dmsnyder's blog

I made another batch of the baguettes described previously in http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/11925/baguette-surprise-and-challenge.

The only significant changes in the procedure were:1) I did not add the salt until after a 50 minute autolyse, 2) I was more meticulous in gently pre-shaping and shaping and 3) I let the loaves proof more fully. 4) I also poured about twice as much water over the pre-heated lava rocks to steam the oven.

Well, there's good news and bad news: The bad news is that I seem to have over-proofed the baguettes a bit, resulting in my scoring not opening up real well. The good news is, first, the flavor of this batch is equal to the first. I'm ready to conclude this recipe is reproducible in my hands. Second, the crumb is significantly more open. And third, I have finally achieved the crackley (rather than crunchy) crust I have been seeking on my baguettes! I am really delighted.

The crust is thin and it sang loudly for a long time while cooling. Cracks developed in the crust. It breaks off in thin, sharp-edged flakes when you bite it! Woo Hoo! I am pretty sure the cause was the extra steam created by the combination of lava rocks and extra water.

Now, I have to test the steaming enhancement with other baguette formulas.

David

My "San Joaquin Soudough" formula grew out of explorations of the technique used by Anis Bouabsa for his prize-winning baguettes. I have discussed this in detail in earlier blog entries on TFL. This remains one of my favorite breads, but I'm always looking for ways to improve on it.

Last week, I made some straight dough baguettes that had a wonderful flavor. I used 90% Guisto's Baker's Choice and 10% KAF White Whole Wheat in that batch. I wondered how this flour mix would work in the SJ SD. I made this as before, but slightly drier than I usually do when adding whole wheat - 70% hydration.

This was a very nice bread, as usual. The flavor of the flour mix used was not a noticeable improvement over the AP/Rye or AP/Rye/WW mixes I've used before.

I plan to make another batch of baguettes with this flour mix tomorrow, with a few minor tweaks to the procedure. I'm eager to see if last week's flavor is reproducible.

David

Hamelman's 5-grain Levain and Seeded sourdough from "Bread" have been among my favorites for some time, but his 5-grain Sourdough Rye somehow had escaped my attention, in spite of several posts by others, until LindyD recently made it. At first, I was not clear that this was a different bread from the 5-grain Levain, but I eventually caught on. When I looked at the formula, I knew I would love it, and I do.

Thanks, Lindy! This is a wonderful bread.

David

Today, I baked a couple boules of Susan's "Ultimate Sourdough," a batch of Anis Bouabsa baguettes with sesame, sunflower and poppy seeds and a Polish Cottage Rye.

I've blogged about Susan's sourdoughs before. What else is there to say? I love both her "Original" and "Ultimate" sourdoughs. I can't say I prefer one over the other. The one I baked today was from Susan's recipe, but I left out the olive oil ... I think. At the moment, I can't recall whether I forgot it or not. Hmmmm ....

The seeded Bouabsa Baguettes were made at my wife's request. I've been making different breads with mixed-seed soakers recently. My wife has enjoyed them, but has told me she likes the seeds on the outside more than on the inside. Being it's Mother's Day, it seemed a good time to make something special for her.

I followed the Bouabsa formula about which I've blogged several times before. This uses Bouabsa's technique but adds 100 gms of active sourdough starter. I also substituted 10% white whole wheat flour and 5% whole rye flour. The remaining 85% was Giusto's Baker's Choice. I mixed the seeds (30 gms sunflower, 30 gms sesame and 15 gms poppy) and rolled the shaped baguettes in the mix, spread on a sheet pan, before proofing on a linen couche.

They turned out well, with a nice crunchy crust, open crumb and very tasty flavor. 

The Polish Cottage Rye is one of my favorite breads from Leader's "Local Breads." I have made it using First Clear flour with results like the photo in Leader's book. The last couple of times, I have followed the recipe and used bread flour for the wheat flour. The crumb has been very open and nothing like that pictured in "Local Breads." Using bread flour, it makes a very slack dough that requires extensive, intense mixing to develop the gluten sufficiently to allow one to form a boule that holds its shape. Leader's mixing instructions should be followed and yield good results. Both versions have been delicious. 

I made this bread today with bread flour. It just came out of the oven and "sang" at the top of its lungs. 

David

Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread is basically a pain au levain made with rye and bread flour to which is added toasted sesame and sunflower seeds and a soaker of flax seeds. It has a crunchy, rather thick crust and a pretty dense crumb. Its flavor is delicious - mildly sour, even when cold retarded overnight, with well-balanced overtones from the seeds. Its flavor is not as complex as Hamelman's Five-Grain Levain, which is simply amazing, but it is a wonderful bread.

This bread has enough substance and flavor to be eaten plain. It would be wonderful with a flavorful soup or stew or with cheese or a salad. And it makes delicious toast.

