This was my first attempt and I couldn't have been happier... I would like to up the acidity just a tad, but it's a delicious bread as is. Great crust and crumb.
Not my first loaves :) Just my first with this particular bread recipe...
I haven't seen much in the way of "hooch" on the particular starter I'm using, but, then again, I've been feeding it daily. I was actually thinking of retarding the levain before using it in the final dough to see what effect it had on the flavor...
My starter is at a 100% hydration. I may try to lower that and see what happens.
You might find this dry but get your hands in there and knead away till you form a dough ball. It'll come together eventually.
Allow this to fully mature. Wait an hour after it has matured and then refrigerate. From this build your Levain following the recipe but retard the Levain after that has matured.
See what happens.
About hooch... you won't get any if you feed often.
Sounds interesting... I'll give that a try. I actually have two different starters at the moment; one from a purchased SF Sourdough culture and another (that wasn't particularly working) that I inoculated with some of that SFSD starter (and it flourished) I'll play around with this one. Right now, I think I have enough active starter on hand; about 700 grams :)
Eventually you want to only keep a fraction of that as a mother starter - about 80 - 100g, from which you build levains. Work on developing good tang in your mother starter as above.
Your loaves are perfect! I have made this bread and I know how good it tastes. You have done an absolutely fantastic job!
This was my first attempt and I couldn't have been happier... I would like to up the acidity just a tad, but it's a delicious bread as is. Great crust and crumb.
Well done!
Your first loaves too. Looks professional to me.
Ways to get more tang out of your starter...
1: get some wholegrain into your starter/levain
2: allow your starter/levain to mature more
3: once your levain is mature then you can retard that too by refrigerating overnight before use in the final dough
4: should your starter have hooch hen stir it back in instead of pouring it off
5: keep a lower hydration starter
Not my first loaves :) Just my first with this particular bread recipe...
I haven't seen much in the way of "hooch" on the particular starter I'm using, but, then again, I've been feeding it daily. I was actually thinking of retarding the levain before using it in the final dough to see what effect it had on the flavor...
My starter is at a 100% hydration. I may try to lower that and see what happens.
Thanks for the input!
Joe
As an experiment make another starter using the one you have now. Starter build...
12g starter + 27g water + 60g flour (48g bread flour + 12g whole grain flour)
You might find this dry but get your hands in there and knead away till you form a dough ball. It'll come together eventually.
Allow this to fully mature. Wait an hour after it has matured and then refrigerate. From this build your Levain following the recipe but retard the Levain after that has matured.
See what happens.
About hooch... you won't get any if you feed often.
Sounds interesting... I'll give that a try. I actually have two different starters at the moment; one from a purchased SF Sourdough culture and another (that wasn't particularly working) that I inoculated with some of that SFSD starter (and it flourished) I'll play around with this one. Right now, I think I have enough active starter on hand; about 700 grams :)
Eventually you want to only keep a fraction of that as a mother starter - about 80 - 100g, from which you build levains. Work on developing good tang in your mother starter as above.
Congratulations and happy baking!
Joze
as danni said... they look perfect! well done!