Loaf 34 – More SFBI Sourdough

Posted on Mar 24, 2012 in loaves

It was time to feed my SFBI sourdough starter, so I used that as an excuse to try a new batch and see if I can improve the crumb that I’ve been getting. The recipe and process was the same as Loaf 29 until the final shaping step. I did the first sourdough feeding on Wednesday evening, the second on Thursday morning, and mixed the dough and baked Thursday night (until late!).

These loaves are 400g each rather than the usual 500g. I forget what my reasoning was there.

This time I was very comfortable with the shaping process. I was pretty aggressive at knocking out the bigger bubbles for both the pre-shaping and final shaping. I used a couche (linen cloth) this time for the resting and proofing steps, as can be seen in the images below. Two of the loaves I shaped into batards, and two were made into boules and put into the round bannetons.

I’m happy with the two batards. I should have angled the lame more when I scored – I think the loaves would have formed better “ears” like they did for Loaf 29. The interior is the nicest yet for the sourdough loaves. This time I didn’t have the longer bubbles from the shaping process that I had last time.

The two round loaves were another issue. The biggest problem is that I didn’t score them properly. This time I was way too shallow – the result is that the very top of the crust split, but not enough to allow for the expansion of the bread in the oven. Rather than tearing along the seam and rising up in that direction, the pressure found an easier way out along the bottoms of the two loaves, creating very ugly rips around the sides. I think this also contributed to the bubbles in the crumb being heavily lopsided towards the tearing.

I can only bake two loaves at a time in our oven; for Loaf 29 I retarded the proofing of the second two loaves by putting them in the fridge for 30 minutes. I didn’t do that this time, and I think the round loaves also over-proofed. They didn’t pop back hardly at all from the “finger test” right before I turned them out of the bannetons.

I left each of the loaves venting in the oven for 10 minutes before removing them to cool. For the first two I actually moved them to another 425° oven that I then turned off so that I wouldn’t lose any of the heat in my main oven for the second loaves. This worked very well to keep the crusts crispy.

Taste Tests

The flavor was better than Loaf 29, I think I balanced the salt better this time. But there still isn’t much of a sourness to the flavor. It’s expected that it shouldn’t be different as I haven’t done anything that would affect the starter in that manner. The sour flavor is a bit more noticeable the next day.

Lessons

• Still working on that scoring skill. There really is a “too deep” and “too shallow.” Today I learned about “too shallow.”
• Leaving the loaves in a vented oven for 10 minutes does help to keep the crust crispy.