Vermont (or WhereEver) Sourdough side by side

Profile picture for user Juergen Krauss

Studying Hanelman's book Bread I wondered about the differences in taste of the diverse wheat levains and sourdoughs.

As a home baker I usually do one batch at a time, and by the time I bake another formula I might have forgotten the subtle characteristics.

Today I had the idea to make 2 batches - one Vermont Sourdough (p153, VS for reference), and one Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain (p156, call it IS).

Of each batch I made 2x 500g boules and 2x 250g batards, and the remaining dough I combined in a kind of double-fendu:

with a piece of VS dough I shapped a boule, made a fendu with the rolling pin, and into the split I put a roll of IS dough.

This way I should be able to see and taste the difference in the same slice of bread.

Please see the results below. The mixed double fendu is in the foreground:

Here is a crumb shot:

The slightly denser area in the middle is the Sourdough With Increased Wholegrain.

The crumb colour and taste difference is far less pronounced than I expected, with the flours I used.

For the wheat part I used a 50/50 mix of Waitrose Organic Strong White and Waitrose Organic Plain White, the rye is from Dove's Farm.

I am very happy with the overall result (the double fendu in the pictute is slightly underproofed because I suddenly remembered a meeting and had to hurry), but I wonder about the color/taste differences.

Does anyone have similar experiences?

Thanks,

Juergen

Wow, I never thought to compare two different breads that way.