I haven't posted in awhile, but I'm still baking. My starters are
perking away - blowing bubbles at me most of the time, so they must be
pretty darn happy, those yeastie boyz! Perhaps they've just evolved
into a form that doesn't care what temperature surrounds them?

Anyway, this weekend since I wanted to give some bread away I made 6
loaves of bread - 4 loaves of sourdough using my "liquid" rye starter
and 2 loaves from the stiff starter.

Everything was a lot more sticky than it's been in the past (no doubt a
seasonal thing), but I got through it without getting cemented to the
counter. The rye-based sourdough turned out great.

It's been awhile since I made anything with the stiff starter but I used
the pain de levain formula from J. Hamelman's book and turned out quite
ok. I kept reminding myself that he favors a looser dough over the
notion of adding more flour, so I endeavored on.

Everything was OK until the end of the final rise when the loaves were
firmly attached to the stuff covering them. ooops! I gently peeled it
away and thought - well, nothing ventured.... Let them sit there to
recover while the oven finished heating up. Made sure it was as humid
in there as possible and convinced them to slide off the peel.

Not the most picturesque oval loaves ever made, but certainly not the
worst. And MAN, what a wonderful aroma!

Good thing I get to eat some of this myself, but waiting for it to cool
is, let's just say, difficult.

Hope the rest of you had a good weekend too.

--
Mary Beth
Orientation::Quilter

http://www.quiltr.com
http://www.fruitcakesociety.org
http://homepage.mac.com/mbgoodman/bread05/