Is Sourdough Bread Better?

Is Sourdough Bread Better?

This is from the web site "Suite 101"

Now that we understand the fermentation and magic behind sourdough bread, we can start to understand the chemical reactions that occur in the dough which make it, yes, better.

Though it is a matter of taste, many agree that sourdough bread tastes better. The rustic, sour flavor melts in the mouth, leaving a very pleasant aftertaste. Sourdough breads can be made in a million varieties: white, sweet, whole wheat and added nuts, berries, cinnamon, sugar. And we all love sourdough pancakes!

The real magic of sourdough bread is what happens once it hits the tummy. Sourdough bread digests very differently than yeast-made breads. The fermented yeast in the sourdough starter worked for a full day on the dough before it was baked, unlike instant yeast breads which are ready in a few hours. During this time acidity grows in the bread contributed by the lactic acid culture of the starter. This results in a better absorption of phosphorus, calcium, zinc, magnesium and iron in the grain.

On top of the better mineral and vitamin absorption, sourdough bread is lower on the glycemic scale, which means it does not spike blood sugar like regular bread. This is great news because most of the harmful effects of a high carb diet come from the release of insulin and the resulting blood sugar spikes. The fermentation can also lead to a more robust intestinal flora which leads to better digestion all around.

Sourdough bread digests slower, sticks with us longer, contributes to our health in numerous ways, and tastes better. I think that pretty much decides the case. Yes, sourdough bread is better.

Bread rising… about to bake!

These babys will go in the oven in about two hours!

And then they'll look like this!

Bread from the Wood Fired Oven

Oven is lit and warming up.  Bread tomorrow for those lucky enough to live in Cave Creek!

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 10/15/11

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 10/15/11

Last week I made the bread and I noticed that the dough was raising quite a bit less than usual. The Bakery was cool inside and I assumed that it was just slow fermentation. I baked off the loaves and they came out of the oven looking great but they were about 2/3 the regular size. Inside the dough was wet and thick. The odd part was the sponge looked very good. I put out an email saying no bread this week and tried to figure out what went wrong.

Thinking back, I realized that my starter had died earlier in the week. So I had made new starter. The new starter was a little slow in it’s growth and activity. But I thought it would be fine…I was wrong.

So I tossed the starter and went back to the book and started over. Equal parts whole wheat and unbleached white flours, added two the same weight of the combined flours of room temperature water. I mixed it well with my hands, as the yeast is in both the air and on the baker’s hands. I scraped the mixture off my hands into a bowl and covered with a hand towel. I let this sit in the Bakery for 3 days until a skin formed over the mixture. Peeling it back the mixture smelled ripe and was bubbly. To make starter from this, discard 80% of this mixture. Add the remaining 20% to a mixture of equal parts, whole wheat, unbleached white, flour. Mix that with equal parts of room temperature water, replacing approximately the original 80% that was discard. How much starter do you need? Well that depends on how much leaven you need. I need about 3 cups of starter so I use about 1 ½ cups of my flour mixture. I’m doing my feedings every day at 5 pm. Which is also the time I start my leaven.

Last summer when the bakery was very warm I lost my starter a few times and just remade it. In a few days, I had a good strong starter. This time cost me 90 loaves and being 2 weeks without bread. Now I understand, why the old school bakers protect their starter. It can take some real time to replace and with each new crop of yeast, there is a chance of a different flavor profile. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. “Every time I bake I learn something new!”

Our Little Bread Business

Our Little Bread Business

10/07/2011

We want to thank you all for helping this project grow. Currently we are baking 90 loaves once a week. Our sales fluctuate by about 25 loaves. We are always looking for a way to increase and stabilize sales. So if you have any neighbors, friends or family that might want to get on our bread list please have them send us their email address. Or tell us and we’d gladly give you a loaf for them to try.

