On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 02:45:44 GMT, Gary Woods
> wrote:

>The second time I used the
>starter, I proofed the dough at room temp, so it rose a little slower.
>Still, took just 3 hours.

Hi Gary,

When you say it "took just 3 hours" what do you mean?

Did you bake it at three hours because it looked a certain way, or
because you knew that by baking at that point you would have the type
of taste you wanted?

Generally (and other things being held the same), the longer you allow
the fermentation to continue before baking, the more sour the finished
loaf.

If you can duplicate just what you did, but instead let the loaf take
longer before the bake, you may get just the taste you want.

For pan loaves, doing that is rather easy because the pan "holds it
all together."

For hearth loaves, it is a more difficult juggle because as time goes
by and the pH goes down (making the loaf more sour), the gluten
degrades making the dough softer.

Give a longer final proof a try and let us know the results.

HTH,

--
Kenneth

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