Pizza made with Sourdough Starter Discard
February 14, 2014
I ended up this week with even more sourdough starter discard than usual and a craving for pizza and no activated starter and it's Valentine's Day and my wife loves pizza and so I made pizza with the sourdough starter discard.
| Wt (g) |
Sourdough starter from fridge (firm) | 241 |
Water 85 dF | 153 |
As the weather has turned cooler, my sourdough breads have become less tasty. They have had a less complex flavor and have been less tangy than those baked last Summer. My kitchen is in the mid-60's of late, while it was in the high-70's (or low-80's) in the heat of summer. So, in the interest of science and other noble causes, I set out to return my SFSD to its rightful tastiness.
When I got Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast and started baking from it last Summer, I found the breads and pizza doughs to be delicious, but the fermentation times for both levains and doughs was very much shorter than what were given in the book. I figured it must be due to my warm Summer kitchen, which was in the mid- to high-70's (F). Well, now it is Winter, and my Kitchen is about 68 dF. So, I have begun revisiting some of Forkish's breads.
With all the family here for Thanksgiving and then some personal parts replacements (my eyes are getting brand new lenses, the kind without cataracts.), I haven't been posting much. So, this is a catch-up on my last few weeks' breads.
Hamelman's Pain au Levain Delicious with the Lamb and root vegetables braised in merlot I made to welcome our arriving Thanksgiving guests - just to fuel them to help making Thanksgiving dinner, you know.
It's a "cheap thrill."
I don't seem to habituate to the high from taking a beautiful loaf (or two, or four) out of the oven.
"Overnight Country Brown" loaves from FWYS
I finally remembered not to seal my seams too well and to proof the boules seam-side down in the bannetons!
Last week, my breads had a more or less "command performance" in the Italian language class my wife and I are taking. I've been a bit uncomfortable taking food since the class meets in a deli/cafe/wine bar. Anyway, I decided to let it be on the teacher's head. I took a large wicker basket with half slices of 3 breads - a seeded sourdough Italian bread with 20% durum flour, a walnut-dried fig bread based on my San Francisco-style sourdough and a "Overnight Country Brown" from Ken Forkish.
Last week, I got a nice private message from a TFL member who had just made and enjoyed the Sourdough Italian Bread about which I blogged back in 2008. That bread was Peter Reinhart's Italian bread from BBA with the biga converted to a biga naturale, AKA firm sourdough starter.
That message reminded me that in 2011 I developed another “Italian Bread” formula that I actually preferred to the 2008 version. Coincidentally, my Italian class classmates have been harassing encouraging me to bring some of my breads to class for them to sample.
