Wild Yeast

20stone

20spawn3 now has a starter going that he got from us (yes, I have taken sourdough starter to SF, boudain to NO, and last week, almost took pastrami and rye to NYC). 

I call it AndGoo, out of respect for Andrew V, who shared it with me (after I killed off starter from other forum members). However, now that 20spawn3 has his going in SF, he is working on names for it, and I couldn't help but share his list of contenders:

20spawn3 said:

trying to name my starter and have a list that i'm working with:

dough chi minh

doughseph stalin

wheatey pablo

bread flintstone

breaddy kruger

breadly cooper

levainthony hopkins

victor gluten

eddie breadder

vladimir gluten

SciAggie

I made a sourdough loaf today that turned out well. This is mostly KA BF with some whole wheat, spelt, and rye. I think I have been over-proofing my dough in the bulk stage. 

NPHuskerFL

@20stone Vladimir Gluten 

20stone

@SciAggie - I love the blister you got on the crust

SciAggie

I spritzed the dough with water before I put it in the oven. I don't normally do that - and I don't normally get the blisters. That may be the reason. Hard to say with an experiment of one sample. 

SciAggie

This loaf had better oven spring. I limited my bulk rise to about 20-30% increase in volume. Retarded the dough in the refrigerator. I set it out at room temperature about 45 minutes before baking. I spritzed the dough with water before putting it in the oven. That is what caused the blisters. The crumb on this loaf was nice. This is a 75% hydration loaf. 

NPHuskerFL

Nice boule Gary! @SciAggie

caliking

20stone said:

20spawn3 now has a starter going that he got from us (yes, I have taken sourdough starter to SF, boudain to NO, and last week, almost took pastrami and rye to NYC). 

I call it AndGoo, out of respect for Andrew V, who shared it with me (after I killed off starter from other forum members). However, now that 20spawn3 has his going in SF, he is working on names for it, and I couldn't help but share his list of contenders:

20spawn3 said:

trying to name my starter and have a list that i'm working with:

dough chi minh

doughseph stalin

wheatey pablo

bread flintstone

breaddy kruger

breadly cooper

levainthony hopkins

victor gluten

eddie breadder

vladimir gluten

1. wheatey pablo
2. bread flinstone
3. dough chi minh

NPHuskerFL

@20stone dadgummit. "yeasty boys" didn't make the cut. 

theyolksonyou

Crumb DMC

SciAggie

NPHuskerFL said:

Nice boule Gary! @SciAggie

Thanks. I'm slowly improving and getting more consistent.

20stone

NPHuskerFL said:

@20stone dadgummit. "yeasty boys" didn't make the cut. 

theyolksonyou said:

Crumb DMC

It's more of a West Coast starter. 

Maybe N Doubleboule A

SciAggie

I have a couple of questions:
#1 Do you have good success mailing starters? How do you prep and package? I assume you make it fairly dry instead of 1:1 flour and water?
#2 Do you think the original yeast and bacteria populations in a starter stay consistent over time? Said differently, do you think after a prolonged period of feedings the yeast and bacteria slowly evolve or migrate to the local population?

it seems my SF  starter I received last Christmas has changed somewhat. It is still viable and makes good bread but it just seems "different." Hardly scientific I know. It seems to respond to feedings on a different timetable that is independent from temperature fluctuations and flour used for feeding. 

NPHuskerFL

@SciAggie I have never mailed a starter. That said I don't see where you would have any sort of issue mailing it via UPS. 

theyolksonyou

20stone said:

NPHuskerFL said:

@20stone dadgummit. "yeasty boys" didn't make the cut. 

theyolksonyou said:

Crumb DMC

It's more of a West Coast starter. 

Maybe N Doubleboule A

South Central Crustel

digging deep for west coast hip hop. 

SciAggie

NPHuskerFL said:

@SciAggie I have never mailed a starter. That said I don't see where you would have any sort of issue mailing it via UPS. 

I'm just a bit worried about pressure building in the container of choice. Most mail would take at least two days. The starter I got from King Arthur was a very dry starter - but it was active. 

GrateEggspectations

@NPHuskerFL: Blake - You mentioned baking in various Egg sizes, including the MM. When I bake in the MM, I often find it results in a scorched bottom that I have not experienced using the same approach in other Egg sizes. To date, I've attributed this to the baking location being much closer to the heat source in the MM.

