cajungirl

This is what I mean about using too much. If you use the amount I suggested, 1 lightly heaped teaspoon to 1Kg of dough, then it will neither sweeten the bread nor soften the crumb and crust. Cajungirl, you would love the crunch of my crust, and I don't have to bake it black to get it. You do learn a bit in 25years of making sourdough, I first learned from a German baker. ← I certainly defer to your expertise I used the diastatic malt according to the instructions on the bag (bought it from King Arthur Flour). Apparently this was too much, though I don't remember exactly how much was suggested at this time. In order to get a little better rise, I have been using ascorbic acid. I baked sourdough bread several years ago and have only recently gotten back to it, so its much like learning for the first time, my only advantage being that I had all the equipment already. I took a class a few months ago with a "master baker" at the Pacific Culinary Institute and the instructor said that she would use it for a sandwich type bread, but not for the rustic sourdough type of loaf. Anyway, I'll look up my conversion tables and find out how much "1 Kg" of flour is so I'll know how much to add according to your formula and I'll give it a try again. Thanks for sharing the benefit of your experience

For those who DO enjoy TJ's, you might try: Fat Free Smoky Black Bean Dip (Spicy!) Picatta Simmer Sauce (Its great for weeknight meal to just simmer chicken breasts in it and serve over pasta...Yum). Roasted red pepper and tomato soup (I know its summer, but this stuff is pretty good). I don't recommend the Caciatorre Simmer Sauce (very thin and lacking in flavor, I think).

Definitely not supposed to have the heat too high. Smoking is long and slow (like so many enjoyable things). The wood should be soaked thoroughly so that it doesn't flame up but merely "smokes" and imparts the flavor .

I've used it a couple of times, but I don't like the result. It seems to make the crumb lighter, less chewy and the crust also lighter. Of course, I'm into sourdough and prefer a chewier crumb and crunchy crust. It also sweeetens the dough a bit. At least thats my experience

I think thats wonderful Last week I thought I was able to resurrect my 3 year old starter (from the freezer), but it failed to become robust, so I had a small funeral (te he) and sent it down the drain. I'm still experimenting with part of my starter to get it a little sourer, but the one I've been using is so active and happy that I've been using and getting great results. Unfortunately, I'm just so tired when I get home from work that I practice my skills only on the weekends. And I'm getting old, so if I don't write it down, I forget what I tried on the previous weekend I'm considering trying to make a new starter as outlined by Peter Reinhardt in "The Bread Baker's Apprentice". We'll see. If I don't do it this weekend, though I will for sure do it eventually.

Oh Glenn...what a beautiful crust and crumb! You're becoming quite the master

My God! As I sit here at work (not in the food industry) reading this thread I have an uncontrolable urge to go and wash my hands...LOL I cook with my dog in the kitchen, and I pet her too, after which I engage in a RR type hand wash. If some of you people could see some of the commercial kitchens that prepare your food, you might never eat out again.

This is a great idea Have you tried it yet?

You'll love the Fleur de lis. I use it all the time and get so many compliments on the presentation.

Thanks Bill! I'm going to try that. But in the meantime, I have some really good news. About two and a half to three years ago I created a starter using the "grapes" method. Can't remember which of my books I took it from, but it was a grand experiment for me. The starter was tangy and flavorful. I froze some of it and last night while searching for something else I found the starter. I was sure that it had been frozen too long to be revived. I let it defrost, put it in a jar and fed it, left it out on the counter, about 60F and this morning there was definite activity. I almost feel like I gave birth...and I guess in a way I did

Please don't listen to me, Im all wrong .-) I found the article I was looking for here ; http://www.egullet.com/imgs/egci/sourdough/science.html If you look at the chart you see that the lacto bacteria trives best at higher temperatures, and that the yeast grows better in the lower range. If you want "sour" bread, you should maybe try to bulk ferment at 86f-87f or something. Note that the yeast activity drops of at those temperatures. http://www.egullet.com/imgs/egci/sourdough/table.html I guess It all boils down to how scientific you want to get .-) ... Or if you're happy with a sour summer bread, and not so sour winter bread .-) ← HI Glenn, Thanks for sending me the link, guess I'll get to studying again. The one thing thats really nice is getting to discuss this with all of you, pick your collective brains and of course continue to eat my mistakes...

Hi Devlin, The starter was given to me at the beginning of March and I've been baking with it about once a week since then. I was feeding her twice per week, one time being two days before using it. My feeding routine was to save one cup of starter, add one cup of flour and 3/4 cup of water. Also, "sourdough" is exactly what I want, to be precise San Francisco Sourdough. Because I live only about 40 miles from S.F., it shouldn't be a problem for me to have the right yeast and bacteria. And I think what I've been getting is "naturally leavened" rather than a tangy dough. I will try feeding her less frequently and maybe cutting down on the feeding material...hopefully that will do it for me.

