Bread - Number 38: It does not get better than this.
Making a white bread is like becoming a drug addict; there's an easy equation between use of an ingredient and the results. (I have no personal experience with drug abuse and I mean no disrespect to those who suffer with this situation.) I have already made this bread four times. It is foolproof, easy (bears repeating), and rewards one's efforts way too well, as if drawing one into a secret cult. This is also a bread in which everything can be done in the evening, with the exception of taking out or putting the dough into the refridgerator. See? Perfection.
I got the dough recipe from a member of the freshloaf online forum. It is called Midweek sourdough, double retardation. Thank you to the author and if ever you are here in D.C., please let me know and I will have you over for bread and tea. I would even buy some fine coffee for you, though I don't keep any in the house. [Note that I probably could get the dough to rise a little better, as the photo demonstrates.]
Finally becoming 13
So why do I need such convenient dough? I am becoming a more engaged Jew - seriously. I am in the midst of an adult bat mitzvah class and learning to chant the prayers and to read from the Torah. We also learn about Jewish practice and philosophy, though I am familar with these already. Yes, this is an ancient rite of passage of sorts, although for 13-year-old boys. When girls were added, mainly in the sixties and seventies, my synagogue did not shift with the times. I was the only girl of my year to attend Hebrew school and I felt fortunate that I did not have to undergo the rigorous training for a bat mitzvah or be called upon to chant and lead services in public, as my own daughters did. I am filled with anxiety and using my nervous energy to practice each day.
So now , each night I am sitting in bed reading my Torah portion (the last one of Behar, for anyone who is interested) and listening online in the morning and evening to my rabbi's chanting of the part of the service I will lead. This is quite the challenge. I attend services regularly (since my father passed away) and attended regularly when I was a child. The synagogue Shabbat service is when I feel his presence. When I hear the congregation chant in Hebrew that the ways of the Torah are pleasent and a path to peace, he is beside me.
For any atheists or others whose eyebrows are raised, I was one of you. Maybe I still am as I my idea of God is more natural than all-powerful Santa Claus. Now I believe that the world would be a better place were everyone to pray for peace with friends at least once a week. I feel centered in that Sanctuary. What could possibly be wrong with that?
The ideal easy recipe - with a sponge
Ingredients
For the sponge:
100g starter
200g water
200g white bread flour
For the dough:
100g water
300g bread flour
10g salt
Instructions
Day 1: Mix together the sponge ingredients. Cover. Put in the refridgerator.
Day 2: Take the sponge out of the fridge. Let sit on the counter for the entire work day. Come home to a beautiful sight, a most active, bubbly sponge. (See, that white bread is not yet a dough and it is already pulling you in. Notice the enthusiastic bubbles, practically emerging and popping before your eyes.)
When you return home in the early evening, admire that lovely, bubbly sponge, then mix it together with the other ingredients to make the dough. No kneading. Just four stretch and folds, about 15 minutes apart. This hour of a total of five minutes of work, if that. Put the dough - covered - in the fridge.
Baking
Day 3: Nothing to do in the morning. Upon returning home from work in the evening, preheat the oven to 445 degrees. I heat up the baking stone and the top of the la cloche. Keep the dough in the fridge.
See? Still easy.
A minute before baking, take the dough out of the fridge and shape. Take a moment to ooh and ah over the conspicuous, incredible rise before shaping. Put the shaped dough directly in the oven. Cover with the top of the la cloche or otherwise inject steam into the oven. Keep covered for 20 minutes.
At 20 minutes, remove top of la cloche. Gasp audibly when your eyes witness the fantastic oven spring that has taken place.
Bake for another 20 to 28 minutes.
Take out of the oven a beautiful bread that in the next few minutes will make such fine crackling sounds that you might squeal or yell out the way Beatles fans did at Shea Stadium when they played in New York.
White taste too fine
And so good. It's sinful how good a white bread can taste. I have made this bread another four times, each time with as wonderful results as the first try.
Please pull me back to the light and goodness of whole grain breads. Now I know the temptation of white bread. I have seen the dark side or the white side, as the case may be.
Okay, perhaps this is not an
ode. Maybe a thank you note to my starter. I am amazed at the magic
that something I am growing out of mere flour and water transforms into a
bubbly mass with the capacity to prompt a dough, and then a bread, to rise. My
sourdough starter is creating breads with as much rise as the commercial yeast;
I hardly resort to "regular" yeast anymore and the yeast jar currently resides in the bottom of
the freezer - out of the way and mostly unnecessary.
Yes, there is a scientific
explanation. Yes, this task has been performed for thousands of years, and by
illiterate people. Still, the combination of simple ingredients, adding only
air and time, to mix with flour, water, and salt - to amount to this sweet
smelling, delicious concoction that is a bread. Well, it is easy to understand
why ancient people created gods to which they attributed the force that natural
yeast produces.
A pretty decent and everyday sort of miracle.
No lack of starter advice
No two people will give the
same advice about how to create a starter. My advice, for what it's worth, is:
Start two starters. If both thrive, wonderful, but probably one will. I would
go with (1) a rye flour and (2) a white all-purpose flour. Some people use spelt starters. There is general starter advice from the Sourdough Companion forum. Many books and websites have sourdough starter suggestions. I especially like this all-about-starters post from the now-defunct Tartine Bread Experiment. Here is my advice. [Admire the lovely bubbles of fermentation in the photograph. Oohs and ahhs are appropriate.]
How to start a starter
Use a clean glass jar.
Use spring water - not tap
water. Whatever chlorine or other additives are in tap water do not make for
happy starters, particularly new ones. Go somewhere else for a scientific
explanation, but that advice is universal.
Combining the flour and water: Add
equal weights, but amounting to a quarter cup or more each of the flour and water. It does not matter whether you add a cup or half a cup of water. If you do not have a scale, then add a third of a cup of flour for every quarter cup of water. Mix well.
