williamwaller > wrote in message news:<mailman.20.1093962849.1141.rec.food.sourdoug >...
> On 8/31/04 9:15 AM, "Konny K" > wrote:
>
> > Hello from Germany. I'm not exactly sure, what you mean by "artisanal"
> > but I think, you mean a more rustic bread with irregularities in the
> > dough and a chewy texture. At our bakery in Germany we like to use a
> > retardation process to obtain this. This means a slow fermentation
> > period and rather cool temperatures.
>
> Konny,
>
> There has been a lot of discussion on this list about retardation, mostly
> for flavor benefits, but lately for crumb. In your view, what is going on
> during the slow, cooler fermentation?
>
What I believe is, that the gluten strands have a chance to relax
perfectly and get more time to "make out" so to speak.

> Would you post an old dough recipe for us. We can scale it to our needs.
> Thanks...
>

A basic old dough will consist of a white flour, a few crumbs of yeast
and enough water to make a stiff ball. Let it sit for 4 to 12 hours
and it's ready to go. You can make a lot of breads with it, giving
them a thin crust and a better flavor. It's not to be mistaken for the
sourdough method, which gives a different texture to the bread. The
quality of flour will vary a great deal. When I tried to make my
recipes with american flour, they didn't work, because american flour
will absorb more water than the german white-bread-flour. Sometimes
you have to "destroy" the flour by pouring boiling water over it, if
the recipe demands it. The american "unbleached all-purpose" flour
really is a beautiful flour to make robust white breads with, that
have a crunchy outside and a chewy texture. In Germany we are used to
weaker flours, but we are using imported flours from Italy and France
too.

As a little side note, and this is just from my personal experience
with ambitious home bakers: In my opnion, the biggest mistakes are
probably made during fermentation. A lot of people handle the dough
too much, checking the dough every minute, letting air get to the
dough, putting their fingers into it, etc... That would be
ill-advised. For example, if you're using a sourdough starter, it can
build a crust. Don't punch it down, just wait and later remove it and
use only the soft part of the starter inside.

KK