Hello Again-

Sorry I haven't posted here for awhile I have been baking regurarly, but I just started a new job, and haven't had the time to write up any of the breads I have baked recently.

This is a bread that I developed trying to utilize a large percentage of my firm levain, it is loosly based on a bread from Essential Bakery called Fremont sour. I came up with the name of my version based on the town that I live in. I also took a few ideas from some of the breads that have been posted here recently, including ehanner's version of Susan's sourdough using barley malt syrup. This bread really turned out great, the flavor has a sweetness that I would attribute to the barley malt, and the crust was really crispy. I also loved the look of it, slightly red, and glossy with beautiful fermentation blisters from the overnight retarding in the fridge.

Brackets Landing Sour

Final Build of Levain

• Fermented Firm dough levain (50% Hydration) 25g 20%
• Water 75-80deg. 76g 60%
• KAF AP Flour 127g 100%

Final Dough

• KAF AP Flour 510g 88%
• Fairhaven Mills Course Whole Wheat Flour 40g 7%
• Fairhaven Mills Course Whole Rye Flour 30g 5%
• Salt 14g 2.35%
• Water 75-80deg 348g 60%
• Barley Malt Syrup 17g 3%
• Fermented Levain 228g(All of Above) 40%
• Instant Yeast 1/2t.

Method

8-12 hours before baking prepare the levain, and allow it to ferment at room temperature until at least doubled in bulk.

To mix, add all ingredients except salt, and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Autolyse 20 minutes. To finish add salt, and finish kneading by machine or hand until moderate gluten development, approx 8-10 minutes. I used my new kitchenaid mixer, and it took 8 minutes, and the dough easily cleaned the sides of the bowl. Place the dough into a lighly oiled container, and let ferment for one hour. After one hour give the dough a turn, and return to the bowl to finish fermenting about 1.5-2 hours more. Divide the dough in half, round into a rough ball, and allow the bread to relax for 15-20 minutes. Shape into form of your choice, cover, and place into the fridge for 8-12 hours. Take the bread out of the fridge, about one hour before baking, just to take the chill off, it should already have doubled in bulk, and be ready for the oven, Preheat the oven to 475deg. When you are ready to bake score the loaf as desired, mist with water, and place into the oven. Bake with steam for the first 15 minutes, rotate the loaves, remove the steam pan, and turn down the oven to 425 to finish baking about 15-20 more minutes. When the loaves are finished turn off the oven, crack the door, and leave them in for an additonal 10 minutes. ( I stole this trick from dsnyder!) this allows the crust to set, and it helps keep a crispy crust. Remove the bread from the oven, and allow to cool for 2 hours before cutting. Enjoy!

Here's my first attempt at making Leader's Pain au levain.  Caveats: This is only the 2nd bread I've baked and my first attempt using levain.

Pain au Levain: First sourdough 

To me, the dough felt somewhat wet and needed 18 minutes of kneading before it would pass a window-pane test.  After a few minutes of kneading, it felt sticky again and I felt compelled to flour my hands and scrape the board.  The rise during fermentation was small, consistent with Leader's estimate of 25%.  I Fermented for 1 hr, folded and then for another 3 hrs (76F-80F).  At this point, I was out of time for the night and put the dough in the fridge for 6 hrs.  I took it out first this this morning, let it warm for an hour and divided it.  The dough still felt cool when dividing and shaping and proofed slowly in my kitchen (79F).  Shaping looks easy on youtube, but I found it more difficult in practice.  I'm not convinced that it doubled, even after 3 hours of proofing.  A finger test suggested it was ready (or as good as it was going to get) so I slashed and put in the oven.  This was my first time using an oven stone (a piece of 1/2 granite).  My only complaint about the instructions are that it wasn't clear what size of a loaf I was making.  I didn't realize they would be so small.  It states the expected weight of the divided dough, but not the size of shaped and/or finished loaf.  Mine finished out at 4'' w x 9'' l x 2.75'' h.

 The apartment smells great but I haven't cut into them yet (still too warm).  A few things to work on for next time: (1) The bottom of each loaf may have burned slightly, (2) I need to work on my shaping and slashing technique as they aren't the prettiest loaves I've seen, and (3) I think I might double the recipe next time and make two larger loaves.

Tips, comments, advice all greatly appreciated! 

My wife recently picked up a copy of Leader's Local Breads, and I am part way through reading it.  I needed to bake this weekend, so thought that I would try a formula from the book.  Based on what I had available, I opted for the Pain au Levain, using my existing sourdough starter to prepare the levain for the formula.  I also chose to add sunflower seeds to the bread, following one of Mr. Leader's options.

It was enjoyable to work with a mostly-white bread dough again.  Much of my recent baking has been predominantly whole-grain breads (not counting RLB's focaccia that factored out at 113% hydration!), which tend to have somewhat heavier and stickier doughs.  This formula calls for small quantities of both whole wheat and rye flours, but they are fairly low percentages of the total flour content.