It's another bread, like Tom Cat's Semolina Filone, that I like a lot but have not baked for quite a while, having been otherwise occupied by a baking agenda with way too many breads.

I baked these boules on a stone, pre-heated to 500F. A cast iron skillet with lava rocks was used for steaming. The oven was turned down to 460F after loading the loaves, and I baked them for 40 minutes.

Sourdough Seed Bread

Sourdough Seed Bread crumb

David

My favorite Semolina Bread.

The formula and procedures I used are here: Tom Cat's Semolina Filone (from Glezer's Artisan Breads)

David

Rye Breads

TFL Handbook section about Rye Flour

Jewish Sour Rye

Jewish Sour Rye: an update

Norm's Sour Rye

Russian Rye

Pumpernickel Bread from George Greenstein's "Secrets of a Jewish Baker"

Care and feeding of a rye sour

Hamelman's Flax seed rye bread - Thanks, hansjoakim!

Three-Stage 80% Sourdough Rye Bread from Hamelman's "Bread"

Hansjoakim's Favorite 70% Rye: Revisiting an old friend 

Sourdough Rye from Advanced Bread & Pastry

Baguettes

San Joaquin Sourdough Baguettes

Baguette crumb - 65% hydration dough (Pat Roth's baguettes)

Proth5's "Starting to get the bear" baguettes

Anis Bouabsa ficelles

Philippe Gosselin's Baguettes

Baguette Tradition after Phillip Gosselin

Épi de Blé

Sourdough Breads

The Great Baguette quest N°3: Anis Bouabsa   This was the origin of what evolved into my San Joaquin Sourdough

San Joaquin Sourdough 1

San Joaquin Sourdough variation

San Joaquin Sourdough, updated 10/10/2010

San Joaquin Sourdough: Update 6/26/2011

My favorite multi-grain sourdough bread 11-10-2020

Sourdough Bread with 31% Freshly-milled Whole Wheat Flour

Buttermilk-Spelt Sourdough Bread

Sourdough Challah from "A Blessing of Bread"

Susan from San Diego's Ultimate Sourdough

Susan from San Diego's Original Sourdough

Sourdough Italian Baguettes (5/2015)

Sourdough Italian Bread

Italian-San Joaquin Sourdough 

Italian bread with currents, fennel and pine nuts

San Francisco Sourdough from Reinhart's “Crust&Crumb”

Sourdough bread with new steaming method

Sourdough Multigrain Bread from "Advanced Bread and Pastry"

Greek Bread - Improved

Sourdough Pan de Horiadaki from "A Blessing of Bread"

Miche from SFBI Artisan II - 2 kg

This miche is a hit!

Country Bread with fresh-milled flours

Walnut Raisin Sourdough Bread from SFBI Artisan II

Sourdough Fig-Walnut Bread, a new and improved version

Sourdough Bread from SFBI Artisan II  also see This week's baking - July 18, 2016

Miche from Michel Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry"

Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain, from Hamelman's "Bread"

5-grain Sourdough with Rye Sourdough from Hamelman's "Bread"

Multi-grain sourdough bread made with home-milled flours August 12, 2018

Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread from AB&P

Gérard Rubaud Pain au Levain

My San Francisco Sourdough Quest, Take 4 (The best version)

My San Francisco Sourdough Quest, Take 6 (and final?)

San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread with Walnuts and Sour Cherries

San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread with Walnuts and Figs

Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat Multigrain Bread

Pane Valle Maggia, ver. 2 3/7/2014

Pane Valle del Maggia

San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread with increased whole wheat flour

San Francisco-style Sourdough Bread 3-22-2019

Pugliese Capriccioso

Pizza

Pizza Bliss

Pizza made with Sourdough Starter Discard

Sweet Breads & Pastries

Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon and Raisins from Hamelman's "Bread"

Cheese Pockets

Other/Tutorials

Debra Wink's wonderful instructions for creating a sourdough starter: The Pineapple Juice Solution, Part 2

Scoring Bread

Scoring Bread: An updated tutorial

Scoring Bread made with high-hydration dough

Proofing "en couche:" or A Couching Coaching

Flipping Board (Transfer Peel) Demonstration

High Hydration dough Shaping - From SFBI

My sourdough starter routine: a FAQ

Baker's Math: A tutorial 

Converting starter hydrations: A Tutorial. Or through thick and thin and vice versa

Understanding autolyse

Baking under an aluminum foil roasting pan

Hamelman's “Stretch and Fold in the Bowl” no-knead technique

KAF instructional videos

NoKnead.html (by Mark Sinclair/mcs)

Shaping a boule: a tutorial in pictures.

