After I made my barm, I wanted to bake a few sourdough loaves, using only natural yeast. Sourdough is a pretty involved and time consuming process, although it’s not very labor intensive.
Reinhart uses a “3-build method,” meaning he converts the barm into a firm starter, and then into the final dough. Making one loaf of bread can take up to three days. Three days wouldn’t be such a hassle in a large bakery, because they are producing quantity and can organize a production schedule. However, at home, waiting three days for one loaf of bread is kind of ridiculous, but oh well.
Take One: For my first loaf, I decided to skip turning the barm into a firm starter. I thought this step was kind of unnecessary, because I can use the barm as a liquid starter. I only need to compromise the hydration content to gain the final result.
First, I mixed the barm with water, flour, and salt. Since the starter contains natural, wild yeast, no added yeast is required. I let the dough ferment for the first rise. This takes longer than usual, because wild yeast is much weaker than commercial yeast. After it had bulk risen, I shaped the dough into a boule. I placed it in a banneton, or a willow basket, for the final proofing. The basket not only provides structure to the loaf, but it leaves a beautiful spiral pattern of flour on the crust.
I put it in the fridge to ferment overnight. Like Joe suggested, I took the dough out while I was preheating the oven to 500F. Then, I slid the dough onto the baking stone, covered it with a terra cotta pot, and added steam to the oven. It’s hard to recreate the results the bakery’s oven provides, but, using steam and stone is the best way to mimic the ovens. After the bread had baked almost completely, I removed the cover and browned the outside.
I wasn’t really thinking when I put the bread in the oven- I was so pleased with the pattern that I forgot to score the bread. When I took it out, I noticed that the side exploded so the steam could escape. The bread was super heavy-it must have weighed around 1.5 pounds. When I cut it open , the crumb was very dense and a little gummy. I think I put too much dough in the banneton. I’ll ask Joe for a diagnosis, but I believe that the yeast wasn’t strong enough and that the dough did not have enough hydration.
Take Two: I decided to follow Reinhart’s advice and make a firm starter from my barm. I mixed the barm with more flour and water, and let it ferment for a day in the fridge. I then mixed the starter with more water, flour, and salt for the final dough. I kneaded it in the mixer, but not until the windowpane stage. I thought that if I removed the dough at the short mix phase, I could use the stretch-and-fold technique to provide gluten structure and encourage a holier crumb.
After three stretches, I shaped the dough in a boule and put it in the banneton for its final rise. I let it ferment overnight in the fridge. I noticed that this bread had a higher hydration content, and it didn’t hold its shape as well as the previous loaf.
When I took it out the next day and placed it on the pizza peel, I noticed it spread out wider than it did vertically. When I slashed the bread, it spread out even further. It wasn’t looking good. I put it under a terracotta pot in the oven, and when I checked in on it after a few minute, the bread was still squat. After baking, it only had a little oven spring, but had a 12 inch diameter.
I was really disappointed with the outside appearance, and when I cut it open, I wasn’t that much happier with it. The crumb was less dense than the previous one, but it still didn’t have the air pockets like I wish it did. The flavor is mild; as the starter ages, the flavor of the bread will become more sour.
A lot of things could have went wrong, but I’m not entirely sure what I should do differently next time. I hope that Joe can help me figure out why my sourdoughs aren’t turning out so well.
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