On Mon, 1 Mar 2021 16:24:23 -0700, Graham > wrote:

>On 2021-03-01 12:09 p.m., Boron Elgar wrote:
>> On Sun, 28 Feb 2021 22:06:02 -0700, Graham > wrote:
>>
>>> On 2021-02-28 5:02 p.m., Boron Elgar wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Ran into this online about sourdough blistering. Now I get to poke
>>>> around and see if it makes sense.
>>>>
>>>> "This is because acidic conditions created by sourdough breaks down
>>>> the gluten near the surface. As the bread bakes, steam is created and
>>>> it escapes through mini-chimneys all throughout the crust where the
>>>> gluten has been weakened. Those mini-chimneys end up looking like
>>>> blisters."
>>>>
>>>> https://wheatbeat.com/blisters/
>>>>
>>> My teachers at the local Alliance Française told me that they did not
>>> like N.American style sourdough. The French equivalent, pain uu levain,
>>> has a more subtle flavour, probably because the levain is kept at ~60%
>>> hydration rather than the 100% hydration typical of sourdoughs. ISTR
>>> that the high hydration favours the acid.
>>> Therefore French boulangers see the blisters as a fault.
>>
>>
>> Are these levains mixed for each bake and based on a mother starter,
>> so that the mother starter is kept at 60%? Or are these levains
>> started with a bit of commercial yeast? I have seen both types
>> referenced.
>>
>> I bet the hydration of the final dough and the length of proof have
>> some influence on it, too.
>>
>I certainly think the length of proof has an influence on the "tang".
>AIUI, the French use lower hydrations as their flour is softer. A
>Belgian baker set up in Calgary some years ago and he told me he had a
>helluva job adjusting his recipes to Alberta flour. He told me that he
>had to add a lot more water than he had in Belgium with the softer flours.
>It used to be that the standard, and government mandated, recipe for
>bread in France was 100:60:2:2 in bakers' percentages.
>I'm not sure about whether it is standard practice in France to add
>yeast to their pain au levain. However, there is a video of a baker in
>the Poilne basement preparing the dough for the famous miche and he
>adds yeast.
>I'll have to get the Appolonia Poilne book from the library because I
>think the recipe she quotes has yeast. I'll have to see if Calvel has
>anything on the subject.

>Dammit, there is so much folklore involving SD!!

I've no compunctions about tossing in a bit of yeast if I think there
is some reason for it. One of my favorite deli ryes sometimes gets a
sprinkle, as I do not always have a blossoming rye starter if I decide
I want to make some the next day or so.

I have not opened my Clavel in so many years, I am not even sure where
it is now. I wonder if I even have it.....