Well, the last couple loaves were so nice tasting, my market asked for
more so I used the same mix and method as below in a 24 hour grow up,
but made thinner loaves so I got 4, 18" loaves out of the recipe instead
of two like last time. My oven is only 18" wide...
I also made my cuts a lot more on the steep diagonal something like
viince uses in his video demo. I used his method there and it worked
well instead of the cross scissor cuts the original recipe called for.
These 'French Sticks' are 100% sourdough, no commercial yeast. The
original recipe I am following was a commercial yeast only one. I might
do a batch with a commercial 'mix' of SD starter and bakers yeast in the
future just to see what the crumb comes out like, but these are wicked.
The crust is really chewy and the sour came on really nice. The crumb
is airy and soft. No monster holes, just nice ones like I was aiming
for. We like our bread to hold melting butter around here...
There are three photos of this latest experiment on the featured album
on my photo site:
http://www.mikeromain.shutterfly.com
Mike
Mike Romain wrote:
I made some 'no knead' French sticks this weekend out of a batch I had
grown for English muffins. I started off Friday morning feeding my cold
starter up for a 8 hour 'wake up' grow period with a sour or long
ferment time at 72F planned, then fed it milk and AP flour for an
overnight grow at the same 72F.
some snips
It was really nice
and sour smelling so I went for a 'no knead' French Bread instead of the
muffins.
I had about 4 cups of sponge made with one cup milk at the double point,
added one cup warm water with 1 tbsp butter melted in it and 1 tbsp
sugar to that. I then made a well shape in a large bowl of 3 cups flour
and 2 tsp sugar and 2 tsp salt and poured the liquid in. I stirred it
up to a really soft dough, adding just enough flour to take the serious
sticky off as I am stirring, (just enough flour so the dough ball pulls
away from the sides as it is stirred) then let it set covered with a
damp cloth in a pre-warmed oven for 2 hours. I was ready to leave it
longer if needed to start rising, but it had just about doubled already.
It did stick to the cloth and bowl a bit, but not to bad.
At that point I punched it down and put it out on the dusted with flour
counter, cut it in half and made rectangles by stretching it and
pressing it light.
I brushed it with a mix of egg white
and water near the end of the baking. I let these rise for about an
hour and a bit or until the were not quite doubled in volume.
I warmed the oven to 400, put a pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf
and baked for 15 minutes before lowering to 350 for another 30 minutes.
My act of punching it down and pressing it into the rectangle makes the
crumb airy, but no big monster holes. I think the milk, water and
butter mix make a softer crumb than plain water. I personally prefer
bread that has the big holes punched out of it, so does my wife, so that
is what I aimed for on these loaves.
It turned out really nice! A thick, really chewy crust with a nice airy
soft crumb. Wicked as garlic bread and for steak sandwiches.
There are two photos of these loaves in my photo album site's featured
album of 'Today's Photo'. http://www.mikeromain.shutterfly.com
What have you folks baked lately?
Mike