Valdus's blog

I have been having a problem with starters for almost a year now, which has resulted me giving up sourdough baking in general. Given, I once said that I was not happy unless something is rising in my kitchen- like reading a good book.

I am so happy that people have posted that they had problems with Tartine. This is my third time making the country bread and it just doesn't feel right, literally. Here is what I got, or better, don't get...

Things are going monstrous on the bread front. I have recently gotten into yeast breads (not as much an art as a science, and you better hurry!) and even explored the fun-handling of rye flour and making rye breads. 

Being an old New Jersey native, I like a good lip smacking jaw-dropping sour rye and I think I found one here 

jewish-rye-bread-recipe at King Arthur Flour

I think I have finally achieved what I wanted to do for about the three years that I have been sourdoughing. I think I have achieved the oven spring I wanted, and by all means yall be the judge. 

I took the very same recipe that I had for my third attempt with two notable differences. 

Decided on upping the starter to 150 so...

Starter 150g

Water 300

Flour 225 AP/225 BF

12g of salt 

Mixed it all up, let it rest for an hour

Looked at it and folded it every 2 hours for 6.5 hours 

Wonderful marshmallow texture when I put it in the bowl

Let it go in the fridge for 22 hours

Baked at the usual 450 for 500, I did forget to dunk the parchment paper in water. 

123 the III

A Sourdough Crossroads 

Don't think for minute because of the title that I am going to give up this wonderful hobby (using the word hobby seems a bit limited to me but it is what it is- another expression I have never liked). If I gave up baking sourdough I would have to go back to brewing beer, and there is nothing more messy and demanding that that. I once ruined a perfectly good carpet with an exploding mead recipe. 

• I tried the 1-2-3 loaf starting with 100g of starter.
• I mixed it up but the dough would not come to together. 
• After about 4 hours I did 2 sets of 50 slap and folds. That seems to have improved it. 
• Did a preshaping and a shaping.

Small Batch equals Small Bread

I thought that the dough was at the 1.75-ish cup point, thus I heated the forge, put it in wet parchment. Took out the heated cast iron, placed it in, poured in a half a cup of water under the parchment and started the usual 450 after 500 for 20 then for 30. Herein is the result, small, unimpressive, with no 'boom' really. 

"You succeed you learn something, you fail you learn something."

I followed Dabrownman's advice to the letter. 

The above is typical of my sour note experiments. Nice crumb, medium tightness. Golden color. Above is a typical example of my oven spring. I want more, a lot more. 

I want a bursting loaf, something that will rise so high that it scrapes the top of the oven. I have accomplished pretty much everything in a basic sour loaf except exceptional oven spring. Some things I have learned that have improved it are: