BBA Basic Sourdough
I tried another batch of bread with my new white starter. This time, the basic sourdough from BBA. I just replaced the barm in the book's formula with my own starter, since it seems to be about the same consistency. I made the firm starter yesterday and let it rise on the counter for 4 hours, at which point it had doubled. So into the fridge it went. This morning I took it out, cut it into pieces, and let it sit for an hour, then I used the KA mixer to mix the dough. I used KAF Bread flour and gray sea salt. The dough doubled in 4 hours, so then I gently divided it into two pieces and formed baguettes--taking LOTS of care not to degas it. Sat them on semolina-covered parchment strips in a towel-made-couche. They proofed for about an hour and a half, then I slashed 'em and baked 'em with steam.
The crust is delicious and not too hard, but pleasantly chewy and crusty. The crumb is substantial, yet still soft, and quite moist, without becoming gummy. We ate one whole loaf this afternoon and evening. And I had the audacity to not go walking after dinner, tempting those extra pounds. Well, at least it's fat-free. =)
Love the little tiny bubbles on the crust.
Still need to work on the slashing, although this time I just used a single-edge razor blade and it did go better then usual.
Comments
It looks like your new starter is working wonderfully. I love those crust bubbles too.
Susanfnp
You got your self a really nice starter there, does it taste so well?
Your slashes are very good.
jeffrey
Oh yeah, Jeffrey...it tastes wonderful! Not especially sour, just full of flavor. The bottom of the crust got very browned, baking on the stone, and it's even more flavorful than the rest. But we ate it all without even any butter. Now, that's saying something!
Katie
Katie, how nice! All this classy sourdough makes me think it's time to pull my own starter out of hibernation.
Katie in Vt (are you a Kathryn or a Catherine or a Katherine?)
Hey Katie, I'm a Kathryn. How about you? And, do pull your starter out! It's so much fun, I wish I could bake with it every day. I am especially fond of this BBA basic recipe. It seems like it would be a great one for add-ins. But it's also fantastic all by itself.
Katie in SC
Aaahh, so you spell your name the right way... ;=D I find it very hard to convince people that there's no "E" in it anywhere. Well, I pulled out and poked my starter just last week after a long lull and was happy to see it give a pretty sharp response. Your photos do score high on vicarious motivation factor. I've found starter husbandry so like pet-keeping I can see why people get hooked on it to the exclusion of domestic yeast. With a red face I admit to not owning BBA. Is it pretty straightforward?
Ha! I had never even seen this spelling used by anyone else until a few years ago, and I'm about to turn 35, so that tells you something (or, it tells me something--I'm getting old, and my name is spelled oddly). Every Kathy or Cathy or Katie I ever knew used either Katherine or Catherine. But I like it, because it's mine.
"Husbandry" is an excellently appropriate word for the care of sodo starters! It's more consuming than any pet I've ever had. I feed it and then check in on it throughout the day (once, when I first started it and it hadn't done anything much as of Day 6, I even wrote "you can do it!" on the piece of tape I used to mark the level, hoping to cheer it on). When I get up in the morning, the first thing I do after attending to myself and my kids' needs is check in with it, see how it did overnight. So silly, but fun as anything.
I love the BBA. It was my first "serious" bread book, but isn't complicated. I checked it out from the library before buying it, which I recommend for any book so expensive (although Amazon is offering it at a lot less now than what I got it for a few years ago). Most of the recipes use a preferment of some kind, which initially put me off. But now I'm embracing the day-before process of making a biga or a poolish or whatever. Maybe that's because you have to plan a day ahead with sourdough, too. At any rate, it's an amazing book, the photos are exceptional, and there is a ton of information in it. But it's presented in a conversational manner, and not intimidating at all. And you're the WORD lover, so I'd say you'd enjoy it even just for the reading. I can still thumb through it and re-read it for fun.
Katie
Those are absolutely gorgeous and so is all your needlework on your blog!! You are one talented and multi-faceted lady.
Thanks, bluezebra! I have lost most of my steam in the craft blogging arena. I still do the stuff I used to post about, but with everything else I want to do, blogging about it isn't an efficient use of my time. If only there was more time...
Katie