100% central milling high mountain bread flour
88% hydration
2% salt
28% stiff starter/pasta madre
Used a kitchenaid mixer to combine all the ingredients.
45 minute rest, lamination.
4 folds 20-40 minutes apart.
Total bulk 7.5 hours at 72-78F.
18 hour cold retard.
Preheat to 500F, lower to 450F bake covered for 15 minutes, uncovered at 435F for 13 minutes.
I will be the first to admit (and I was, ecstatically, to my husband) that this is a beautiful loaf. This is what I’ve been after aesthetically for a long time. Well obviously there can always be MORE openness, MORE height. But I like the laciness and how round the alveoli are. The crumb is even but also organic. And so airy. But alas it was a loaf for the eyes and not the taste buds.
I have been maintaining a baby pasta madre for about 3 weeks now, in the hopes of attempting panettone in the fall. I decided to give it a whirl in this dough for the first time, just to gauge its strength. It was… all right. It was a pain to incorporate; I hate using a mixer for artisan loaves. It seemed more or less as active as my liquid starter but it’s definitely more sour and one-note. That could have been the 100% bread flour too. I almost always include wheat because plain white tastes so blah to me. In any case I think I’ll save the madre for its true calling. 🤞🏽 And I won’t make an all-white loaf without something else interesting about it.
As far as the hydration, the dough was sooooo sticky and hard to work with. It was also very slack. It stuck badly to the bowl when I turned it out for shaping. Definitely not a pleasant dough to handle, at least for my inexperienced hands. The texture after baking was a bit wet and very chewy. I think my personal sweet spot for hydration is still around 83%.
Overall I’m pleased with the result of this deviation from my usual formula but I think if I want to actually enjoy eating my loaves I won’t be trying it again.
by almostedible2
6 Comments
That looks so pleasing! 10/10 – also love that now you’ve conquered it you won’t be trying again, haha
Beautiful! I just fed my stiff starter yesterday and will give it a second feed after breakfast, thinking I’d make (something). I agree on the all-white bread. Even though I’m a newbie at sourdough, I almost always baked yeasted breads with flavors or inclusions. Due to my warm climate, I try to keep my hydration level between 65-75%, but I’m still experimenting for that sweet spot with different starters.
Look fantastic 🤩
I didn’t think porn was allowed on reddit can someone summon a mod
Absolutely beautiful! 😍
Very pretty loaf. I am surprised that the flavor was disappointing with the Central Milling flour. I just have the ABC plus flour but it is really nice flavor. Usually I am mixing it with another mills T85 flour but I do recall it was a nice flavor on its own too.