I've started and stopped writing this thing so many times that I hardly know if a new post deserves some sort of acknowledgement or my sporadic posting. Let's say it doesn't so we can get to more important matters.

Sourdough.

When I bought Peter Rheinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I promised myself that I'd bake my way through it. Several months later, I've found myself distracted by a few breads. I like to think of them as staple breads: ciabatta; sourdough; pain de campagne; brioche; pretzel rolls; etc. They are the breads that earn a mention by name when they appear on a menu. They are also heavy on skill and offer a baker an expansive array of variations.

There are a lot of great websites for home bakers, but I often find myself turning to the The Bread Baker's Apprentice when looking for a base recipe. It's heavy on pictures and Rheinhart adds enough commentary to make me feel comfortable with my process.

For this loaf of sourdough, I decided to try out a few new things (scientific process be damned). First, I knew I wanted a lighter and softer sourdough. My last sourdough was a pain Poilane, with its dense and sour wheat crumb. It was filling and at times overpowering. I knew the crumb was going to be heavy going in since the bread was all wheat flour, which lacks the protein of white bread flour.

The effect of protein in flour is something that I am still learning about, but it has a substantial effect on the bread's texture. Basically,

Gluten is the characteristic in flour that creates good bread. It is the strands of protein that are created when the dough is kneaded. You want these tight and springy. Since whole wheat flour contains all parts of the wheat kernel, cup for cup it has less protein than white flour (which has had part of the kernel removed). Adding white bread flour helps improve the balance.

So this time around, I wanted to go in the opposite direction. I decided on a bread flour/semolina flour blend at an approximate 70/30 ratio. Semolina flour is high in protein and would also contribute to my bread's crust and crumb color. Semolina flour imparts a light and nutty taste as well. However, at 30% of my bread's flour, its effects wouldn't be overpowering.


Bread Before Bulk Fermentation

I also knew I wanted a higher hydration sourdough. The most I bake, the more I want to work with wet doughs. They tend to produce more open crumbs and softer bread, although they are much harder to shape and handle. Reinhart's basic sourdough recipe calls for 12-14 ounces of water. I increased that to 15 ounces, but also changed the starter/final dough ratio from 1/3.4 to 1/2.8 by adding 6 oz of 100% hydration barm instead of 4. It sounds way more confusing than it is.

Baker's Percentages

Firm Starter
Barm (100% hydration): 133%
Bread Flour: 100%
Water: 33%
Hydration: 60% (assuming barm is equal parts dry and wet)

Final Dough
Firm Starter: 54%
Flour (30/70 semolina KA Bread Flour): 100%
Salt (should have increased this due to addition of extra starter, but forgot): 2.5%
Water: 74%
Total Hydration: 77%

As you can see, this is a very high hydration sourdough. Unfortunately, I lacked the time to sit around and do stretch and folds to develop the gluten, so I had to resort to using my stand mixer. I did a rough mix, followed by a 20-30 minute rest, 4-5 minutes of kneading, followed by a 5 minute rest, and another five minutes of kneading. On the first knead, the dough was barely clearing the sides of the bowl and looked a little soupy. On the second knead, it was clear the gluten had begun to develop and the dough began to look more pliable and stable.

Bulk ferment for four hours at room temperature. I found shaping to be a bit difficult. I made three boules at roughly 400g each (I switched units because my scale only displays ounces to the tenth place, but an measure in grams. Since 1 gram = .03 ounces, I can be more precise in grams. Unfortunately, most American bakers and baking recipe books use ounces). Anyway, it wasn't too hard to get surface tension on the loaves, but the dough was very tacky and I had to use a lot of flour to be able to grip and stretch it. Even then, I always found part of the boule sticking to part of my hand.

The original Reinhart recipe called for a 2-3 hour proof. I did not have that time due to a family engagement. I could give the bread a 1.5-2 hour proof at best. So I did the first half hour of proofing at room temperature and then placed the proofing bowls near my pre-heating oven for the last hour.

The dough was pretty flat when I took it out to bake. It was very wet and probably could have used a bit more kneading and another hour of rising time. At least one of the loaves stretched out a bit when I tried to take it from the proofing basket (well, the bowl I used to proof the bread in). This almost certainly affected the crumb and flattened the bread. Oh well.



I usually set up my oven with the steam pan below the baking stone, but decided to mix it up this time around and put the steam pan on top.

After 40 minutes of baking, the bread looked too pale on top and too brown on the bottom. I think the steam pan was in for too long and that the wetness of the bread also delayed the onset of a hard crust on top. The bottom was crusty though, almost too crusty. I attribute this to the baking stone being on the bottom shelf.

I was disappointed when I took out the loaves, but they tasted great. Two of the three loaves had a nice open and airy crumb. The semolina flour gave the inside a nice chewy texture and a heartier taste. Unfortunately, I didn't photograph the best loaves (I took one with me for my car ride and gave the other one away). I did take a picture of my least favorite loaf, which looks flattened as advertised, but still has some nice holes.

Overall, it was a nice flavor but the color and shape of the loaves ruined them for me. Also, having the baking stone on the lowest shelf produced an uneven crust on my bread, something that I absolutely hate.

Next time, I will use the middle shelf for my baking stone, try less water in my steam pan (I think having too much is hurting my bread color), decrease the hydration to something more workable (roughly 65-70%), and do some stretch and folds.

I wonder what happens if I try this with baguettes.