SC - bread

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 29 Sep 99,, that Decker, Terry D. wrote:

> Your Carl's starter sounds like it has been boosted, although I have been
> able to get fast rises out of scratch starter on a couple of occasions.

I don't know what you mean by "boosted".  The starter I have is from a 
kind gentleman named Carl Griffiths, formerly a regular poster on 
rec.food.sourdough.  He has a starter that has been in his family for a 
long time, which he makes available to anyone who sends him a SASE. 
 (See http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/sourdoughfaqs.html for details)  As 
far as I know, there is no dried yeast in the starter.  I suppose it is 
possible that the starter I have has somehow been contaminated by 
dried yeast, since I do both kinds of bread-baking in my kitchen.

> IIRC, Sourdough International is Ed Woods.  His recipes usually call for a
> first proof of 8 hours.  The second rise is usually about 2 hours.

Yes, Ed Woods is the guy.  I recently bought his book.  Sometimes I 
proof the starter beforehand, but not always.  I have been known to 
make bread with starter straight out of the fridge.  It rises a bit slower 
then, but it rises.

> In any case, commercial sourdough starters are hard to come by in
> Oklahoma, so I produce mine by the traditional method of mixing flour and
> water to make a bigga or levain. 

You might consider trying Carl's starter.  It's moderately sour, and I have 
found it to be very reliable.

> > I usually do two rises.  My recollection from a recent thread on 
> > rec.food.sourdough is that a single rise will give you a more "holey"
> > texture.
> > 
> > Brighid
> > 
> The aeration is more ragged in single rise breads, but not objectionable
> so. This is usually true whether you are doing sourdough or yeast breads.

Some people find the open texture preferable.  My bread is usually 
destined for sandwiches or toast, so I prefer a fine, even crumb.

> The fact that you do two rises and I do two rises does not eliminate the
> possibility that Platina's bakers used a single rise.

True.  Which would be less likely to produce a sour flavor?  Platina 
regards that as undesirable.

>  Just as the recipes
> do not eliminate the possibility that professional bakers in period may
> have used a double rise, as they were obviously not written by
> professional bakers and may not accurately reflect professional practices.
> 
> Bear

Brighid


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================