Has this been your experience as well? If so, what have you done to mitigate against this?

caliking

theyolksonyou said:

20stone said:

NPHuskerFL said:

@20stone dadgummit. "yeasty boys" didn't make the cut. 

theyolksonyou said:

Crumb DMC

It's more of a West Coast starter. 

Maybe N Doubleboule A

South Central Crustel

digging deep for west coast hip hop. 

Doughpac

caliking

Snoop Doughgg

caliking

Dr. Doughre

theyolksonyou

@caliking show off. 

NPHuskerFL

@GrateEggspectations The MM can throw a monkey wrench atcha for sure.  When you say baking that covers a huge spectrum. Are you more specifically speaking of sourdough? Pizza? Cookies? Pumpkin, Apple, Cherry...pie? Etc?

NPHuskerFL

@GrateEggspectations The MM can throw a monkey wrench atcha for sure.  When you say baking that covers a huge spectrum. Are you more specifically speaking of sourdough? Pizza? Cookies? Pumpkin, Apple, Cherry...pie? Etc?
Edit. 
As it pertains to sourdough.
Shoot for a dome temp of 450°F prior to even getting into the full setup. I find by doing this the bread etc benefits by the dome having that energy from the start. 
My 2 different setups. 
1> PS legs down. I have some unique spacers that give about 2" lift and then either place the stone on top of the spacers or a CI pan. 
2> A little variation using the WOO instead. 
After the egg is preheated sans the PS and stone or CI.  Then I setup it up and allow these items to heat up about 20 minutes. You've already dialed it in prior to this so don't fiddle with temp etc. Helpful?

GrateEggspectations

@NPHuskerFL: Thanks. I was talking bread generally. I make a no knead recipe or two that turn out beautifully on the Large but that get burned bottoms on the MM. I generally either do them in a Dutch oven or on a baking stone. Temps and setups are consistent for both cookers, but I almost always have a burned bottom before the top is done on the MM. Perhaps I need to get it higher in the dome, which is a challenge, considering the relatively large stone leaves little room for raising. 

NPHuskerFL

@GrateEggspectations what DO are you able to fit in the MM with a PS and then an ample air gap?

GrateEggspectations

@NPHuskerFL: A "sawed-off" Lodge 4qt sitting on a trivet providing about a 1" gap above the PS legs up. No grate. 

NPHuskerFL

GrateEggspectations said:

@NPHuskerFL: A "sawed-off" Lodge 4qt sitting on a trivet providing about a 1" gap above the PS legs up. No grate. 

Pics?  
I've used on numerous occasions a 10" CI pan and fashioned a makeshift lid out of an aluminium pie pan. It actually worked out pretty nifty. Posted a pic somewhere here I think. 
You could always line the CI w/ parchment prior to turning out your loaf into the CI. I've never had the scorching issue doing it the ways I've been doing and I'm not currently utilizing parchment paper. 

20stone

SciAggie said:

I have a couple of questions:
#1 Do you have good success mailing starters? How do you prep and package? I assume you make it fairly dry instead of 1:1 flour and water?

Thanks to @NDG and @Thatgrimguy I received two in the mail when I got started.  Cold starter, a plastic deli tub and 2nd day air seem to work.  Starter is pretty resilient, it seems, and after a couple of feedings was ready to rock.

caliking said:

Snoop Doughgg

... or Goop Doughggy Doughgg

caliking

Tried something new after the discussion of cold fermentation here. 

Decreased the starter in the levain by 50% after @20stone pointed out that I was using way more than most recipes call for. Bulk rise on the counter for 4hrs, with folds every 30mins, then  in the fridge for 16hrs or so. Shaped and then back in the fridge to proof for 24hrs or so. 

Turned out pretty good.


Placed 2 ice cubes in the pleats of the parchment paper when the dough went into the hot  DO and it worked great for creating steam in the closed DO. Great oven  spring on this one. 

The aroma is unreal as it's the longest I've let a loaf rise and proof. Can hardly wait to cut into it. 

SciAggie

@caliking Nice loaf. I have some dough in bulk fermentation right now. I'm working on improving my dough handling and shaping skills on the bench. To me it's interesting that it's not difficult to make good bread, but (at least for me) it's very difficult to make great bread. There are so many little things that have to go your way on the path to great bread. I think that's what's fun about it for me.