Here’s a non-traditional technique where you use a small percentage (one percent – even a half a percent) of sour dough added to a kilo of flour instead of the standard ratios of anywhere from 10-50%. The idea is to give the dough gluten development through the sourdough’s enzymatic activity, from its lactic acid bacteria proteolytic/acidification. Within 12-24 hours, the dough is at the same stage of development of a more traditional (and more labour intensive) method.
This method also lends itself to minimal shaping. And the gentle, long fermentation leads to an open crumb, a beautiful dark crust and the emergence of natural flavors of the delicious whole grains (versus white flours) you’re using (hopefully). I learned this reading Respectus Pain, a book first introduced to me by Yohan Ferrant, a baker who uses this masterfully and coined it “do nothing bread.” Using it recently, here are some photos of the outcome.
http://boulanger-amateur.fr/viewtopic.php?t=180
The ´invention´ of making a bread with 0,5% sourdough, was a cooperation between Christian Remesy, Yohan Ferrant, see the theory of Remesy here±
http://www.latribunedesmetiers.com/remesy-22/
Hi Chef Shapiro,
Due to my frustration with not being able to find whole grain artisinal sourdough bread locally, I am interested in learning to bake my own. I came across your do-nothing bread post and it seems to be a great method to try for someone just starting out. Your bread looks absolutely incredible! I do not have a copy of Respectus Panis, so I was wondering if you could provide a copy of the recipe?
Thank you,
Robert
Hi Robert,
Check on the link on the previous post….Or check here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fszb0GiyA1k It might be easy enough, but learning to bake from here…well…try…and go for it!
J
Hi Jonathan,
I have looked online at all available information, but have come up short when it comes to some of the details. The YouTube videos are rather lacking. Here’s a whole thread on thefreshloaf.com where they seem to just be experimenting because they don’t have all the details (even something as fundamentally important as temperatures):
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/57768/do-nothing-bread-yohan-ferrant
Hence, since this will be my first time baking my own sourdough bread, and the loaf above looks exactly what I am striving for, I was hoping you could fill in all the details found in Respectus Panis.
Thank you,
Robert