I have a few concerns that I want to share with you;

Please do not look at this message as way of asking you to buy more bread than you are using. Our feel is that we have several different types of customers, some buy 2 loaves a week and some buy 1 loaf a month. That is just perfect. We want to serve your individual bread needs.

If you have found that this is not the bread for you, just let us know and we will remove your name from this list. It will not hurt our feelings and yes we still love you!

If you ever get a loaf that you are not happy with, let us know and we will gladly replace it or refund your money.

Our goal is to bake a great product that serves a need in our community no more no less!

Thanks again Joe and Kathy

Meanwhile back at the Bread 9-28-11

Meanwhile back at the Bread 9-28-11

Last night we baked 90 loaves of the best bread we’ve made to date. We are now baking a consistent loaf, in flavor, size, shape and color. I have learned that the prime baking range is between 550°f and as low as 375°f. Higher temps cause a fast rise that is not baked all the way through. We have also learned that the yeast has an active life of about 15 hours after that the bread will not rise consistently. We are getting 3-30 loaf loads baked on one firing of the oven. If we need to bake more than that we load the excess loaves into the refrigerator for two hours after shaping then we pull and allow the final rise. This retards the yeast and we get a good oven spring.

This project is coming up on a year and a half, “from bricks to bread.” I learn something new with each bake and as with so many things the task will show you the way, if you are patient and have your eyes open.

If you have any comments or questions I’d love to hear from you.

Warmly,

Mad Coyote Joe

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 9-17-11

102 loaves Thursday night!

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 9-17-11

Over the past few weeks we have seen a trend of the loaves getting flatter with each successive bake over the course of the evening. My incorrect assumption was that the as the oven cooled the loaves were not receiving enough heat to get that classic “oven spring.” My brilliant wife Chef Kathy told me she thought the yeast was reaching a critical point and there fore each new successive bake had less power to rise. Her solution was to place half of our loaves in the refrigerator for two hours and then allow the final shape and rest before baking.

We baked on Thursday night with Kathy’s solution. The result was 102 loaves that were uniformly round and not one of them failed to achieve full oven spring.

If you have any baking questions that you’d like us to try to answer just send us a comment.

Warmly

Mad Coyote Joe

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 8-16-11

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 8-16-11

Okay; the oven is really working well. The trick I use is to re-heat the oven with a roofing torch. A few minutes of re-saturation and the oven is ready to go another round. Tonight we did 64 loaves in 4 bakes and we could of done an extra 5 bakes if necessary. These ovens are real workhorses. My only regret is that did not put a thermo-coupler in; a mistake I will not make when I build the next oven! I am using our shop-vac to clean out the dark corn meal after the first bakes.

Happy Baking!

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 8-9-11

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 8-9-11

So, I got a call from Kevin Binkley last week after dropping off a loaf of the bread at his smaller restaurant Café Bink. Kevin was awarded, The Best New American Chef of the West, by The James Beard Foundation, a few years back.

He did a stint at The French Laundry before opening up Binkley’s in Cave Creek. Both of his restaurants are among the finest in this part of the world. I had dropped off a loaf last week and had been chatting with Kevin for about a year about my bread project.

He called and left a message saying, basically, that my bread was wonderful and that he would like to come and spend a day baking with me to see what I was doing to get this kind of product…WOW! For me this is, about as good of a suggestion, that I’m headed in the right direction, as I can get!

I’ve spent the better part of a year working on my recipe and process. We are now getting a very stable product that has a distinct mild sour flavor. The crust is crunchy and chewy. And the bread has body along with a true develop wheat flavor. Last week we did 40 loaves and all of it was taken, so this week we went to 53 loaves. If it all goes next week we’ll do 64 loaves. After that we go to 2 days a week!

I’ll see you on the net!

Warmly,

Mad Coyote Joe

Meawhile Back at the Bread 7-27-11

We are now getting a very stable product. It is uniformly rising to a round, full shape. The crust is crunchy and the sponge is chewy. We now have a constant, mild, back palate, sour flavor. The loaves are stable for about four days and the bread freezes well. At this point the area of concentration needs to be in the firing of the oven.

