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Bread Molding

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.17, 2:00pm

Location: Columbia University

Subject: Received container with sourdough starter in a plastic bag

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.17, 4:00pm

Location: Home (410 W 58th St., New York, NY)

Subject: Feeding Sourdough Starter

The container with the sourdough opened on the way home and spilled in the bag. Only about a quarter cup was salvageable.

Ingredients: ¼ cup of starter

Scant 2/4 cup of all purpose unbleached flour

¼ water (+ ~3 tablespoons)

(1 part starter, scant 2 parts flour, 1 part water + a little more water to smoothen texture)

Mixed ingredients until a uniform mixture was recieved

Based on my partners tacit knowledge with bread making, it seemed as though there was not enough water in the mixture.

The total amount of material added to the mixture was 1 cup and 3 tablespoons.

This was left outside in room temperature of about 70F.

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.17 11:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Feeding the Starter

The amount of starter poured into a measuring cup from the bowl was ⅔ cup.

Missing third must have been left as uncollected residue in bowl.

A new mixture was made:

Ingredients: ⅔ Cup of starter

⅔ Cup water (+ ~4 tbs)

4/3 scant flour

(1 part starter, scant 2 parts flour, 1 part water + a little more water to smoothen texture)

Mixed ingredients until a uniform mixture was recieved

This was left outside in room temperature of about 70F.

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.18 8:00am

Location: Home

Subject: Put Starter in Refrigeration

Covered bowl using a lid.

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Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.23 2:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Translation of Recipe

Began translating the following recipe by John Evelyn (trans. Ullman):

Take of a Bushell of the whitest meale & 4^th part to ferment with halfe a pint of new-yeast (if it be stale less will serve) a small handful of salt dissolved in warme water, & three quarts of milke; an hour after; add the rest of the flower, which you shall temper but slightly; then [turne] the part & let it rise in small wooden-dishe, then set it into the oven; an hower is sufficient; when drawne, let them cool edge-ways.

It soon became apparent to me that the task of translation is difficult without any knowledge of what I was doing, or how the process is roughly supposed to look like. In order to translate and convert the amounts and ingredients I needed a semblence of an idea of what ingredients actually go into bread making, and how much of them. The terminology was also a hinderance, and only after it was pointed out to me by my partner that the amounts here probably imply yeast and not soursough starter, did I decide to go online and follow a contemporary sourdough recipe.

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.18 4:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Making Sourdough bread

Homemade sour dough recipe Step by Step (http://www.girlversusdough.com/2014/07/07/homemade-sourdough-bread/)

Ingredients: 1¼ cups warm water (about 115 degrees F)
1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups sourdough starter
4 to 4½ cups all-purpose flour (added ~1 more cup while kneading)
1 scant tablespoon salt

This recipe was modifed to accomodate the amount of sourdough I had: For all of the ingredients I halved the quantites. Any requirements for machinery were substituted by hand.

Directions:

In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine warm water and yeast. Stir to dissolve yeast, then let sit 5 minutes so yeast can fully dissolve.

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Add sourdough starter; stir until well combined and starter is mostly dissolved (there may be a few stringy bits left, and that’s OK).

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3. Add 4 cups flour and salt to the bowl. Stir until combined and a shaggy dough forms.

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3B.. Use dough hook attachment to knead dough on low speed 8 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed until a soft, smooth, elastic and only slightly sticky dough forms; OR, turn out shaggy dough on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand 10 to 15 minutes, adding more flour as needed until a soft, smooth, elastic and only slightly sticky dough forms.

Notes: This process eneded up consuming much more flour than the recipe called for.

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4. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl; turn to coat dough in oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rise in a warm place 1 ½ to 2 hours until doubled.

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5. Punch down risen dough. Divide in two, then shape each piece into a ball. Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a tea towel and let rest 20 minutes.

6. Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. Shape each ball of dough into a sandwich loaf (see an excellent how-to here). Place each loaf in prepared loaf pans. Cover with a tea towel and let rise 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours until dough just begins to peek out over the top of the loaf pans (mine never made it quite this far after 2 ½ hours, but all was well).

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7. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Just before placing loaves in the oven, slash the tops a few times with a very sharp serrated knife. Immediately place loaves on center rack of oven and close the door. Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F, then reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Bake another 25 to 30 minutes until loaves are deep golden brown on top and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

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8. Remove loaves from pans and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Procedures were followed step by step except for step 4- I did not have the risen dough, figuring the ball I had was already halved because of the ingredients.

The bread was delicious.

