Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Norwich Sourdough

I had a disappointing bread experience a couple of weeks ago, and that’s not the bread I’m showing here today. That particular bread was the result of a time-consuming, all-day kind of baking project even though it wasn’t a sourdough bread. It required several folds and turns of the dough, and a nice, long proofing time. It did have a delicious, if tedious to prepare, filling of whole garlic cloves and balsamic syrup. Three heads worth of garlic were separated into cloves, boiled, and peeled, and then the garlic simmered in thick balsamic syrup. That syrup and the garlic were layered into the dough before the final folds. The bread smelled amazing as it baked. And, after all of that, it tasted, well, just alright. The crumb wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be, and while the flavor of the garlic was great, that of the bread itself wasn’t. That left me wanting to bake a really, really good loaf of bread, and that’s when I found this one on the Wild Yeast blog. Susan said this continues to be her favorite sourdough, and now I know why. There was of course some time involved in making it, but that was mostly fermenting or proofing, waiting, time. The active steps were actually very straightforward and quick compared to other sourdough bread recipes I’ve made. Outside, this bread was golden and crisp with a good, deep, crust taste, and inside, the crumb was flecked with color from rye flour, nicely chewy, and flavorful from the sourdough. Yes, this was a bread that was worth the wait.

The dough was made with only white starter, no commercial yeast, and I used bread flour and rye flour. The flours, starter, and water were mixed and left to rest before salt was added and the dough was mixed again. Then, it was transferred to a wide, oiled bowl. A wide bowl is a good choice so that the dough can be folded without removing it. The dough fermented for two and a half hours and was folded at 50 and 100 minutes, and this was so easy. Leaving the dough in a wide bowl and just coming back to fold twice was a breeze. After the two and a half hours, the dough was divided into four parts which were shaped into balls and left to rest for 15 minutes. Batard loaves were formed from the balls, and they were covered with plastic. The loaves could have spent the night in the refrigerator, but I left them at room temperature for a couple of hours and then baked them. I baked the loaves on a stone and sprayed water to produce steam during the first twelve minutes of baking time. Then, for the last five minutes, they baked with the oven door propped open, and last, the oven was turned off while the loaves sat in it for five more minutes. I love the crackling sounds you hear when the loaves have just come out of the oven. They sat on a cooling rack and made their noises, and I waited not so patiently to have a taste.


The crust was the deep, brown color that it was supposed to be, but I thought the surface was a little smooth. There’s a note in the recipe stating that if the formed loaves were refrigerated before being baked, the crust would be more blistered. I would have liked that, so I’ll plan for it next time. There will definitely be a next time. I timed it so the bread came out of the oven and cooled just before dinner. As dinner was being prepped, we cut into a loaf and dipped a few slices into seasoned olive oil. Then, we cut a few more slices. This delicious bread could easily become our favorite too. I’ve already almost forgotten that other experience, but I won’t rule out the possibility of one day layering some cooked garlic and balsamic syrup into this sourdough recipe.

I’m submitting this to Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.




28 comments:

  1. Oh wow, that is a gorgeous loaf of bread!

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  2. I can understand how it feels when you can bake nice loaf of bread. You triggered me to try to bake again with sourdough starter.

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  3. A beautiful bread! Nice crust and inside texture.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  4. Lisa, I used to spray my loaves with water too, but now I use a different method: I fill a very large and deep roasting pan with hot water, empty it quickly in the sink and invert it over the bread right when I place it in the oven. The residual water creates moisture that is locked inside by the roasting pan. That alone improved a lot the look of my bread's crust - it used to be a bit on the "smooth" side with the spray bottle trick.

    If I find a photo of my oven with the inverted pan I'll send you by email...

    Still, your bread looks perfect! Wonderful crumb texture, I am sure it tasted delicious!

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  5. This is lovely. Baking bread is like golfing...never happy with our performance.

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  6. your bread looks incredible..the crust looks amazing and all those little pockets in the bread .....wow....just perfect bread
    thanks so much for sharing...your other bread with the garlic sounded pretty darn good too.

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  7. Oh my this looks delicious! I am a total chicken when it comes to baking bread! LOL!

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  8. Love homemade bread and I have to say this looks amazing. I'd never heard of refrigerating before baking - how interesting. I see I need to get back into it. You're an inspiration.

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  9. It looks fabulous, it looks like it has a nice crispy crust and a beautiful fluffy interior. Pass the butter daaaaahling!
    *kisses* HH

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  10. Sourdough is one of the bread I'm trying to master. I tried making my own starter a few months ago and it didn't turn out so well. I'm determined to try it again. :)

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  11. i love the craters in this batch of bread. what i DON'T love, however, is when one puts a lot of time and energy into something only to be supremely disappointed at the result. my sympathies, lisa, but i'm glad you recovered nicely with this sourdough. :)

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  12. Great looking loaf, I really should get back into sourdough. Maybe this will be the catalyst.

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  13. That is one loaf of bread I could devour on my own! That crust! That crumb! YUmmmmm,.

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  14. Now you know why this is the recipe that will stay with me forever. Glad that you've try Susan's recipe too.

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  15. As much as I love to bake, I don't make much bread. There is nothing like homemade of course but I find the timing to be a little tricky with my kids. No excuse because this looks fantastic!

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  16. Your bread loaves always turn out perfectly. You have a magic trick somewhere. :)

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  17. I love sour dough. Perhaps it's cos I live in San Francisco and we have so many variety of sour dough breads. I'm trying to perfect my bread baking skills since I am such a bread lover!

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  18. Oh, this bread looks just perfect and must be absolutely fantastic!

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  19. Gosh that looks good Lisa-well done! And I have the same scale as you! Mine is a bit temperamental though :S

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  20. I'm glad the more tedious recipe, doesn't necessarily mean the better tasting one. Glad you discover another good recipe for keeps :)

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  21. Your bread looks fantastic!!!!
    I bake bread myself as well....but I still have a lot to learn...

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  22. What beautiful bread! I have yet to try making it, but you have inspired me.

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  23. The bread looks fantastic but I have to learn to make sourdough starter first in order to make this lovely bread. Do you make your own or do they sell it ready made where you live?

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  24. Ivy: I've never seen sourdoughs starter for sale, but I wonder if any bakeries would be willing to sell some if asked? I did make my own by following Nancy Silverton's instructions from the book Breads from the La Brea Bakery.

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  25. Oooo never forget, I mean you don't want that one again.
    And I think it an excellent idea to try the garlic balsamic with this bread ... why not!
    Bread is always a thrill for me and this one is gorgeous.

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  26. I keep wanting to make this sourdough and I keep forgetting. Thank you for reminding me why I need to.

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  27. A great loaf of bread is a triumph. And this one sounds like one for the ages. ;)

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  28. Lovely bread! The crumb looks marvelous.

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