Wow! I live just 40 miles from San Francisco, and I didn't know about this...their prices are great (except for the books, thats full price)..Thank You!

As for a scale (they are invaluable), I've had this one for about 5 years and I just love it. I don't think I could bake without it anymore http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=pd_sl_...er%20aquatronic I was never able to get the kind of crust that I wanted without a stone. I got really good results with a plain old pizza stone for years, but I recently got a gift (its expensive) of a HearthKit. I'm still experimenting with it, but so far, so good. As for the baskets, I purchased the bentwood kind (willow, I think) and found that if I wanted a wet dough, it would stick unless I lined it with cloth "seasoned" with lots and lots of flour. But once I learned that, I've had great results. Happy baking and bon appetit

Though I have a cookbook library of nearly 300 books, I use "Jacque and Julia Cooking at Home" and "The Best Recipe" from Cooks Illustrated very frequently. Jacque and Julia make a fantastic standing rib roast...couldn't get through Christmas without that recipe

Another thing that struck my mind was temperature. The bacteria/yeast activity is determined by temperature. If you proof/bulk ferment for longer, and at lower temperatures, you should get a more "sour" result (I believe) ←

The quickest way to get your "sour" back is to not refresh your starter so often, extend the time between feeding, and use more of your old starter when you feed. Some people just use a very small amount of starter and give it a big feed, this will give you a very active starter but not one that is very sour. Trial and error will find the happy medium for you. ←

If you want the best gumbo, try the Gumbo Shop at 630 St Peter St. in the quarter http://www.gumboshop.com/history/history2.html

It's not pesky at all-it makes awesome oil for salad dressing and is perfect for seared tuna-you can really taste the orangy deliciousness on tuna or any other quickly seared fish. Here's the whole menu from Sunday night just for the record: Tamales with duck cracklins and a green chile sauce Mixed Baby greens with roasted yellow beets, red onions, and red radishes Leidenheimer's Italian Loaf bread-almost straight out of the oven (that's a great connection, that bread thing. I love it) Roasted mallards stuffed with granny smith apples and andouille and a very nice reduction of red wine and pan juices Baby carrots (local, really good) braised in duck fat (think carrot confit-it's good, trust me) Braised Teal with sweet onion compote Purple hull peas Butter beans cooked in duck broth with innards and such Pontchatoula Strawberry Sorbet Rice Pudding with Strawberries About 6 bottles of apparently very nice wine and two bottles of very, very nice Veuve Cliquot with dessert. I drank alot of soda. Oh well. That's about it, I think. But that's enough. This is fun to do and we try to do it occasionally. Everyone kind of pitches in, but two of us did most of it. Alison Vines-Rushing made the rice pudding and I can tell you that it was off the hook good. I could have eaten a quart, but sadly, there were no leftovers. ← Oh my God, I'm so homesick

For the sake of the argument, and for educational purposes; How would you guys judge this loaf? Overproofed, underproofed or well proofed ? Or is this just a matter of taste/prefernce ? ←

Hi all, I've been reading some of this thread and and y'all have really inspired me. I'm hopeful that someone can help me. My sourdough bread has recently lost is "sour". I live in the SF Bay area, San Jose, so its not my location. I took a course on artisan bread baking in March which really got me stoked to get back into the sourdough thing again. I had a starter that was really nice and sour and was making great bread. All of a sudden it has become much sweeter. 1) I know it could be the ash in the flour, how do I tell how much there is in it? I use King Arthur Bread Flour. 2) Also, I put a little ascorbic acid when I make the dough. I can't imagine that would sweeten my dough, am I wrong? I recently purchased a HearthKit and I get this wonderful bread, crackly crust and lovely moist crumb....but its not sour. What have I done to my starter? Can anyone help?

Definitely born to it. Being from New Orleans, I've always been surrounded by wonderful things to eat. How could I possibly not try to duplicate in my own kitchen the scrumptious meals I've had in restaurants. On top of that, my entire family cooks and its sort of a competition to outdo each other and share whatwe prepared. Oh yum

You know...I can't go, but my mind is filled with visions of Crawfish Monica....ooooh its been so long. Those were some of the best times!

My O My, I do love Pie! Can anything compare to the buttery flaky crust of a peach pie during the height of the season? The tart sweet taste and the crunch of the crust....mm...mm..mm. I'm in heaven thinking of it!

I'm considering the purchase of the HearthKit Oven insert to aid my efforts at bread baking...if you've used it, what do you think?