Dicky Adams wrote:

"Well, here are some things to learn from the experts:"

Not ANYWHERE'S near an expert , I haven't been doing this anywhere near long
enough to convincingly match wits with any of the resident sourdough
legends, but long enough to know allot of what Dick wrote is intentional
folly. Seeing as nobody else wanted to take the bait, I offer my own
responces for Mr Adam's amusement.

"1. Getting the bread surface all soggy in the oven by infusing it
with moisture makes the crust hard."

Actually, the steam thing as far as I know helps keep the dough surface from
drying out too quickly, remaining elastic a little longer hopefully enough
to withstand the stretching of oven spring. It doesn't give me a hard crust,
actually my crust softens a bit after baking this way, during cooling. I
have read that this can be avoided by cooling in the still warm oven after
baking with the door open a bit. Keeping in plastic wrap makes the crust
soft, my parents loaves go in plastic bags for this reason. My own I keep
unwrapped or at least in paper bags, if I want a nice hard crust.

"2. Rising the dough in the refrigerator makes the bread taste
more sour."

Is this what people say? I fridge retard my dough for convenience, and have
never ever found it to create a more sour bread. Perhaps even the opposite
may be true.

"3. A sour (tangy) starter makes the best (sourest) bread."

I have found Carl's to be about the blandest starter so far, and yet many
experts here claim to make quite sour bread with it, I believe Samartha has
documented results somewhere, so I would probably say that this is false.
I wouldn't know, I don't really go for sourest.

"4. Souring a sponge for days is good, too."

Depends what "good" you are trying to accomplish. Dick is certainly the
champion of skyscraper-like loftiness in his sourdough loaves, one would be
hard pressed to come anywhere close with "spent" dough. But then there can
be flavors and crust/crumb textures to explore that you may find just as
elusive with a "young" sponge.

"5. Your mail-order dry start might take five days to revive."

The only dried starter I have received in the mail was Carl's OT. It was
bubbling within the first day. That is just my one experience, but I think
that 5 days is a long time. More than long enough in fact, for a resident
culture already present in your flour to show itself, any mail order stuff
may never have surfaced at all.

"6. Given enough time, the dough will knead itself sufficiently."

Ah yes, the "no knead" technique. I don't know well how this works for
Dicky's loaf pan breads. Seems to work for "hearth" types. Remember
everything still has to get mixed together sufficiently though, and stretch
and folds are down the road too. I still think it all adds up to a little
kneading, just differently.

"7. The more the dough is punched, the better the bread."

Dick, who punches down sourdough bread anymore? If I have been here
bothering everybody for a year, I haven't read a single post recommending
punch downs. Perhaps you are watching Julia Child reruns on the side. Bon
Appetite!

hutchndi