Cooking Cheap

Yesterday I seriously refreshed the starter. I removed almost half of the jar, leaving maybe a 1/2C, and added 1/2C of flour, 1/4 C water and left it overnight. That’s the amount (1/2C) I want to use today. I got a very late start on mixing and kneading today — done at 2:30PM. A very soft (wet) dough, but it passed the window pane test (or close enough). I let it rise until 7:30PM in the warm spot, deflated, rested, shaped and into the new baguette pan at 7:45PM. Normally I would have put it in fridge for a longer proof and frankly the dough really wasn’t finished proofing. The dough was a little too sticky, not really finished. But, I want to see if what I can make sourdough bread in under 12 hours, if possible, and I want to use my new baguette pans and the lame tonight.

I remembered to save a little ‘chef’ but that’s for a different day and a different method — that particular library book has to be returned in a week. An hour and :10 later the baquettes look to be rising well. I may yet get it all correct and they’ll be baked off and cooled by the time the bean soup is ready.

The baquettes rose properly but were a little to dry on top so the lame riipped more than cut. No big deal, I’m still learning. Not much oven spring. They are unglazed, might could have, should have baked them longer, but they smell fantastic and I think they are done. As a bonus, they are the right size for a split hot dog or sausage. I am most pleased. Good taste, nice crumb. good gluten developement, holes sized to fit the size, firm crust and that’s while it’s still warm. I’ve “Done Good”, and I”ll learn more in the future.