Yesterday I birthed my starter. Boris made an appearance in the form of some very sour, sour dough bread. For being a young starter, he was quite robust. The recipe for Country French Bread came from the Tassajara Bread Book. It had a course bready crumb with nice air holes characteristic of sourdough bread and the taste was decidedly “sour”.
The sponge, started the night before, consisted of Boris, whole wheat flour and water. Left to ferment overnight, the next morning it was riddled with gaseous bubbles. I replenished Boris and put him to sleep in the fridge and moved on to baking two loaves of passable bread. This recipe called for whole wheat flour in the night before sponge and then all-purpose unbleached flour for the morning mix. I baked them in boule form and the dough must have been very hydrated because they spread rather than giving me a great rise. Next time I will use unbleached bread flour and roll into traditional french bread loaves and bake in a form that will help it keep its form during the bake.
The most important thing about this batch was to determine if my starter was a good one and absolutely proved Boris is a keeper! Having a sourdough living starter is akin to caring for a newborn infant…it requires continued care, love and support. Boris may become part of my legacy.
Happy Baking!!