Cover the flour and water mix
loosely with one of the following: a top of a jar, a paper towel or a loose piece of plastic wrap.
The starter will need some air to get going and stay healthy. Keep the jar unrefirgerated and, preferably, in a warm kitchen. Don't sweat this; I started mine in a cool kitchen in the winter and it thrived.
Mix well a few times a day.
Watch for bubbles. They might take a few hours or a couple of days to appear.
When bubbles appear, throw away about half of the mix and feed the starter with about equal weights of whatever
flour you are using and water. At this point, the objective is to get the
starter going and not to produce a huge amount. Feed twice a day after bubbles
appear.
Mental health warning
Do not be alarmed - you will be obsessed about this and constantly checking to examine bubble activity.
Consistency
Consistency is critical. A starter should be more of a muffin batter consistency than a pancake batter. A wet mass, but not runny. It should not pour easily. Think thick and viscous. I typically add about double the weight of flour to water. Many people go for a 1:1 ratio. There is no wrong answer; whatever works is fine.
After about a week, if there
is a bubbly, happy mass, congratulations! The first time or two using the
starter, feel free to mix in a tiny amount (a quarter to a half of a teaspoon)
of commercial yeast. Once the starter is healthy for a couple of weeks, it can
go it alone to produce some fine breads. [Photograph of my pretty starter right before use and feeding. Notice the bubbles and the small amount.]
Sustaining a starter
Let go. Forget amounts.
Forget fractions, as in use or throw away half of the starter before feeding
it. Forget everything but the look and smell of a good starter. Add to the
starter, use some, and/or cast away some.
Determine whether you
are maintaining the starter amount or growing it. That will determine whether
to keep or get rid of some when feeding it.
Adjusting with different flours
For making breads with different types of flours - whether spelt, whole wheat, rye or whatever - one can feed the starter with a different type of flour once or twice in preparation for making a bread with a particular type of flour. Or, switch the flour type occasionally just to play or inject a little different taste in one of your usual breads.
Feeding schedule
In the refrigerator - feed
twice a week. Many experts recommend once a week, and that can be done, but
mine looks weary by then, greyish water on top. Twice a week and it will never
appear sick.
Out on the kitchen counter -
feed twice a day. Once a day will sometimes do; sometimes that's a bit of a
stretch. Twice a day guarantees consistent health of the starter - especially in the summer.
Change the jar about once a month. No one wants to see dirt or unwelcome mold. Sorry to mention that.
Baking preparation
Some say starters are ready
to use right out of the fridge; others say they need to be tended for up to three
days. I take the middle ground. I usually take out the starter 24 hours, but
sometimes 12 hours, before using it. I like to feed it twice, ideally, before
putting it to work. On the counter, with some warmth, the sourdough culture
thrives, becomes happy (as we all do with some warm air) and it is ready for
action.
How much starter to use? Recipe instructions are not mandatory. More starter = less time needed for bulk fermentation of dough. Higher temperature in the kitchen has the same effect. Futzing with starter amount and room temperature can speed up or slow down the process. Personally, I like a nice long fermentation period so that those good bacteria can grow and produce a nice tangy taste in the bread.
Adjusting yeast or starter amounts
Many recipes call for commercial yeast. First, the amount given is typically geared toward quick rising - the more yeast, the quicker the rise. Generally, such recipes will include a tablespoon (or equivalent) per loaf of bread. Even without starters, one can improve the bread by using much less yeast - even as little as 1/4 teaspoon - while adding a great deal of time - generally going from a two-hour first rise to an overnight or longer first rise. I like the additional time because it enables overnight and all-day (go to the office) rises.
The rule is the same for starters: The more starter, the quicker the rise. Many recipes that include starters also call for dough made in stages with a preferment of biga, sponge, levain, poolish, or whatever variation. Again, I am learning to put in less starter for a longer time to rise, whether or not that includes a preferment or just an all-the-ingredients-together first rise.
Another variable in the starter or yeast equation is the temperature of the room in which the dough is rising. Rising times vary considerably from a 55-degree kitchen on a winter night and a mid-day summer kitchen of 90 degrees (for people like me who hardly turn on the air conditioning). In summer, I am learning to use a quarter of the yeast or starter I would add in the winter so that I can keep the rising time the same throughout the year.
Substituting starter for yeast
A common question is how to substitute starter for commercial yeast. Some use a rough general rule of a quarter to half cup of starter. That's me. Some meticulously account for the amount of flour and water in the starter as substitutes for amounts in the recipe, also adjusting for a preliminary build/preferment stage. I've done this as well. I really cannot say that the more mathematically-correct method works better. The loosey-goosey method ends up just as well.
There is good information on some freshloafonline forum discussions. I'm sure there are more and the forum is searchable. Here are some freshloaf discussions with a variety of suggestions:
Amounts of starter to use
Substituting starter for yeast
Going away on vacation? No need for a kennel
Leaving for more than a long
weekend and there's no friend able, willing and knowledgable to feed the
starter? No need to worry. Put the starter jar in a plastic bag and place it in
the freezer. Defrost when you return and keep it out on the counter for a few
days, if not a week, feeding it twice a day. The starter will take up to a week
to forgive you, but it will revive, just not automatically or instantly. After
tender love and care for those days, the starter will be ready for baking and
to be put again in the fridge.
Trouble with a starter?
I found this all-about-starters post from the now-defunct Tartine Bread Experiment to be the most detailed and helpful information about troubleshooting starter issues and, indeed, about beginning one's own starter. Basically, in my opinion one should feed frequently enough, keep things clean, use filtered water, and stick to a starter consistency (whether like pancake batter, cookies or runny) that works for you.
