Swedish Sourdough Starter

I was sent a sourdough starter from Sweden. The starter is very vigorous and has a great smell. Today I am baking with it for the first time. The starter was sent to me by Erik Fagerberg of Brantevik,Sweden. Here is a picture of some of the sourdough breads he has baked:

 Here is the recipe he sent me for Swedish Sourdough Bread:

550 gr water
25 gr salt
350 gr starter
960 gr bread flour(mixture of rye,wheat, bread flour)
50 gr coarse whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon honey
Mix in Your blender as usual in the evening and proof overnight. Punch down. Proof in your bannetons (the dough is quite sticky so flour them well). Second proof is usually around 3 hours. I bake in a preheated oven 275 gr C for 15 minutes and then 40 – 50 minutes at 200 gr C. Use steam as usual.

Here is a version of his bread with added Semolina flour and walnuts:

Here is his starter active:

Here is some of Erik’s Swedish Sourdough Bread:

 Erik obtained the starter from one of the head bakers in Sweden named Jan Hedh, who has written a great looking book on bread, I am hoping to find a copy in English.

http://www.olofviktors.se/bageri.htm

 

 This is my modified version of Swedish Sourdough Bread for US bakers:

 I had to bake at a lower temperature or my bread would have burned. This is what I did:

When the dough was ready to bake, I slashed the dough and baked by spraying the dough then covering with the roasting lid for 15 minutes at 500 F. After the 15 minutes was over, take off the lid and turn down the oven to 400 degrees for anothter 15 – 20 minutes.

Here is a video showing the shaping of the loaves which were torpedo loaves:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuwUdxGfFLk]Here are some pictures of the loaves of Swedish Bread, they came out really nice and the flavor is exceptional:

 

This bread was made using the modified US version of the Swedish Sourdough Bread.