Confessions of a bread junkie, (or how I knead or don't knead bread.)

No worries here, my friends. I am back and baking! I revved up my limp starters with a few quick feeds just to get at least one loaf just for a fix. God I'm like a junkie now! So I made some hybrid dough  to get my mojo. What a dud! It turned out to be a stiff D.O.A. from proof to fridge, out and in and back into the oven. It was like lead, but hell it was bread! ( No pictures, it was devoured and surprisingly finished off!)

So while surfing and revisiting the idea of  that mad baker Jim Lahey's no knead. I opted for this idea of using a stiffer starter from my friend Teresa of Northewest sourdough fame and throw it into the mix. And from Pim of Chez Pim's, I made her no knead version, borrowing her recipe but using Teresa's Motherdough starter recipe. The idea? See what freak would emerge. Ladies and gents, the resulting bread I made is fierce! Basically I followed the no knead procedure, but then retarded the dough for several hours. Working in a split shift, I take a break and bake bread.

 1.) 12 hour bulk ferment after  minimal mix,

2.) next morning pre-shaped, rested for about 20 minutes

3.) Shaped into a batard  then refrigerated until later that afternoon say about 8-10 hours.

4.) Taken out to warm for 1 hour at room temperature.

5.)Baked in a pre-heated Creuset pan at around 480 faranheit, 30 minutes with top on, 15 minutes top off.

Fabulous and tastes really good! Notice the grigne. I didn't even cut it, as it was seam side up in the bake, au nature! The various flours, spelt, whole wheat, rye and wheat make a denser loaf then the all white. And I think there is a more sour note from the mother dough and even the retarding for ten hours.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Thanks Teresa,
I may go back to that mother starter again, as the bread was good, a bit more acid than my usual 100% hydrated starter, but still flavorful and just pretty to look at!

Jeremy

[Teresa]

What a wonderfully put together bread, so nice looking too! Just wish we could taste that through the internet too! Great going Jeremy! Teresa

[Jude]

So that's why the grigne looks so raggedy.. It was from the seam! That's some crazy oven spring.