On 4/2/04 3:41 PM, "williamwaller" > wrote:

> On 4/2/04 1:38 PM, "Dick Adams" > wrote:
>
>>
>> "williamwaller" > wrote in message
>> news:mailman.8.1080920073.229.rec.food.sourdough@m ail.otherwhen.com...
>>
>>> I think the beauty of working with "sourdough" starters is there really is
>>> no single answer to this question.
>>
>> But some answers are better than others.
>>
>>> 1) The easiest... Go to Ed Wood's web site and buy his most sour culture.
>>> 2) Migrate your starter's refreshments from white or wheat flours to rye.
>>> 3) Choose to build from retained, mature dough rather than sponge.
>>> 4) Use your sense of smell to evaluate the fermentation process. Knowing
>>> when a dough is ripe is essential practice.
>>
>> "ww" may still be having some trouble with his sourdough. (He seems to have
>> been sucked in by the 'sour starter --> sour bread' myth.)
>>
>>> 5) Work on a very basic bread (a la Laurel Robertson's Desem example) until
>>> you have nailed down the idiosyncrasies of your grain supply, water,
>>> micro-climate (proofing box, refrigerator, basement, etc...), oven, and
>>> starter behavior.
>>
>> Won't hurt, but can be omitted.
>>
>> 6) Stay away from bananas, figs, apricots and other wonderful
>> what-have-you's unless you've got Betty Crocker's private phone number. My
>> personal feeling is these amendments are better on top of bread rather than
>> in it.
>>
>> Good!
>>
>> 7) Be sure your "benchmark" bread isn't a highly engineered, atypical
>> example of the naturally leavened world.
>>
>> What is a "highly engineered, atypical example of the naturally leavened
>> world?
>
> P.S. What's your bread look like, ww?



It looks like this... (Thanks to Ed Bechtel for building the page...)

http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/B...lerbread2.html


The breads depicted are from my standard baking cycle. I'm in the oven every
third day, alternating white and wheat loaves. Having baked with "bread
flour" for years, I was intrigued to read in "The Bread Builders" by Dan
Wing and Alan Scott, page 39, that regular flour would produce better flavor
and a more European profile than "bread flour". Although I keep a specific
starter tuned to regular, lower protein, flour, it's been used specifically
for pizza dough, where extensibility is the driving dimension.

I began milling WHITE WHOLE WHEAT PASTRY BERRIES to "soften" my bread flour
several months ago. The results have been quite good. The bread rises well
and the flavor is better than what I've experienced using standard flours.
Wing and Scott summarize Raymond Calvel's findings which indicate that ash
content (increased here by the inclusion of milled berries) has a dramatic,
positive effect on the activity of natural leaven cultures.

I am hoping some other posters have worked with soft flour or ash amendments
can share their experiences.

Will








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