Here's the finished bread:

And a shot of the crumb:

As you can see, there was plenty of oven-spring.  The dough was a little bit short of being completely proofed.  I may have been able to let it proof a little longer than I did, but I'm happy with the outcome.  The flavor is surprisingly (to me) mild; the wheat flavor comes through cleanly, along with the nutty sweetness of the sunflower seeds.  The last couple of sourdoughs that I have made had a high whole wheat content and a pronounced sourdough tang.  Other conditions were essentially the same, so it appears that the flour has an influence on the degree of sourness.

This is a very enjoyable bread.  I hope that others in the book are equally good.

Paul 

Hello Everyone

I haven't posted here before, but I have been lurking for many months seeing everyones beautiful breads, so I decided it was time to post some of the breads that I have been experimenting on.

A little about myself, I am a professional in the food service industry, and although I am not a baker by profession, I have worked in bakeries, and really enjoy the leisure time spent baking artisan style breads at home.

Anyways a little about the loaf pictured below. I have made countless breads before that I have made with a liquid sourdough starter (100% Hydration) that I cultivated 9 years ago, seeing as I like the extra "pucker" that you get with a liquid style levain. My wife on the other hand doesn't lke as much sour in her bread, and in an effort to appease the wife I came up with this formula for a french style pain au levain which I called Pain au Levain aux huit cereales. It is a not too hydrated eight grain levain with a small percentage of Rye, and about 25% Whole Wheat.

How was it? well we ate the entire first batard so I only have pictures of the second one. The Crust was crackly crisp, just singing as it came out of the oven, and the crumb was creamy, and a little chewy, not sour at all, but with a depth of flavor I would desciribe as "apple cider" beautifully paired with a local Camembert made a few miles from my house.

Pain au Levain aux Huit Cereales

Final Build of Levain

* Stiff Levain(refreshed 8-12 hours before) I keep mine at 60% Hydration 45g 45%
* Water (75deg) 50g 50%
* KA AP Flour 95g 95%
* Fairhaven Mills Whole Wheat Flour 5g 5%

Soaker

* Bobs Red Mill 8 grain Cereal Blend 100g
* Water (75deg) 175g

Dough

* Water 235g 47%
* KA AP Flour 350g 70%
* Fairhaven Mills Whole Wheat 120g 24%
* Fairhaven Mills Rye Flour 30g 6%
* Levain 125g 25%
* Salt 12g 2.4%
* Soaker 275g 55%

Method

I mixed the final build of the levain, and the soaker the night before the bake, and left them out to ferment at room temp. In the morning the levain was doubled, or a little more, and the soaker, had absorbed most, but not all of the water. When I mixed the dough I added everything together, except the salt, and let it rest for 20 minutes. After the autolyse I added the salt, and proceeded to knead the bread, using the "slap and fold" method for approx 8 minutes, or until moderate gluten development. I then put the dough into a bowl covered and let it rest for 30 minutes. I then removed the dough, and gave it a french fold. I repeated this process at another 30 minute interval. I then left the dough alone to ferment, it took 4 hours in my apartment, which I would say was 75 degrees yesterday. After full fermentation I divided the dough into 2, rounded them and let them rest for 15 minutes. I then shaped them into 2 batards, and left them to proof covered on a couche. It took about 1 3/4 hour for the batards to double in bulk, I then baked them on a stone in a preheated 450deg. oven with steam for 15 minutes, after I removed the steam pan I turned the oven down to 400deg. rotated the loaves, and left them to finish, it took another 20 minutes.

Anyways I hope you guys enjoy the pictures, and please post any critiques, if you see anything wierd. I am a little new to this whole posting thing, and I am sure I have forgotten some things, so by all means if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Kevin

Janedo's Basic Bread

Janedo's Basic Bread Crumb

This is my third attempt at making the pain au levain that Jane calls her "basic bread." I think it's the best crust which is crunchier than my previous bakes. The crumb is less open than I got on my first attempt even though the dough was more slack. I think I actually over-mixed it.

Jane's recipe is posted here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6992/janedo039s-quotbasic-breadquot

For this bake, I used a liquid levain fed with a high extraction flour mixed with 140 gms of white spelt flour and 400 gms of King Arthur Europian Artisan-style Flour.

I baked at 500F with steam for 7 minutes then 460F for a total of 30 minutes. I left the loaf in the turned off oven for an additional 7 minutes before cooling on a rack.

The taste is good with moderate sourness. It is very chewy. The crust is staying crunchy.

Janedo's basic bread

Janedo's basic bread - Crumb

This is the second time I have baked Janedo's Pain au Levain (Sourdough) recipe for what she calls her "basic bread." Since I cannot truly duplicate the flours she uses in France, I am liberated to experiement using different combinations and proportions of American flours.

 The first time, I used a combination of King Arthur First Clear Flour and Guisto's White Spelt flour. This time, I fed my starter with KA Organic Whole Wheat Flour and used KA Bread Flour in the dough. The Ingredients were:

160 gms Starter
307 gms water
540 gms KA Bread Flour
10 gms Salt 

 The dough seems just very slightly less hydrated than my last attempt. As you can see, the crumb was denser, as expected. It was very chewy. The crust was a bit crunchier and less chewy than the First Clear/Spelt version.

