Playing with sourdough

[rlf5]

Made Reinhart's Jewish Deli Rye yesterday. It was hard to wait a day to try it out b/c it smelled so good coming out of the oven. It looks a little shorter than it really is b/c I cut two slices out for a pastrami and swiss sandwich.

BTW Jim

How did the corn bread turn out?

[CanuckJim]

LF,

First off, the rye looks just like it should. Congratulations! Still working on the corn bread recipe, courtesy Dutch. A bit of the hot soak overnight, plus the retardation, plus the, plus the.... I'll work it out over time.

Jim

[DrakeRemoray]

That is one good looking loaf!

[rlf5]

Thanks! That was my first try at shaping a bâtard, which seemed to turn out pretty well. I'm going to try the same shape with the basic sourdough I have fermenting right now.

[Dutchoven]

Just wanted to post a few pics of recent baking...I tried the formula for the Portuguese Corn Bread and there are a couple of pics of those....like Jim I am manipulating some of the variables because the basic formula is just that BASIC...the variable I chose for these was a longer refridgerated overnight proof...the other pics are an assortment of loaves that were ordered by my patrons who have stayed with us after the close of our farmer's market and baked today. In the pic are some pane siciliano, ciabatta, baguette, a basic sourdough, pain d'campagne, and italian.

[rlf5]

Just tried the pain à l'ancienne loaf and I'm hooked. Can't wait to be able to cook in the brick oven though. Twenty minutes after it came out I was slicing and eating it with some Il Frantoio olive oil from Forno Bravo (best oil I've had btw).

[DrakeRemoray]

Again, that looks great. I have not tried that recipe (from the Bread Baker's Apprentice right?) I will have to give it a try! I think I will have to get some of that olive oil as well...
Drake

[CanuckJim]

RLF, Drake,

I used to make a standard baguette, no longer. The Ancienne has simply taken over, because it's so much better than any other recipe I've used. The dough is so wet it's a bit tricky to work with when it comes to dividing it, transferring it onto the (heavily floured) peel and loading it into the oven. Forget about scaling each loaf, because you can't just cut a bit off one and add it to the runt. The trick with this formula is to be quick and deft in handling it. Overhandling will give you hockey pucks. Don't worry about shaping too much; these are rustic loaves, not Parisian perfecto. After some practice, don't be afraid to hyrdrate it even more. The wetter it is, the better the bread will be.

I've found that conventional slashing simply does not work with such wet dough. Instead, as Reinhart sort of suggests, I've been nipping the loaves with kitchen shears held at a very shallow angle. The pic attached shows one of my students doing just that.

Jim

[rlf5]

Its a really simple and fast recipe. I was able to make the dough last night, and cook this morning before leaving for work. As far as slashing the loaves goes, I was able to do so by dipping a free blade in cold water before and after each slash. You also have to be really quick and precise with it, or it will still catch the dough. I'll probably be using the scissors from now on as well.

[rlf5]

Some sourdough loaves I made yesterday using Hammelman's Vermont Sourdough recipe. As usual, good flavor and crust, but my crumb is a bit dense aside from the overly large holes. The holes are always either too small which results in more dense bread, or too large (abou the size of a quarter). For some reason the yeast I've cultivated just doesn't seem to want to work well enough for me. I may start adding a very small amount of instant yeast to see how that works.