Sourdough baking

Experiments with my current sourdough culture. Trying to find that sweet spot between flavour and effort.

I have screwed around with sourdough for years but always fall out of it because it’s a pain n the ass to maintain and cook.

So this time, I’m determined to make sourdough bend to my schedule, rather than rearrange my life around feeding the beast.

Recipe overview:

• Wallaby bakers flour (Australian brand).
• 72% hydration
• 10% starter
• 1.7% salt

Method:

• “no knead” (stretch’s and fold - ~20 minute intervals for ~2.5 hours)
• +4hr bulk ferment at 22°C
• +30hr (refrigerated) final rise in banneton.

Bake:

• Heavy bottom stainless pan (on parchment)
• Baked at 240°C-220°C (40 minutes total)
• 20 minutes @240°C covered by steel bowl
• Uncovered and baked for 10 minutes.
• Removed from pan (directly onto oven wire rack)
• Turned down to 220°C for 10 minutes

Rested:

• oven off, door cracked open and left to cool for an hour
• served after a 12 hour rest.

Review: Not bad. Great oven spring. Could have better acidity. Crispy crust but a bit too much “chew”. Nice, medium density, open crumb. Extremely low sugar (great for extra crispy toast with Vegemite and grilled cheese).