As our loaf requirements grow we will need to extend the number of bakings that one fire will allow. I’m finding the gas re-firing with a roofing torch, for about 4 minutes is helpful, allowing a second, third and even forth baking. If you are learning about bread baking, I suggest “Tartine Baking” as a great reference book. Pay attention to all of the mechanical components of the dough development. The times allow flavor maturation and the tensioning of the dough causes the oven spring to do its job, creating a full rise.

My mistake was in not building enough tension into my dough and I had semi-flat loaves. In the bake you need to understand a proper level of oven moister; too much and the crust is too thick, too little and the crust is weak. Well it’s time to run half of the bread through the slicer and to drop it off with my ever-growing customer list.

See you back at the bread. And remember if you have any questions please ask and I’ll do the best I can, in finding an answer.

Meanwhile back at the Bread 7-19-11

As I’ve said over the years, “The trick in becoming a great cook is learning the nature of what ever you’re learning to make!”

Nothing could be more true than in the case of becoming a baker. With each batch I learn more about how bread acts and feels. My hands are learning the proper way to handle the dough. When I started baking the dough would stick to my hands; now I understand how to keep the dough moving at a rate that prevents sticking.

I can now tell if I need to rework my dough at the bench rest in order to build structure. Each loaf is now standing up and more like a slightly deflated ball; where-as they used to look like a flat ball. And the flavor is now more uniform along with the sponge. This is real bread that stands up and can make a meal by it’s self; add a little herb butter or good cheese and a bottle of wine and it’s hard to beat!

Meanwhile back at the Bread 6-26-11

On Thursday night I made the leaven and went to work Friday about 10am. The dough mixed well and easy… no lumps very soft. I had been noticing the strength of the dough in previous batches and thought that I might try working the dough a little less to see if it would give me a lighter sponge. Ooops! The bread was almost flat so by doing the requisite turns and folds one builds tension and rise. Next my crust has been a little too thick. I thought this might be from a lack in the oven spring or rise… Ooops! I increased the time of steam injected baking from 25 minutes to 30, the result was the thickest crust to date… so thick that it could break teeth. And last I have been baking at a lower temperature thinking that I would give the loaf more time to rise before forming the crust… Ooops! Just the opposite the loaf is more moist and heavier.

So where do I go from here? Next baking will be back up around 550°f and I will be working the dough more fully and I will bake in the steam for 20 minutes.

Stay Tuned!

Meanwhile back at the Bread 6-13-11

Okay, I made 22, 600g loaves of country wheat. I heated the oven with Mesquite, burning about 15 logs for 4 hours. When my dough had done it’s final rise for 4 hours I spread the last of the coals across the oven floor. I had been soaking my door in water most of the day and had all my baking tools laid out and ready. After about 20 minutes I had cleaned out the hearth chamber and mopped the hearth. The oven was holding about 575°f and I had laid an old frying pan filled with water inside just to the left of the interior door arch (for steam). I needed to drop the hearth temperature to about 500°f or I would burn the bottoms of the loaves and the crust would form prior to the oven spring and rise. In short I needed to get the center of the loaves cooked before the crust or the loaves would be too moist in the center, smaller and denser. I gave the oven a second mopping and the temp dropped. I tossed in my cornmeal and it stayed a medium brown color so I cut my loaves and loaded the oven, sprayed the oven with a water bottle and draped two wet kitchen towels over the door and sealed the oven. I did 25 minutes soft and 25 minutes hard (without steam) baking. The bread looked good but the ears had not developed fully and the loaves were smaller. I cut into one and I found three things. First the flavor of sourdough was markedly increased from the last batch, next the dough was heavy and moist, last the crust was thicker. Overall this was very nice bread, far better than one can buy in our little town but… I would give it a 95. My last batch was a 100.