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.23 5:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Feeding the Starter

A new mixture of starter was made:

Ingredients: ½ Cup of starter

½ Cup water (+ ~2 tbs)

1 cup of scant flour

(1 part starter, scant 2 parts flour, 1 part water + a little more water to smoothen texture)

Mixed the mixture until uniform.

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.24 2:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Feeding the Starter

A new mixture of starter was made:

Ingredients: 2 Cup of starter

2 Cup water (+ ~4 tbs)

4 cup of scant flour

(1 part starter, scant 2 parts flour, 1 part water + a little more water to smoothen texture)

Mixed the mixture until uniform.

Left Mixture out in room temperature (~70F).

Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.29 1:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Reconstruction of John Evelyn Recipe #1

“There is of this [both] white and brown & of all [1 word illeg]: take six Bushells of flower (or at lesser quantity you please) of which put leven to a first part at eight a clock at night; then add as much more flower to it; this is called refreshing the leven; The next morning early, make your dow with the remainder of the meale but temper it moderately, or very little; then turne the Dow, and put it in a wooden bowle, sprinkl’d w[i]th flower to keep it from sticking; & when it is ready to get in the oven you shall [stowe] it into another bowle. That when it is set into the oven with your [poole] the right side may stand upmost.”

Bushel = 152 Cups

Using this as a starting point, I had reduced the proportions as following

“take six Bushells of flower (or at lesser quantity you please) of which put leven to a first part at eight a clock at night; then add as much more flower to it; this is called refreshing the leven”

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Notes: By feeding the sourdough throughout the week, I concluded that according to the proportions (1 Starter:2 Flour) that this process refers to feeding the sourdough. No water is indicated in the recipe, implying that more water should be added elsewhere as well probably.

“make your dow with the remainder of the meale but temper it moderately, or very little;”

After using 2/6 parts of the flour. The Remainder is 4/6. The sourdough starter is roughly 3/6 parts. Therefore the ratio of flour to starter is 4:3.

Ingredients: 2 cups of unbleached bread flour

1 ⅕ cups of starter

½ cup water

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then turne the Dow, and put it in a wooden bowle, sprinkl’d w[i]th flower to keep it from sticking;

This process was very much like kneading the dough in the previous attempt. This time, I covered my hands with flour constantly to prevent sticking, and furthermore kneading in the bowl and not on a table. This reduced the amount of wasted material and made the process easier.

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& when it is ready to get in the oven you shall [stowe] it into another bowle.

Here I waited for it to grow roughly double the size over four hours. After two hours the dough hardly grew at all however. I added a pot with boiling water next to the dough to perhaps create a more humid climate.

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That when it is set into the oven with your [poole] the right side may stand upmost

The dough was put in the oven despite not rising much.

The oven was set to the same parameters as the previous attempt.

It was put in the over for 45 minutes until browning appeared on the crust.

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Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.29 2:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Reconstruction of John Evelyn Recipe #2

“Take of a Bushell of the whitest meale & 4^th part to ferment with halfe a pint of new-yeast (if it be stale less will serve) a small handful of salt dissolved in warme water, & three quarts of milke; an hour after; add the rest of the flower, which you shall temper but slightly; then [turne] the part & let it rise in small wooden-dishe, then set it into the oven; an hower is sufficient; when drawne, let them cool edge-ways.”

Bushel = 152 cups

Pint = 2 Cups

Quart = 4 Cups

Following a conversion and reduction of quantites I arrived at the following ingredients:

1 Cup of Flour (Step 1) -> 3 Cups of Flour (Step 2)

1 Teaspoon of Yeast

⅓ Cup of Milk

3 Tbs of Water with a pinch of salt -> 1 Cup of Water (Step 2)

Directions:

Take of a Bushell of the whitest meale & 4^th part to ferment with halfe a pint of new-yeast (if it be stale less will serve) a small handful of salt dissolved in warme water, & three quarts of milke

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an hour after; add the rest of the flower, which you shall temper but slightly

To the previous muxture I added 3 cups of flour, but the dough began to fall apart and not all of the flour was absorbing into the dough despite the tempering. In increments of a quarter cup, added 1 cup of water to make the dough resemble the other doughs in texture and consistency.

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3.let it rise in small wooden-dishe, then set it into the oven; an hower is sufficient

The dough was let rise for 3 hours until constraints of time required it be put in the oven as is. It was put in the oven for 45 minutes until browning appeared on the crust.

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Name: Michael Assis

Date and Time:

2018.09.29 7:00pm

Location: Home

Subject: Fixing the Molds

Bn Ms. Fr 640, fol. 140v translation:

<ab>

Location: Home

Subject: Put Starter in Refrigeration