Below is an Austrian "roggenmischbrot," a rye sourdough bread that has defied perfection in previous baking attempts. Tweaking my approach, I used a dry sourdough (aka "gerstel"), and this time the Gods were with me. It's a long wait for...
Gerstel is an Austrian drying method to better keep your rye sourdough when not in use. It calls for mixing your sourdough with three times the amount of rye flour, then storing it in a mason jar. It will keep a week or two. To reactivate, try what's known...
I'm still perplexed and testing Maiorca, that ancient grain that has proven elusive to my attempts to incorporate it into a sourdough bread. Perhaps because of its quirkiness around protein bonding, high absorption, short mix and...
My sourdough was quite successful visiting California. I even used it to bake a batch of bagels. Despite legends about the impossibility of great bagels west of the Hudson, I nailed a nice batch to leave for my family. Photos below.
My brother in California uses some nice from flours Giustos. And while he lacks any rye or other desired grains, I did find a bag of teff! That led me to a Teff formula from Birdsong. The trick to Teff usage is pre-gelatinization followed by adding starter. Remember...
The idea of a California vacation would keep me from baking, well, no way! So before leaving home in New York, I dried some starter and, immediately on my arrival in California, I moistened levain chips. In two days it was ready to go. Then came the loaves!
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