After a couple of weeks of twice-a-day feedings and doublings, I decided that Austin was ready for a real test-drive.
I've used discards from his feedings in our pretzel dogs and in my almost-no-knead bread, and this morning I used a cup of discarded starter to make KAF's sourdough crumpets for breakfast. I've never had crumpets before, and I wish I'd read Celia's crumpet post first because mine definitely didn't have the holes that she talks about. Still, they were easy and tasty, and a fun way to use starter discard.
So, on to our first real test-drive: I decided to try the basic pure sourdough (not spiked with instant yeast) from Peter Reinhart's ABED. The dough was gorgeous.
Unlike my first (fairly unsuccessful) tries with pure sourdough, I ignored the timings from the recipe and just let it rise for a really long time. It came out of the fridge at 6:00 a.m. I didn't shape it until about 10:00 a.m. and didn't bake it until about 4:30 p.m. (our house was quite cool). Even after all that time, you can see that I still had quite a bit of oven spring.
This bread was great: it had a subtle flavor, a fairly open crumb, a crunchy but not tough crust. And best of all, it was made with 100% pure Austin! =)
Hooray for Austin! =) That looks great. I've got to learn to be more patient with 100% sourdough.
ReplyDeleteSuper looking sourdough!! I hope mine has such a nice open crumb the next time I try a plain sourdough. Thanks for the link to Celia's crumpets. I'll have to try those. My muffin rings haven't been out of the cupboard in quite a while.
ReplyDeleteLove the crumb Abby - Austin is doing well :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful...all of it. I want to make crumpets!! I want to eat all of it...looks so delicious. Hiya, Austin...thank you for your condolences about Slo Mo...it was a slow and painful passing, so we are just happy that he is not suffering anymore and that he is in a better place.
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