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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A Little Closer

Third time’s the charm. Ish.

I’d written last week about my attempts to make sourdough bread using red cabbage starter. Tried to make a second batch of starter, no dice--maybe because the inner leaves of the cabbage don’t have enough wild yeast on them? Possibly. I went to Madeleine Kamman’s book The Making of a Cook (subject of another blog post) instead and made a starter using yeast and cumin. After four days, I had a happy, healthy levain for my dough.

I followed her instructions precisely and after the first rising was thrilled to see how well the dough was behaving. It rose beautifully, doubling in bulk in a little less than two hours. The hang-up, olive oil. Specifically, her recipe calls for two tablespoons of it to coat the bowl and the dough itself to prevent dehydration. It’s one tablespoon too much--as I punched the dough down and kneaded it again for the second and third risings, I found it developing pockets and folds where the extra oil made the dough’s surface too slick to to be reincorporated into the larger mass. The result, sourdough baguettes that look, in places, like layered pastry. The taste was pretty good (the cumin comes through faintly), so I know I’m on the right track. My starter will be ready for use again by Friday morning--keep your fingers crossed, I’d love to serve some homemade bread with the lunchtime chowder. Sante.