Bread Baking
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.04, 10:00am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:Starter feeding
Researched sourdough starters online and found information on feeding and maintaining the cultures on www.culturesforhealth.com. The basic feeding recipe called for 1 part starter, 1 part water and roughly 2 parts flour. To maintain the starter, it should be feed weekly (if kept refrigerated). To prepare it for baking, it needs to be fed roughly every 12 hours for a day and a half or two days.
I intended to buy whole-grain, organic flour, but my week turned out to be busier than expected, so I started the 'activation' process with the white flour I had on hand. Thus, the first feeding entailed 1 cup starter, 1 cup water and 2 cups white flour.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.06, 09:00am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:Starter feeding and prep for baking
I purchased whole wheat flour (still no organic) and did the two subsequent feeds yesterday (2017.02.05). As in the online instructions, the mixture becomes quite bubbly.
I found a basic sourdough recipe to practice with (also from culturesforhealth.com). For the next practice bake, I'll use an early modern recipe. The recipe I followed called for 2 1/3 cup starter, 3 1/3 cup flour, 1-1 1/2 cup water and salt. The water is variable and depends on the 'window-pane test' -- you should be able to stretch a small piece the kneaded dough thin enough that light can pass through. After adding 1 1/2 c water, my dough was still breaking before getting thin enough, but I wasn't quite sure if I was being too particular in my standard of 'transparency', so I decided to let it rise anyway. The recipe called for 1 to 2 proofs of 4-24 hours. I let the dough rise for 8 hours, then kneaded it again, and let it rise for another 4 hours. My loaf was large, so I baked it for an hour at 400 degrees F. (The recipe calls for 30-60min, depending on loaf size etc.). I checked periodically, expecting it to rise more while baking, but the loaf stayed the same size.
After it had cooled, it had a very thick crust and still looked like an inflated focaccia (about 12 inches in diameter and 3-4 inches high). It was too dense and over baked--the crust was too thick, but the inside was pretty moist; the flavor was quite sour, but not too bad. Also, I forgot to oil the pan... so I now also have a better appreciation for the effectiveness of flour-water as a glue recipe.
Next time I want to activate the starter for longer before baking and let the dough rise for longer. I will also bake it for about a half hour and test it. Since I was expecting it to rise, I was relying on visual rather than other cues.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.12, 10:00pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject: Restarted starter -- 1 cup starter, 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.13, 09:00am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:Fed starter - reduced to 1 cup, and added 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.13, 10:00pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:
Fed starter - reduced to 1 cup, and added 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.14, 10:00am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:
Fed starter - reduced to 1 cup, and added 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.14, 09:00pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:
Fed starter - reduced to 1 cup, and added 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.15, 09:00am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:
Fed starter - reduced to 1 cup, and added 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.15, 11:00pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject: Making dough:
2-1/3c starter, 3-1/3c flour (half wheat half all purpose white), 1-1/2c water, 1 Tbsp salt
I continued to follow the recipe used on 2017.02.06, though I decided to use loaf pans this time. After kneading the dough for about 10 minutes, I divided it roughly in two (one loaf pan is slightly smaller) and left it to rise.
Also fed a new batch of starter - 1cup starter, 1 cup all purpose white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup water; kept on a kitchen counter in a stainless steel bowl, covered with a towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.16, 02:30pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject: Kneading dough - The dough rose quite a bit overnight - coming to the rim of the loaf pans. I kneaded both loaves, and let them rise a second time in greased pans.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.17, 02:30pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject: Baking bread- The dough didn't rise very much the second time. It only came about halfway up the loaf pan. After preheating the oven to 400 degrees F, I placed both pans on the center rack. I baked them for 30 minutes, and then let them cool for 3 hours before cutting and tasting.
Borderline undercooked, they were very dense and very moist. Also quite sour, but not so sour that I didn't end up eating half a loaf in one standing. Definitely more successful than the first try.
Prepped second batch - I hadn't fed the other batch of starter since 2017.02.15 11:30pm, but it was looking quite active still. I used the same ratios as before, but the flour was 2/3 whole wheat to 1/3 all purpose white. I kneaded it for about 10 minutes and left it in the two greased loaf pans to rise, under a damp towel.
Also fed a new batch of starter - I only had about 2/3c starter leftover after making the second batch. I fed it only with all purpose white flour and water.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.18, 12:00pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject: Baking bread - The dough rose to the top of the loaf pans again, and this time I decided to bake immediately (rather than letting it proof a second time). I also decided to increase the baking time to 40 minutes.
It turned out quite well. Still moist, but definitely fully cooked; it was also lighter than the first batch -- in terms of texture, color, and taste.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.18, 09:20pm
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject: Prepping final batch - I only had 1-1/3 c starter, so I reduced the flour to 2-1/2 c (2/3 of which was whole wheat, the other 1/3 was all purpose white). I added a little less than a Tbsp salt and 1 c water. Initially the dough kneaded like the previous two batches, but after about 8 minutes, it became much stickier. It finally passed the 'window pane' test. I kneaded it a few minutes longer, and then put it into a single, greased loaf pan. I left it to rise, covered with a damp towel.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.19, 10:45am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:Baking bread - The loaf rose a little beyond the top of the loaf pan. Like the second batch, I baked it 40 minutes at 400 degrees F on the middle rack.
Bread Molding - While the final loaf was baking, I experimented molding with half a loaf from batch 2 (i.e., baked the day before). The two recipes on fol. 140v in Ms. Fr. 640 call for the 'pith' of the bread, which I interpreted to be the moist, middle part. The second recipe says that bread fresh from the oven is best, but I was curious to see what the difference might be. I had a surprisingly difficult time finding a suitable object to mold, and finally settled on a small, plastic (glow-in-the-dark, no less) figurine of the Virgin Mary. (I expect it will prove to be too detailed.) I collected the pith and kneaded it into a disk. I then pressed the figurine into the disk and removed it again. I decided to only mold one side. It took the impression fairly well, but there are a number of cracks in the dough itself, so I don't think the casts will be very good.
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.19, 11:30am
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:Bread molding - As soon as the loaf was out of the oven, I cut it in two and scooped out the pith from one side. It was much more pliable than the day-old bread. I kneaded the pith into two disks, so that I could take a front and back impression of the figurine. I pressed the figurine into one half and then pressed the second disk on top. I pinched the top halves in the hopes that when we go to pour the wax/sulfur, it will be clear how the halves line up. The fresh bread took a much cleaner impression than the day-old, but I don't think the halves will seal very well when we go to pour the wax/sulfur. I've left all three molds to dry.
And I just realized I forgot to cut a vent...
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:
Name: Hannah Elmer
Date and Time:
2017.02.[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]
Location:Morningside Heights, New York
Subject:
ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES
- note time
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- see also our informal template for recipe reconstructions