John Turner

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Baking Experience: Sourdough Loaves

Recipe

John's Basic Sourdough Loaf - Based on some re-review of the Tartine Bread cookbook, I’ve updated the schedule and ingredients.

Schedule

Date/TimeTaskNotes
May 28 9:00pmMixed Levain
May 29 7:30amStarted initial mix / autolyse
May 29 8:35amFinal mix / bulk ferment start
May 29 2:35pmBulk ferment end, shaped loaves1 batard and 1 boule
May 29 3:00pmStarted provingBatard on the counter, boule in the fridge
May 29 5:15pmBatard done proving, scored and baked
May 29 6:00pmBatard done baking
May 29 7:30pmBoule done proving, scored and baked
May 29 8:15pmBoule done baking

Notes

Bread Flour

I finally bought some bread flour (King Arthur’s) and man alive, there’s a huge difference in the gluten development, even early on in the fermentation process.

I’ve been baking sourdough or some form of bread for over 10 years, and I don’t think that I’ve ever really experimented with bread flour, I’ve almost always used all purpose flour. I honestly don’t know why, potentially there was something in the FWSY book (which informed many of my habits in baking) that mentioned that it’s fine to use all-purpose. However, now that I’ve experimented quite a bit with kamut flour, and seen how little the bakes are in terms of rise (given the super low protein count), I’ve now seen what it looks like to have the pendulum swing drastically one way, if that makes sense.

All that said, it’s still early on in this process (I’m writing this during the bulk fermentation phase), and I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But I can tell a huge difference in the elasticity and strength of the dough when mixing and folding it so far. I’m excited to see how the loaves turn out.

Notes on Schedule

I experimented today with a much smaller bulk fermentation than I have in the past, following the Tartine recipe more closely.

Proving

I almost always use the fridge for a cold prove, but today I’m experimenting with one loaf being in the fridge and baked later, while another loaf being proofed on the counter, allowing me to bake it for dinner today.

Results of Proving

The counter-proved loaf ended up being very slack, and though I shaped it as a batard, it really came out as a boule, having expanded to fit the size of the combo cooker.

The fridge-proved loaf proved for an additional 2hrs or so, and held its shape much better than the counter-proved loaf.

Final Thoughts

References