Quick doodle should help (rainbowz's cool diagram of how to use a transfer peel)

Mixing a stiff starter

Norm's onion rolls and kaiser rolls

Norm's Double Knot Rolls

Kaiser roll shaping

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone (from Glezer's Artisan Breads)

Potato-Nut Bread from South Tyrol (Thanks, Salome!)

SFBI Artisan I Workshop

SFBI Artisan I workshop: Day 1 

SFBI Artisan I workshop: Day 2 

SFBI Artisan I workshop: Day 3

SFBI Artisan I workshop: Day 4

SFBI Artisan I workshop: Day 5

SFBI Artisan II Workshop

SFBI Artisan II Workshop - Day 1

SFBI Artisan II Workshop - Day 2

SFBI Artisan II Workshop - Day 3

SFBI Artisan II Workshop - Day 4

SFBI Artisan II Workshop - Day 5

This was my first attempt at an "épi de blé," or "sheaf of wheat" shape. I made it with Anis Bouabsa's baguette dough. 

Épi de Blé

Close-up

David

I haven't baked the Polish Cottage Rye from Daniel Leaders "Local Breads" for a year! In the past, I have used First Clear Flour or another high extraction flour as a substitute for the bread flour called for in Leader's formula. This time, I followed the formula exactly.

The dough was very wet and sticky, even with very good gluten development. I actually enjoyed working with this dough, which must indicate I've reached a new level of comfort with slack doughs. In spite of the slackness, it had enough integrity to take my slashes without any dragging. I think proofing the loaf in a linen-lined banneton resulted in just enough drying of the surface.

The resulting bread was similar in profile to the Polish Cottage Ryes I had made before, but the crumb was much more open and chewy. I attribute this to the flour I used, in large part, but also to the better gluten development.

This is a "sourdough rye." There is no added yeast. It is made with a rye sour. I made my sour from my usual starter by giving it two feedings with whole rye flour. All the rye in the dough is from the rye sour.

Polish Cottage Rye -2-1/2 pound boule

As you can see, this bread has a rather low profile. The slack dough spreads once it is dumped from the banneton onto the peel. It has only moderate oven spring. I should have put a ruler on the cutting board to provide a sense of scale, but this bread is just about 11" across. 

Polish Cottage Rye - Crumb close-up

As with most sourdough rye breads, this one benefits from deferring slicing until at least 12 hours after it has baked. I am so proud of myself! This is the first time I actually had the self-control to leave the bread uncut for 12 hours!

The flavor of this bread is marvelous. It is moderately sour with a complex flavor. The rye flavor is very much "there," but it does not dominate. 

I recommend this bread to any rye-lover who wants to explore beyond "Deli Rye" but isn't quite ready for the 70-100% ryes. Because it has a high percentage of bread flour, the dough acts like a "regular" sourdough, not like the sticky dough of a high-percentage rye. I also recommend it to any sourdough lover. There are so many things to be said about adding some rye flour to a "white" sourdough, the topic deserves it's own entry.  For now, I'll just leave it at, "Try it! You'll like it!"

David

I have continued to play with my formula for what I call "San Joaquin Soudough." This continuing series of experiments started with my curiosity as to whether the baguette formula of Anis Bouabsa could be applied to other types of bread than baguettes. The short answer is, of course, "yes."

The basic approach I have been using is described in detail in the following blog entry:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8454/pain-de-campagne 

The present variation used 10% KAF White Whole Wheat flour, 90% KAF Bread flour and a slightly higher hydration - 76%. The techniques for mixing, fermentation, etc. were as I have described before. So, the ingredients were:

Ripe 65% hydration sourdough starter....100 gms

Water........................................................380 gms

KAF Bread Flour.........................................450 gms

KAF White Whole Wheat Flour...................50 gms

Sea Salt.........................................................10 gms

Instant Yeast................................................1/4 tsp

The combined effect of the different flours and the higher hydration was to yield a dramatically different bread with a much more open crumb structure - really ciabatta-like.

Now, I did bake these loaves under an aluminum foil roasting pan for the first 12 minutes and then for another 18 minutes uncovered. The oven spring was massive. My scoring was obliterated. Examination of the crust coloration of the bloom revealed that the bloom occurred very early in the bake and very rapidly. (The coloration was even and not different from the rest of the crust. See my Scoring Tutorial in the TFL Handbook for further explanation.)

With the higher hydration and covered baking, the crust softened quickly during cooling. The crumb was like a good ciabatta - very tender yet still chewy. The taste is very mildly sour, even on the day after baking. It made a delicious sandwich with Toscano salami, Beaver Brand Sweet Hot mustard and lettuce. (Sorry, Mini. It definitely would drip mayonnaise in your lap.)

This bread presented me with a number of surprises, but I'm far from disappointed. I'm happy to have a "new" bread in my repertoire. 

David