Country Bread

It's only taken me ten years to figure out how to make good bread. Well, OK, I did give up about 4 years ago, but I've been thinking about the process off and on during that time. Many thanks to Kathleen and Ed Weber at Della Fattoria for letting me spend 48 hours at their farm to learn some tricks.

Here's a loaf I baked yesterday, with that moist, irregular hole structure that I'm looking for. Dark brown, carmelized crust that is both sweet and salty. Yum!

I put the recipe on Freebase. Videos below.

I use a modification of the Country Bread recipe from the book Breads from the La Brea Bakery by Nancy Silverton. I'm using a 1.5x recipe, dropping the flour content by a bunch to get a very wet dough.

Here's a short clip of the boules, just before I loaded them in to the oven.

And, finally, a three-part video series on the whole process:

Mixing, kneading

Pre-shaping and shaping

Rise, Cut and load

Comments

[William Levitt]

I appreciate the time you took to make this video. There are a lot of SD bread videos out there, but I find yours to be superior. I have tried many times to produce a successful No Knead SD bread, with only limited success. Your recipe and techniques appear to give that large open crumb, crispy cut results, while allowing for a longer rising time. I can't wait to try it!

[Mike Shwe]

William,

Thanks for the your words o encouragement! Glad you found us. I'm still experimenting.

I've got an even higher hydration dough that I'm working with tonight, if that works, then I'll get some new videos up next weekend.

Also, you can finish kneading in the mixer. I've been a little afraid to try that but Della Fattoria does that and I'm sure that Tartine does as well, because they are making larger quantities, and also because when the dough is so wet, you can't really knead it by hand.

Keep us posted on your bread adventures!

[R. Roger Wolfe]

Mike,

The starter you gave me arrived home safely. The package was sealed tightly in my checked baggage so, apparently, the bag checkers did not identify it as a bubbly explosive mixture, which I had feared.

Have some questions:

1. If I am not using the starter regularly, how often do I feed it? And, how much feed (water and flour) for a routine feeding?

2. How long can I preserve the starter, in the refrigerator or out, if I am not regularly using a portion of it?

3. If I do use the starter in a recipe, how much do I use in the bread recipe, in terms of cups of bread flower or in terms of a replacement liquid? Say, if the recipe calls for a cup of liquid and 3 cups of bread flour....how does the starter fit into these portions and how much?

4. Do I ever still use yeast....?

5. Do you know of a good "bread machine" recipe or is that blaspheme..in that a purist would never use a machine, except maybe to blend or stir?

Or, maybe, I should I stop these questions and go find a good internet recipe calling for starter.... Probably the best idea, i.e., research for myself, not ask you to do it for me, huh? Maybe you know a good site.

[Mike Shwe]

Hi Roger,

Great questions! Here goes...

1. Feeding-- sourdough starters can be extremely robust. Over the last 13 years, I've sometimes neglected the starter for 2-3 months, and it's still here! I don't recommend that woeful neglect though. If you feed it to double its weight at least once a month, it will do fine.

For example, if you have 1 pound of starter, I would add 1/2 pound of water (about 8 oz), and a half pound of flour, and mix well with a rubber food scraper.

If you're not cooking or baking with it, at some point you'll have to compost some of the starter, so it doesn't end up taking over your house. I use the filtered tap water, which comes out at about 65 degrees. I've heard that excessive chlorine in the water will decrease yeast activity, so let me know if you think you're having issues with high chlorine in your water. About 6-10 hours after feeding, the starter sould be at its peak of activity, with lots of bubbles and volume.

2. When you're not feeding or using the starter, keep it covered in your fridge. Any sort of plastic container with a lid will do. When you want to feed it, take it out of the fridge and let it warm up for an hour or two. It should start to bubble a bit, as it wakes up.

3. I would get a good book on baking sourdough breads. I've use the Breads from La Brea Bakery by Nancy Silverton for many things, including sourdough breads, sourdough waffles, pancakes, and a sourdough batter for onions rings and fish fries. You can find it on our Chop and Stir storefront at Amazon: http://www.chopandstir.com/chop-and-stir/recommended-products-at-amazoncom.html

4. I rarely use yeast, but I know there are some recipes in the La Brea book that use a combination of yeast and starter.

5. Bread machines can make some fantastic bread. I used to use a Panasonic/National, but I'm out of touch with current brands.

You won't get the complexity or crust of a great sourdough bread from the machine, though. In my sourdough breads, I use a 5 quart kitchen aid mixer for all of the heavy lifting, with just a little bit of turning of the dough with a bench knife-- check out the videos in this blog posting for more info.

I would start with a recipe like the ciabatta in the La Brea book. It's pretty easy because you don't have to shape the dough, and I think you can do it all in the mixer.

Keep us posted on your bread adventures!

[R. Roger Wolfe]

Mike,

Fed your starter twice yesterday. First, half cup water and half cup of bread flour. Not much reaction. Then, half cup milk and half cup of bread flour. Went crazy; almost jumped out of the bowl; was back alive. After overnight, I tried this simple recipe: Your starter, 1 cup; milk, 1 cup; butter, 2TBS; sugar, 2 TBS; salt, 1 TBS; bread flour, 3 cups; yeast (granular), 1.5 TSP. Used bread machine. Smells right. Tastes great; just sour enough; crust about like Boudin; internal is a bit dense, not as airy as I might like, but tastes great.

In short, it all worked. Might try wheat next. But, I got to eat this first... It is almost good enough to give to neighbors, not quite. But, it is as good as I bought in the airport at OAK.

[Mike Shwe]

Roger,

Sounds like you're off to the races.

I've never added milk to my starter. I would be afraid it would become like cheese at some point. I've just been feeding it flour and water for 13 years.

You might also want to try making some focaccia's or fougasse recipes with the starter. I believe they take some yeast as well.

---mike

[R. Roger Wolfe]

Mike,

Only reason I tried the milk is that the starter seemed rather dead after my first feeding and one recipe I saw said to try a small amount of milk every other feeding time....so I tried it.

Really "worked". Was it wise? I don't know. Will I do it again? I doubt it. Bread was good, though.

(The "milk" alternative might have beent for a starter recipe that had some milk in the original start up mixture. Who knows...

RRW

[Mike Shwe]

Roger,

The starter should be fine with feeding it just organic bread flour and water. I feed mine twice before using it, and even after the first feeding, it's gurgling wildly.

I would just be worried about introducing some unwanted bacteria by way of the milk, but maybe the sourdough cultures will overwhelm the milk bacteria.

--mike

[R. Roger Wolfe]

Hey, Mike.

I have some old whole-wheat bread flour, about a year old. Package has been opened and closed only by rolling it down and held in place with a clip. (So, it has been closed tightly but not air tight.) Intended to use a cup or so in a recipe, but maybe should I just throw it away and get a new bag. Am I asking for trouble and pursuing a false economy. Or, is flour reasonbly good for a long time if dry and fluffed (which I have heard)?

[Mike Shwe]

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Roger,

I would smell the flour to see if it has gone rancid. Whole wheat flour has more of the essential oils from the wheat kernel in it, and I know how hot those Virginia summers can be!

If it smells funny, like old olive or canola oil, time to compost. Otherwise, its probably fine to use it.

Starter is extremely robust. For many years I kept two starters going. One of them I fed with almost all whole-grain flours, like whole wheat and rye flours.