 Overall, the taste was less sour this time, and the whole wheat flavor was less apparent than I expected. This was a bread that would be an excellent sandwich foundation, but it was not my "target" bread. I think the combination of flours was too strong.

 So, what flour combination should I try next? KA Artisan Flour with a little spelt? Or a little whole wheat? Or Golden Buffalo and spelt? Hmmmm....

David

Janedo's "basic bread"

Janedo's basic bread crumb

Jane ("Janedo") is an American expatriot who has lived in France for 15 years with her husband and children. She has a wonderful blog about her sourdough baking ( http://www.aulevain.canalblog.com/ ) with a loyal and enthusiastic following. We have been fortunate to have her participation on TFL, and there have been some rather interesting discussions of differences in taste preferences in France versus the U.S., the frustrations of exchanging recipes when the ingredients we use, particularly the flours, are not comparable and other topics.

 Currently, Jane is, I think it's fair to say, struggling to like San Francisco style sourdough bread made from Peter Reinhart's formula in "Crust and Crumb." Of course, we cannot know exactly what she is baking, since we cannot duplicate it with the flours we have. Nor can she know what my baking from this formula produces with King Arthur Bread Flour and Guisto's whole rye flour.

Jane has shared the recipe for what she calls her "basic bread." She says this is the bread her family prefers (and asks her to return to whenever she inflicts San Francisco-style sourdough on them). This was my first attempt to duplicate Jane's bread. She uses a combination of T65 and white spelt flour. I don't have access to T65. I debated as to how I might best approximate it. I'm not at all sure I made the best decision, but the recipe and procedure I used, adapted from Jane's recipe, follows:

Ingredients

150 gms active liquid starter (fed with high extraction flour, 100gms flour to 130 gms of water))

315 ml water

400 gms First Clear flour

140 gms White Spelt flour

7 gms Sea Salt.

Procedure

I mixed the starter and 300 ml water then added the flours and salt. I mixed in a KitchenAid stand mixer with the paddle for 1.5 minutes at Speed 1, then with the dough hook at Speed 2.  After the first minute, the dough cleaned the sides and bottom of the mixer bowl. This seemed too dry, so I added 1 T (15 ml) water at this point, resulting in the dough still cleaning the sides but sticking to the bottom of the mixer bowl.

The dough made a "window pane" after 9.5 minutes mixing with the dough hook. It was quite tacky. If I pressed on it for a couple of seconds, it was sticky, but with brief contact it did not stick to my (lightly floured) hands. The dough kept its form easily without spreading but was very extensible.

(I am describing the dough in such detail because the differences in flours we use result in such different doughs at the same hydration. I think the behavior of the dough and its feel will give another person better guidance, if they want to reproduce this bread. For that matter, it gives me more guidance if I want to change it next time.)

I put the dough on a lightly floured Silpat mat and, after a brief rest, stretched and folded it a couple of times, then placed the dough in a lightly oiled glass 2 liter measuring cup with a cover to ferment.

The dough doubled in volume in 7 hours. I scraped it onto the Silpat, rounded it gently and let it rest for 15 minutes. I then shaped a boule and placed it, smooth side down, in a linen-lined wicker banneton. I lightly floured the surface of the dough and enclosed the banneton in a plastic bag.

The boule was allowed to expand to 1 1/2 times the original volume (1.75 hours) then transfered to a peel and slid onto a baking stone in a pre-heated 450F oven. 1 cup of boiling water was poured into a pre-heated cast iron skillit, the oven door was closed and the oven was turned down to 410F. After 5 minutes, I removed the skillit and continued to bake for 35 minutes. (The internal temperature of the loaf was 205F after 30 minutes, but I wanted the crust a bit darker and to be sure this large loaf was well-baked.) I then turned off the oven but left the loaf in the oven for another 5 minutes.

The crust was qute hard when the boule came out of the oven, but it softened considerably as the loaf cooled.

Eating

The crust was somewhat crunchy, but more chewy. The crumb had a lovely, tender, slightly chewy texture. I could not identify a distinctive flavor I could attribute to the spelt flour (which I had never used before). I thought I should add a little more salt next time - maybe 10 gms rather than 7 gms. The sourness in the bread hit on the 5th chew and became progressively more apparent. I would regard this as a moderately sour sourdough, certainly more sour than the pains au levains I have made from Hamelman or Leader's recipes.

With all levain breads, the flavors seem to fully develop and become better integrated on the second or third day after baking. So, stay tuned.

David

Hello Everyone, and happy Tuesday!

I was in Cancun over the weekend and brought with me a few bread books to read, and was really hyped to get back into the kitchen as soon as I could.  It only (only! ha!) took two hours to get through customs and immigration.  Woe to regular international travelers! 

Daniel Leader's Pain au Levain formula in "Local Breads" is a mixed white, whole wheat and rye bread. I have made it once before with sunflower seeds, but I thought I should try the "straight" recipe at least once. It turns out, I like it better without the seeds. The whole wheat flavor comes through better, at least fresh out of the oven (cooled for 50 minutes).