A Great Sour!

Even while I am wallpapering, I was able to do up a batch of sourdough bread! I decided to combine Desem with Motherdough again (see earlier post). However this time I added more Motherdough on the next day following the preferment. If you have been following this blog you know what they both are, if not… Desem is a Whole Wheat cultured Flemish style sourdough starter and Motherdough is a vigorous starter kept in the refrigerator at about 80% hydration(at least that is what I keep mine at).  The reason I decided to combine them is that each one is at a peak of sourdough flavor. You haven’t tasted great Whole Wheat until you have tasted Desem bread, and Motherdough brings out the fullest flavor of the wheat, to make a really tasty sourdough. Anyway, I made up a preferment the night before baking with Desem as the starter.

I let this set overnight and next morning, I put the bubbly preferment into the mixer. I added 18 oz of Motherdough which is approximately 2 cups and double the amount I tried the first time I did this experiment. I added more water, oil, salt and Bread flour. Then I mixed and autolysed (rested) the dough. Then I mixed for 2 minutes. I had to mix a very minimum amount because the Desem preferment and the Motherdough both had well developed gluten already and I did not want to break the gluten down.

I let the dough bulk ferment for six hours, however in retrospect, I would only allow four hours next time.

I then shaped the loaves and let them proof….get this…for  three hours for the first loaf, which wasn’t enough so I let the other two proof longer and the last one ended up proofing for five hours! (Which still wasn’t enough!). The first loaf came out smallish and the crumb was a bit dense.

 The subsequent loaves each came out better. What was so interesting though is the fact that because of the large load of acid from the two already developed sources of starters (Desem and Motherdough), the proofing time was slowed wayyyyyyyyy…… down.  That is great! The extra long proofing time made the sourest, tastiest, yummiest sourdough bread yet! The color and crust are excellent. I will be writing out this recipe to put into the Special Recipe folder and it will be called Pane Pearl  in honor of a dear friend who is dying of Cancer. Her name is Pearl Wilcox, a very kind and gentle soul.

Next day I actually had the sun out to take pictures by. The first loaf was already eaten and gone! Here is a picture of the second loaf:

Here is the third loaf:

 There are a few things I will do differently next time I bake Pane Pearl. I will let the dough bulk ferment a shorter time and then I will allow the last proofing to happen overnight in the refrigerator.

Here is a picture of the crumb, keep in mind that it still wasn’t fully proofed:

It really lacked a nice open crumb. Can you believe it needed at least another hour? Jeesh, I can’t wait to try this bread again. It is unbelieveably sour, tangy and has the most terrific taste. Toast is out of this world good. I can’t say enough about the flavor. My experiments with flavoring with Desem have all been positive. I think it is the way to go when adding a small amount of Whole Wheat flour to the batch for flavor, color and aroma. Desem is better than adding just the flour. It gives a great punch and with the Motherdough sidekick, you almost can’t do better….. can you???….. hmm.. I wonder…