Bread.003 - All-White Sourdough

This one turned out really nicely.  I used my super-active new sourdough culture, that I mentioned in last post-- cultivated as a sourdough starter for about a week, but then had some bottle dregs from a couple mixed-ferm beers added in.  Nice Brett character when it's at peak activity.  I can seriously feed this starter, then have it doubled in volume within a couple hours.  It's amazing!

Anyway, so... the bread.  I have sort of stopped using explicit recipes in my baking, as I have the ratios memorized, and sort of know what to expect as far as time goes.  I've taken a liking to doing this short bulk ferment of about 4-5 hours, and a longer, cooler proofing in the fridge.  First of all, it' s a bit easier to manage a shorter bulk ferment, as far as my schedule goes, and then I can just pop it in the fridge for like 8-12 hours.  Secondly, some folks say that a longer slower ferment/proof will give you more complexity, as far as taste/smell goes.  Could be ester production from the yeast being in a stressed environment, or perhaps it's just the time and the lactic acid mixing with things-- I've no idea.

Here's what I did:


INGREDIENTS

• 500g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 350g warm-to-hot water
• 75g sourdough starter
• 11g salt

PROCEDURE

1. Weigh sourdough starter in your bowl- I set my bowl on the scale, pressed tare, then spooned in about 75g of starter (ok, it was closer to 85 or something, but whatever).
2. Add your water to the bowl and mix the starter into it to create a uniformly distributed yeast slurry.
3. Add your flour to the mixture--use a rubber spatula or your hand to incorporate all of the ingredients.  Once everything is evenly mixed, let the dough sit for 5 minutes.
4. After 5 minutes, fold the dough.  Wait 5 more minutes, and fold again.  You'll feel that the dough has become less elastic, which feels perceivably "softer."  
5. Wait 5 more minutes, then sprinkle the salt on top of your dough and fold it in.  Additionally, use the pincer method to evenly distribute the salt into the dough.
6. Cover your bowl with plastic to keep moisture in.  Your bulk fermentation will take 4 or 5 hours at room temp.  You'll want to do 2 more folds within the first 1.5 hours--  I usually do mine around 45 minutes in, and then another 45 minutes after that.  Be sure that your folds are gentle-- don't "tear" the dough when stretching it.  Only stretch it until you feel that it won't stretch anymore-- this helps strengthen the gluten structure, which in turn helps retain gas (CO2) while the bread is rising, which ultimately dictates the quality of your crumb. 
7. Once your dough has doubled or tripled in volume, lightly flour your working surface, and gently coax the dough from the bowl.  It'll likely be stuck to the sides, so do your best to free it without being too rough.  
8. Shape your loaf, and put it in a lightly floured banneton (I have been putting mine in "seam-side" down, so that the seam faces up when flipped into the Dutch oven).  Sprinkle a little flour on top of the loaf, then cover the banneton with a floured cloth, or plastic.  Refrigerate to proof for 8-12 hours.  I've not done this process enough times to give you a magic number for proofing duration... I'm kind of just doing what works for my schedule.  I will try to home in on what time works best, as I see correlations. 
9. After your proofing has completed, preheat the oven to 475F, and preheat your Dutch oven inside for 30-45 minutes.  When everything is preheated, flip the banneton/dough into the Dutch oven.  If you wish to, use a sharp knife (a lame, if you have one), and score the bread in whatever pattern you'd like.  
10. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.  
11. At the 30-minute-mark, remove the lid of the Dutch oven.  Bake for an additional 15 minutes.  I recommend rotating the pan/loaf 180 degrees halfway through the last 15 minutes, as the back of most household convection ovens are hotter than the front.  Uniform crust browning!
12. That's it!  Remove the bread from the oven, and let it cool for at least a half-hour before slicing into it (The bread is still sort of baking for a little while after removal from the oven).
13. ENJOY THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOUR.  TAKE PICS OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL LOAF AND INSTAGRAM THAT SHIT. 

For the record, my bulk ferment was longer than I quoted, just because my room temp was like 68F instead of 70something, and it was late, and I was tired, yadda yadda yadda.  It was probably closer to 8 hours.  And my proof time was about 10 hours.  I did one long slash on the loaf, off-centred.  I look forward to mastering crusts and playing with more scoring patterns.  Making it look pretty is one of the most rewarding parts.

Anyway, here's the loaf...