Kevin's Sourdough ::

[dgaddis]

Just to be very clear - that ain't my bread!! That's the goal...but I aint there yet haha.

I found the pic here :: Bread FAQ Part 1: How to get an open crumb — Jorgen Carlsen

[rwsaunders]

I’ve been gone for most of April so my poor starter(s) were neglected. In honor of such a nice day, I mixed up some stiff starter for the first feeding...227g starter discard and 113g all purpose flour shaped into a “crab cake”. 2-3 feedings and we shall be good to go.

[rwsaunders]

Morning feeding and my yeast says "bring it on".

[mnoble485]

I’ve been gone for most of April so my poor starter(s) were neglected. In honor of such a nice day, I mixed up some stiff starter for the first feeding...227g starter discard and 113g all purpose flour shaped into a “crab cake”. 2-3 feedings and we shall be good to go.

And we have missed you and your food shots. Welcome home.

Mike

[rwsaunders]

"Gaseous Clay" is now in the refrigerator for its final proof...16-18 hours.

[rwsaunders]

Good rise overnight and with a rain delayed ride start, it’s into the oven you go mate.

[rwsaunders]

It's a wrap...nice crust and crumb, with a decent "tang" to it after proofing in the fridge for 18 hours overnight. Even Mrs. RW gave a thumbs up and she's not a sourdough fangirl.

[guido]

Fantastic looking loaf rw!

[rwsaunders]

Time to unleash the beast so one more feeding and she will be ready to rock.

[jimi]

Looking for sourdough advice. Since the weather has gotten steamy in St. Louis, my sourdough dough has become so wet that I can't even knead it anymore. It's more like a really, really thick batter. This is the first summer of my sourdough starter but I'm using the same recipe I have in the past so I'm a bit confused as to why this is happening. It might be a bit more hot and humid in my air conditioned house than in the winter but I wouldn't think so bad that it'd affect my bread dough. Any ideas out there from the bakers?

[ericpmoss]

It's all just % hydration of the final dough, so if more is coming from the air, and less is being lost from the starter, just cut down how much you add to the final. I suppose there is an equation if you have the parameters measured, but I'd start by pretending you are making an "X - 5%" hydration dough, and experiment from there.

[rwsaunders]

jimi...I'm having good luck these days with a stiff starter, especially in the Summer.

Stiff Sourdough Starter Recipe | King Arthur Flour

[ericpmoss]

jimi...I'm having good luck these days with a stiff starter, especially in the Summer.

Me too.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[jimi]

Thanks for the options. I'll try both separately: the stiff starter and using less hydration. ...plus some 4 roses for the baker.

[ericpmoss]

Sourdough donuts/doughnuts/deauxnutz:

[dgaddis]

Baked up a loaf using some Einkorn flour. It's an old school grain that's never been hybridized....for whatever that's worth. I will tell you this - it's a weird flour, but the bread is damn good.

I used the all purpose Einkorn flour, thinking it was a white flour. After looking closely at the package it says it's "80% whole grain", part but not all of the germ and bran have been removed. Color wise it's not white, but it's not as dark a brown as most whole wheat flour, it's sort of an almond color.

Anyhow. I used 20% Einkorn, 80% all purpose (King Arthur), and 75% hydration. The original plan was for a 500g flour loaf shaped into a boule and proofed in a banneton basket. However, the dough was just too loose, it wouldn't hold it's tension at all. While doing folds during the first rise I could get it into a ball-like shape, but within 5 minutes it had flattened entirely back out in the container. So I baked it in a tin instead. The tin works best with a 700g loaf. Proofed at room temp about 7hrs, and retarded overnight in the fridge.

It rose well enough during the bake (not quite 2x), but the crumb isn't super open. But the bread is really soft, with a bit of sweetness, and just really, really, really good. It doesn't have the flavor you generally associate with whole wheat. It would make awesome sandwich bread.

[ericpmoss]

BBC -- The Strange Science Inside your Sourdough

[rwsaunders]

We have too much pesto in reserve so I needed to get the sourdough mojo back in gear...1/4 whole wheat, 3/4 regular flour with a stiff starter. I have to do the hydration math.

[rwsaunders]

421 friendly starter...getting ready for some holiday meals.

[rwsaunders]

A little sourdough humor courtesy of The New Yorker.

The Existential Musings of My Rustic-Sourdough Starter | The New Yorker