Hi Dave,

"Dave Bazell" > wrote in message
...
>>
> Questions:
> 1) I am trying to get nice holes. It seems to me it is better to bake at
a
> lower temp for longer to get better oven spring. Lower temp allows more
> time for heat conduction to middle of loaf before curst forms and fixes
the
> size of the loaf. Comments?

In my opinion, stay away from the cooler oven (anything below 450F). The
crust doesn't fix the shape of the loaf - rather, the crumb will burst out
if the crust tries to inhibit it. What matter is that you get lots of heat
into the center of the dough and expand the carbon-dioxide bubbles forming
in the crumb. Those bubbles form your crumb. The faster you heat those
bubbles, the more they will expand before the dough has a chance to cook.
All things within reason of course - don't heat your oven to 700F.

> 2) trying to get more sour flavor. I think using more starter should help
> since it is sour. I also think longer fermentation should help since the
> sponge is pretty sour to the taste before I make the dough. Letting
things
> sit longer should allow appropriate growth.

I stay at 30% starter - that seemed to be the general rule as I heard it
from my co-workers. You of course could add as much as 100% starter (a very
well educated baker friend of mine has thought about it). It would of course
depend on the hydration of the starter as to whether it would be more like a
poolish (a liguid or gooey starter) or a biga (a firm starter) - either way
they will add some acidity to the final product. However, they will also
shorter your rise times which could hurt potential crust flavor and
formation - I like warm rises - I only use cold rises with commercial yeast.
3 days in the fridge is too long - overnight will do all you need it to do.

Tom