7 AM: The dough and parchment paper were placed into the Dutch oven preheated to 450 degrees.  Baked/steamed for 30 minutes with the lid on. 

5.  730 AM: The Dutch oven was uncovered, the bread was allowed to cook for 14 minutes, and then removed. 

Notes: 

1.  Airer than loaf #3, probably due to the yeast, since the resting time was actually significantly less this time around.

2.  Not salty enough, but then again i used less salt.

3.  Decent sourdough flavor. 

VERDICT: Edible, and better than previous, probably due to the added yeast.  

Insight:

1. My starter isn't actually "mature" yet...  When i feed it, it bubbles but doesn't rise.  Needs more feedings.

2.  25 twists of salt seems to be the minimum.

3. Interestingly, right before i incorporated the yeast, the dough seemed to be the right "texture" - easily folded, not wet at all, similar in appearance to what they look like in youtube videos.

4. I think i may have found the proper proportion of ingredients, although i would prefer it to rise more.  So: more yeast, or more mature sourdough starter, or warmer water?  Also - next time, don't add any additional water (3/4 cup probably enough) when the yeast is added, so it's not as wet the next morning.

5. I'm told that it shouldn't be manipulated any more in the morning.  Hmmm.  

Sourdough Chronicles: Loaf #3

Ingredients:

2.5 cups unbleached flour
25 twists of kosher salt
1 cup of purified water at
1 cup of "sourdough starter discard"

Technique:

1.  At 1030 PM: All ingredients were mixed together in a glass bowl.  Of note: the starter was unfed.  The dough was reasonably shaggy.  Set aside, beside a sous-vide tank at 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  930 AM: The dough was transferred to parchment paper and folded once on each side. 

3.  10 AM: The dough was refolded, once on each side. 

4.  1030 AM: The dough was placed in a bowl, attempting to use it as a "proofing bowl."  

5.  1115 AM: The dough was inverted and placed onto another piece of parchment paper, placed into the Dutch oven preheated to 450 degrees.  Baked/steamed for 30 minutes with the lid on. 

6.  1145 AM: The Dutch oven was uncovered, the bread was allowed to cook for 14 minutes, and then removed. 

Notes: 

1.  Although it had bubbles in it, the loaf was extremely flat and dense, reminding me of the texture/density of focaccia bread.  

VERDICT: Edible, seems worse than previous.  

For next time: 

1.  Feed the starter before incorporating into the dough. 

2.  Fold earlier?  

3.  Use warm water.

4.  Use an actual proofing bowl...?  

This is discouraging. 

Sourdough Chronicles: Loaf #2

The recipe was essentially unchanged from the previous one.  The only difference was the age of the starter.  Based on the Kitchn formula, it was "mature" enough, after 4 feedings.  I'm too much of a novice to independently verify that.  However, i CAN say that the starter immediately bubbles up after being fed with the 1:1 flour:water. 

Notes:

1. It smelled a bit like sourdough, but there was no significant amount of sour flavor.  I don't really mind, since my point to the starter is to homebrew a leavening - not a flavoring - agent. 

2. The air pockets seemed a little bigger this time around, which may be a consequence of the "mature" starter.  I'm still not satisfied with the way the lower half compresses. 

VERDICT: Still not good, but still edible. 

Next: Put it upside-down into the Dutch oven.

Sourdough Chronicles: It Begins

"Necessity is the mother of invention."

-Plato

Last Friday night - as i sometimes do - i mixed together some flour and salt to make a loaf of Saturday morning no-knead bread.  Unfortunately, when i rummaged around the back of the fridge, i realized that we were out of yeast.  The next day, we visited several grocery stores and realized (as many people had, months before), that EVERYBODY WAS OUT OF YEAST.   

I knew just from reading friends' recent Facebook posts that sourdough starter could serve as a suitable replacement for store-bought yeast.  I Googled some formulae and settled on one that seemed the easiest, from Kitchn.  Essentially: (4 oz flour + 4 oz water every 24 hours) x 4, keep at a constant temperature of 75-80 degrees.  

HOWEVER, i still had flour and salt sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting for some sort of leavening agent.  Last night, after 2 feedings, my starter already looked bubbly and smelled sour, so i decided to take the plunge and try to make no-knead bread with what i had.  

So, ingredients: 

3 cups unbleached flour

20 twists of kosher salt

Approximately 1 1/2 cups of purified water, room temperature, taken directly out of reverse osmosis tap  

1/2 cup of "sourdough starter discard"

Technique: 

1. At 9 PM: All ingredients were mixed together in a glass bowl.  The amount of water wasn't precise, i just added enough to make the dough "shaggy." 

2. At 6 AM: The "slightly risen" dough (this was disconcerting, i'm used to a more impressive rise overnight) was transferred to a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper, and folded once per side. 

3: At 630 AM: The dough looked a little flat, so i folded it again, once per side.  

4. At 715 AM: The parchment paper was lifted and plopped into the Dutch oven, which had been preheated to 450 degrees.  Baked/steamed for 30 minutes with the lid on.  

5. At 745 AM: The Dutch oven was uncovered. 

6. At 759 AM: The bread was removed from the Dutch oven, allowed to cool for 5 minutes, then eaten.  

Notes on the bread: 

1. It was a little flatter than i'm used to.  After cutting in half, i noted that the top had risen, and was "fluffy," while the bottom half was dense.  

2. The bottom was toasted, probably because of the density of the bottom half pushing down on it (?).

3. There was a slight sour taste, only noticeable if you thought about it.  

OVERALL VERDICT: Edible, but not good.  

Things to try: 

1. Use more "mature" starter.  Based on the Kitchn recipe, i needed two more feedings for it to mature completely. 

2. Dump the dough into the Dutch oven upside down, so the "risen" part gets pushed down a bit and the "flat" part gets a chance to rise - maybe this will lead to an overall fluffier loaf. 

3. Allow longer time for the dough to rise.  

4. Warm the water up in the microwave for about a minute before using. 

5. Add one early fold.

6. Change the proportion of ingredients: maybe just 2 1/2 cups of flour to 1/2 cup of starter. 

I'll bake another loaf after two feedings, we'll see what happens next.