Sunday, February 17, 2008

Sourdough

On special request the diary of my sourdough.

To start I had the recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" and the advice I got from someone (Maree) at the internet forum (read the full discussion here).

First (Saturday), I got out the biggest plastic container I had and threw in 500 g of organic whole rye flour. Then I added enough water to make a soft dough. I did not really know how much so I added enough for it to be softer than pizza dough and firmer than spaetzle. Basically a homogenous dough. The rye does not make an elastic dough like wheat, so I was really uncertain. I ended up using about 300 ml of water - a little less might have been enough though.

Then I put the open container out into the spring air (beautiful sunny day) for 1 hour. After that the edges and some of the surface had started to dry out and the whole thing smelled like spring air. I sealed the lid and did nothing for 48 hours. In between the starter became much softer, bubbled and rose. Even when I could not see many bubbles on top the sides and bottom looked a bit like a fizzy drink (that's the beauty of using a clear container).

On the second day (Sunday) the smell had started to go sour. The color had gone a little dull.

On the third day (Monday) I thought it had gone bad because the smell was so strong when I opened the lid. But after the first "wave" it was really the same as Sunday only stronger. I added a generous handful of the same flour and only a little of water until I had the same thickness as on the first day. I resealed the container and put it back in its cosy spot.

On the forth day (Tuesday) I left it alone.

Fifth day (Wednesday) in the evening: I added 1 kg bread flour and some water until I got a firm dough (like the one I know from making pizza or other bread). It made 2.4 kg. I put 500 g of that back in a big plastic container (I switched containers to one that is now reserved for the purpose). The bigger part I kneaded again with a little salt. Then put a floured tea towel into my big round salad bowl and added the dough. That I left in my oven (turned off) to proof.

Day 6 (Thursday morning) after 13 hours of proving I preheated my oven (don't forget to take out the bowl first) to 190°C with the pizza stone on the middle shelf. Then I dusted that with some flour and turned the dough out on it. Cut slits into the tops and baked for 1 hour. The texture and crust came out perfectly, but the dough had spread so quickly that the whole bread was flat like focaccia. Also it was bitingly sour - almost pungent. (But I had been told that the first bread is often like a first pancake, and that the sourness comes from the rye and adding other flours might "dilute" that)

The reserved part of the dough happily bubbled away though.

Friday, early morning I fed the dough again with a hand full of flour and hardly any water at all. Did not have time to bake again though.

Saturday night: figured that 42 hours are almost 48 and added 1kg flour again for baking. This time I used whole spelt meal. Spelt is related to wheat, but has more "glue" and is - I believe - a little sweeter in a good malty way. I thought this might be nice to balance out the rye and its sourness a bit. I added less water this time - kneading was a pain that way, but it resulted in a firm ball this time. I reserved 500 g of that 2 kg chunk again. The rest I added a little salt to and kneaded again. This time a sprayed the tea towel with water to make the flour stick better, floured it, put it in my salad bowl, let it proof over night.

Sunday morning: As the dough has risen so much in my bowl I preheat oven again after only 10 hours. The procedure is the same as Thursday. This time the dough does not spread as much (less liquid and the less rye there is the more thick and elastic it might be) so that the result is a flattish loaf - but a loaf. Texture and crust are very nice, though there is lots of flour baked onto the top (suspect that will get better the more nonstick the towel gets over time). Most of it breaks off when cutting the bread, so it's not really a problem.

The pictures show the finished loaf, a slice of it, and the starter that is happily (audibly and visibly) bubbling away.



2nd loaf made off the starter.


Slice from the middle of that loaf.


This is what the levain looks like on an in-between day (between feedings) The weird blue is the bowl....







A few days later: Am ready for baking again. Kneaded 1 kg into the starter. It then comes up to about 2 kg.



About 500 g of that go back into the weird blue bowl it's been living in.

My salad bowl will keep the dough over night to proof. It is lined with a tea towel that I sprayed with a little water and then floured generously (the water helps the flour to stick to the towel). To the bigger portion of the dough I added 1 tsp salt, about 1/2 - 3/4 tsp coriander seeds (ground) and a generous hand full of sunflower seeds. Now it will sit overnight for about 12-14 hours to be ready for baking tomorrow.


The bowl with the floured towel


The dough just before I put it away for proving. Am continuing to use the oven (turned off!) as a draught free environment for that process.