SC - bread

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Someone said:
> > >From experience, true sourdough rises take a long time.  
> 
> It depends on the starter you're using.  My starter will do a first rise
> in 
> two hours.  (I'm using Carl's starter, if any of you are familiar with
> it.)  
> And I hear that some of the cultures available from Sourdough 
> International (esp. their Russian culture) are quite fast.  
> 
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.
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.

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. 

> > > The time can be cut by shaping the loaves and letting them go through
> a single rise,
> > > which may be what is described in Platina.
> 
> 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.

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.  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
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