Here’s what I learned. My mistake was in trying to force a ton of mass heated up to 575°f to drop in temperature by 75°f in a few minutes. By mopping I had dropped the surface temperature by the 75°f but the masses interior temperature was not changed. As soon as I injected the steam, the oven jumped right back up to 575°f and immediately formed a hard crust that held both moisture and shape. This stopped the bread from rising properly. I have no idea why the bread had a stronger sour flavor except the flavor might reside in the moisture. I bake in two days, wish me luck!

Meanwhile Back at the Bread… More!

Okay, there was an unhappy time here at Mad Coyote. Our last baking did not rise. And my yeast was smelling different and getting a black crust upon coming to life about 20 hours after feeding, (yes I’ve heard all of the Viagra and yeast infection jokes). Hmmm!

Well, I let it die and thought for a few weeks, then I started some more yeast and it was slow in developing and had a sharp smell. I was puzzled, ‘what had happened?’ So I thought about my process and noticed that I was using the same towel for several days to keep foreign objects out of my starter. ‘Could there be some mold developing on the towel?’ So I changed the towel everyday… not any better!

Next, I went back through my notes and found that I had changed my flour source about the same time my problems started. I had started buying bulk flour and had moved to high gluten un-bleached flour. Which I had used in my last successful bake but was using a 50/50 white, whole-wheat mixture from a different source. I went back to feeding my starter with the original flour (King Arthur) and my starter came back to life. After three days, it was smelling sweet, like over-ripe fruit in the later hours of development.

So tomorrow we bake, 27 loaves of Country Wheat, which is a 90% un-bleached white, 10% Whole Wheat. I’ll take some pictures and keep you updated. As they say in television… stay tuned!

Meanwhile Back at the Bread III

Okay this what I learned tonight about bread. It is imperative to use (as directed in Tartine Bread) a mixture of Whole Wheat and Rice flour to line your, towel-lined breadbaskets. Today as I was working my dough, through the bench rest and the final rise, I being a rocket scientist, thought to myself, I’m out of the rice flour that is suggested in the directions for lining the baskets. What could it hurt? I’ll tell what it can hurt. When you have 22 loaves of bread that you have been working on for 3 days and then you go out and cut the Mesquite for the fire and you light that fire and watch it for 5 hours, while the bread is rising and then you clean the oven and wash it out, while hot and then you wait until it reaches 575°f and then you take your dough out and as you gently turn over the first loaf and it sticks to the towel and tears and deflates as you watch in horror. That’s the time when you realize that maybe they meant it when they said us a 50/50 mixture of whole wheat and rice, flour to line your baskets.

Alright, after a glass of wine and some thought I gently turned the baskets over and used a plastic dough scraper and got the dough to release and I scored it. However it did lose a little of it’s rise. Once again this is a learning process!

So the bread came out a little flat but it was delicious. I’ll bake again in 3 or 4 days.

Back at The Bread... Pilot Error

Meanwhile back at the bread… Pilot Error!

Take a look at this bread. It’s color is great but it’s a failure! The reason why, I made a mistake. I made this in a Ditch Oven and forgot to drop the temperature from 500°f to 450°f for 20 minutes with the lid on.

Then I baked another 25 minutes I tested the internal temperature it was 209°f, just 3 degrees short of the target temp. At 212°f the steam is released and the bread is perfect along with the maximum crust tention.Because the oven was too hot the crust developed nice and brown but too quick. Notice the cuts in the surface did not develop ears or deep tears. The flavor will be fine but this is a 9 not a 10. My advice make sure that your oven is not too hot or the crust will cook too fast. I’m baking in the wood fired oven tomorrow and I’ll post the results.

The bread is cooling and Kathy and I are going to have tomato, basil and Parma butter sandwiches as soon as it cools. Life is good!

