Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter, available here for free. Carl's Friends homepage here, updated with fresh new linkies on how to get started with sourdough, with links to photographs of successful loaves, various famous sourdough people who were early to putting up information for dissemination over this here interwebnetthingie, plus more information on fondly remembered Carl Griffith, famous among sourdough bakers, along with different types of bread and various techniques, ideas on approaches and methods including the no-fuss no-knead method, used here to produce the loaves pictured below, that has brought hundreds if not thousands new enthusiastic and eager bakers to the otherwise impenetrable and mysterious wonderful world of sourdough bread. Ha ha ha. What a loon.
The exhausted starter was removed from cold storage and rejuvenated incrementally and exponentially in the usual way already discussed at length in earlier posts. The weather was mild so the large storage tub containing the sponge was placed on the balcony for two days extended proofing in cold but not freezing temperature without the need to regulate. The sponge did that through slight fluctuations all by itself, although I did feel a need to monitor only because I'm just a little neurotic that way. It was brought inside to the warmth and comfort and temperature ideal for yeast cells to abandon all repression and really let themselves go in uninhibited undisciplined carefree orgiastic abandon and to fully proof as far and as fast as their food supply will take them which is considerable. The whole timing regimen was quite careless. Full use was made of the sponge's broad range for error, which is possible by knowing the limitations. Yay! * dances *
25% whole wheat flour milled at home, 75% flour specific for bread. Oddly, though, this particular mill markets flour for bread with the same protein level as AP flour. I have to assume the bread flour contains a blend of a higher mixture of hard grain compared to soft grain for the AP flour, without jacking up the protein level, but I'm not sure. I called the mill and asked about this puzzling situation that confounds me greatly, but I could not get a straight answer. I don't think there is a straight answer. I think they do the best with the grain they've got season to season following general guidelines, but they can not be nailed down to anything specific. They also market a higher protein flour for bagels and other dense bread that results in too dense a crumb, lacking in large open holes that are valued by us artisan bread bakers. The gluten level in that brand of high protein flour is ridiculous, and the resulting crumb too tight. Me no likey. Plus it's sold in 50 LB bags. I've gone through about eight of those 50 LB bags before switching to flour with lower protein, just to show ya how much fun I've been having.
A woman on my floor rode up with me in the elevator. She asked me, "Aren't you the guy who bakes all the bread?" I go, "Yup." She goes, "D'ya still do it?" I go, "Yup." She goes, "Don't you ever get tired of it?" I go, "Nope. I go through periods but I never get tired of it. As a matter of fact, I just bought some more flour" I pointed out the 25 LB sack of flour in the cart loaded with bags. She looked at the bag of flour closely. Her eyes widened. She goes, "I've never seen a bag of flour that big before." I said, "This is a half size." Ha ha ha ha ha. "Want some?" So she gave me her name and apartment number. Now, you have to admit, that's quite a conversation to have within the span of five floors, in'nit?
The loaves were baked two at a time, with the required amount of sponge cut from the bulk sponge as needed through three baking periods at 500℉, oh, how I do like to live dangerously. I aimed a fan directly at the smoke alarm just in case it was caused to scream at 5:30 am., which is when all this baking started. Wouldn't do to have the firemen roused that early, nor my neighbors wakened. By 9:30 am, two of the loaves were already given away.
We had a little group photo before they left.
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