ZERO COMPARED TO 10 and 1/2 HOUR SOAKED WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR ADDED TO A LITTLE STARTER TO MAKE SOURDOUGH BREAD by Helen Dickey --- October 30, 2006
SUMMARY: I wanted to see if initial soaking was actually needed to make a whole wheat sourdough sandwich loaf that rises high, is soft, and full of air. I conclude that soaking for 10 and 1/2 hours helps a little, but a nice loaf can be made with just using the ingredients for soaking. (See below the photos for the full explanation.)
PHOTOS: (Click on any small photo below to see full size view.)
Two equal pickle jars, large 80 oz capacity, were used to grow the sponge: (The top of the yellow taped on papers marks the beginning height.)
Starter was added at 5:00AM and then at 8:30. This is how it looked at 12:30---The sponge had grown.
This is a view of the sponge from the top:
The loaves in the glass Pyrex pans before rising:
I covered them with dish cloths:
The rolls before rising:
The rolls after rising:
The loaves baking:
The loaves cut in half the next morning. The one using soaked batter is on the left: (Please click on any of these little photos for a larger images.)
BACKGROUND: Previously, I had tried adding a little sourdough starter to a lot of soaked whole wheat flour to begin my bread baking for the day. This worked well. Click here for the web page. I got highly risen, light, airy sandwhich bread.
Next I tried comparing Red Star yeast with sourdough yeast using the same proceedure. The Red Star rose higher, but I was afraid the results were not accurate, because I felt the sourdough only needed more time (which I did not have that day so I baked too soon). Click here for the Red Star web page. In this experiment I tried comparing whether the whole wheat flour actually needed soaking or not for 10 1/2 (or 12) hours beforehand. (I actually started the soaking at 7:30 the evening beforehand so the actual soaking hours was 10 and 1/2---normally I would do 12 hours of soaking.)
PROCEDURE: At 5:00 AM I added the froth from the top of the sourdough jar that had been in the refrigerator for a week since replentishing to two large equal jars. One had a batter in it of whole wheat flour that had been soaking for 10 and 1/2 hours with 2 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar per 2 cups of water. The other had the same ingredients, but was made right then. I was only able to get about a Tablespoon of starter froth for each jar since it was already about a week old. At 8:30 there were plenty of small bubbles, but the starter had not risen yet. So I added a large serving spoon of the froth and sponge
that was atop the good fresh replentished starter that was sitting on my table top for 3 1/2 hours. This made the batters rise. The batter that had not been soaked rose a little better. Both became a nice sponge. I then made the doughs for bread at 12:30. I let them do the first rising until 2:30 or so. By 3:10, both doughs were made and put into loaf pans and onto a pizza stone as rolls. The one which had batter soaked for 12 hours was made second since it was a little slower. It looked like I should bake at 6:30, but I had a meeting at church to go to. I came home at 8:15 and these doughs in the loaf pans were very much risen! They were puffing out at the sides above the loaf pan tops! The one that had batter soaked for 12 hours was a little bit more risen, but both looked great. I baked them at 375 and then turned the oven down to 320 and later 350 when they tapped hard to bake until the sides inside the glass loaf pan looked somewhat browned all over, even at the top. The breads were awesome. I never thought I would see whole wheat sourdough grow so well! Thanks be to God for His inspirations!
NEXT TIME: I might vary the amount of raw apple cider vinegar.