Warmly,

Mad coyote Joe

More Wood Fired Oven Bread Discoveries

More Wood Fired Oven Bread Discoveries

I have followed the started instructions in the fantastic book “Tartine Bread”. This is what has developed. If I feed my starter every other day and wait eight hours before making my leaven I get a strong sour dough flavor. If I feed the starter every day and wait only 4 hours before making my leaven I get a mild sour dough flavor. I also made the dough up to the stage where it is time to shape the loaves. At this point I allow the dough to rest overnight in the refrigerator, then let the dough come up to room temperature before shaping and doing the bench rest. What developed was a much more pronounced sponge. On our next bake I will allow the starter to develop for at least 6 hours before making the leaven. And I will feed the starter daily at the same time. I’m looking for a slight increase in the sour flavor. We’ll see!

Meanwhile Back at the Wood Fired Oven

Meanwhile Back at the Wood Fired Oven

Okay the Arizona winter, if you can call it that, has ended. With my health problems cold is quite difficult for me, so I tend to stay inside when it’s cold out (ie; under 50°f). Anyway I’m back to the wood fired oven. I baked today and as usual it was a learning experience. This is what I learned today. If you are using a wood fired oven start with any soft wood that you have and move the fire around on the hearth. I start a fire at least 4 hours before I start baking. Next; in the last hour before you are going to start baking change your fuel to hardwood. For me, that means Mesquite, in other parts of the country that might mean oak, or pecan. I’ve been burning my hardwood down to coals about the size of pool balls and then shoveling them out and cleaning the oven and baking.

Today I discovered that I should burn the coals, which I spread over the entire hearth to keep the heat constant, down to ash. Then I should wait about 20 minutes and check the oven for heat. I do this by tossing a handful of corn meal onto the clean hearth.

If it burns after a few minutes the oven is too hot. I wait about 20 minutes and check again. When the cornmeal turns brown after a few minutes the oven is ready. I set a soaking wet kitchen towel over the door hanging on the inside of the door and slide my bread in. I’ve sliced the tops of my dough with a razor and I set a pan inside filled with water. Right before I close the door I spray the inside with a water bottle to raise the steam level inside. This insures a crisp crust.

I’m baking the loaves about 18 minutes or until they are caramel brown and have reached an internal temperature of 212°f. This is an ongoing process and I look forward to your thoughts, comments and questions.

Warmly

Mad Coyote Joe

Blogging and Money

Blogging and Money

We’ve made the decision to place an ad space on our blog page. It can be found below this post. We could place several more but decided on one ad below the current post. A group called AdSense will decide, based on our content, which ads to place. We are in need of funding for our many projects and so we decided to go this way. With Mad Coyote TV we are thinking a pay if and what you can option. Other sites and even restaurants have tried this option with great success. Please share your thoughts on this issue, it helps us provide blog content more in line with your wishes. And as always the best way that you can help us is to repost us, on your favorite social network, or forward us to your friends.

Warmly

Mad Coyote Joe

Who Are You?

Who Are You?

I was going through my Blog Stats. This tells me who is reading my blog and where they are. Below is the breakdown for the past few days. Historically most of my readers are from the good old USofA. Next it’s Germany then Canada, Australia, Russa, Iraq, Malaysia, Netherlands (I sure this is my friends Sabina and Roland), Japan then Thailand. These are rounded off but in correct order. Germany in number two was a big surprise, I would have thought England or Canada. This week I'm getting new readers from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Okay I’d like to know who you are and where you are from, so if you have the time and the desire to help. Please tell us a little about how you ended up at our site and where you are from. I write on everything from food to low cost building design, with crime stories and poetry thrown in, along with stories about our open mic. What drew you to our site? This will tell me where I’m serving you and not just practicing my writing. Just go to the bottom of this posting and click on comments.

United States 115

Canada 4

Singapore 4

United Kingdom 3

China 2

Slovenia 2

Australia 1

Spain 1

France 1

Spain 1

Historic Views by %

United States 87%

Germany 3%

Canada 2%

Australia 1%

Russia 1%

IIraq 1% Malaysia 1% Netherlands 1% Japan 1% Thailand 1%