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.
So that’s why the grigne looks so raggedy.. It was from the seam! That’s some crazy oven spring.
What a wonderfully put together bread, so nice looking too! Just wish we could taste that through the internet too! Great going Jeremy! Teresa
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