On 2016-02-29, graham > wrote:

> There are two schools of thought to this question. Traditional
> Californian-style sourdough uses a batter based on equal weights of
> flour and water (100% hydration using bakers' %) so it's a thickish
> batter. The French style, pain au levain, which has a subtler
> flavour, uses a dough-like starter based on ~60g of water per 100g
> dough (60% bakers' %). The batter favours acid producing bacteria
> that are the trademark of San Francisco SD bread. Therefore, if you
> want to make that type of bread, use a thick batter, but definitely
> a batter. Of course long proofing stages using the French starter
> will result in a sour tang.
HTH

It does. Immensely.

I've also read where the San Francisco wild yeast is not limited to
the SFBA. That explains why a Denver bread maker usta make a SF SD
that was better than my memories of the real deal.

Looks like I gotta lot more research to do.

nb