My Product

  They just keep getting better!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to bake 2 loaves each day due to equipment constraints, but I've baked 1 loaf each day for the past 5 days and my final loaf is going into the oven tomorrow so I might just post a quick update at the end of this blog with the official results.

Looking back, I've had experience with making doughs and breads in school and as I've mentioned before, irregularly at work. This project allowed me to focus a bit more and really gave me more confidence in bread making. With my first starter especially, which had almost no activity and as you'll see below, had the least impressive results; I was second guessing myself, but in the end I put my trust into this method and chalked it up to me deviating too far away from the source (which I was).

That being said here are the loaves:

First off was the pure bread flour starter and the first loaf I baked:

I wasn't disappointed with the results, but I wasn't impressed with it either. There was barely any lift, but it was still bread and I did eat it. The flavour was mild, and the crust was tough. I didn't even hesitate and just discarded the rest of that starter because I knew I wasn't going to keep it.

The second loaf was the Rye/Bread mix:

I was feeling much better with myself after seeing the results of this one. The loaf was bigger despite me using the exact same quantities of dough. That meant my starter was more active. The flavour still wasn't what I was looking for, but the crust on this was great. Much happier with how it turned out and it gave me a bit of a confidence boost that I did follow my research properly it was just the materials I was working with in the first one that weren't right for the job.

Next up was the Whole Wheat bread flour starter:

It popped a little out the side, but that just goes to show how active this starter was! A bigger loaf again and look at those beautiful pockets of air that were formed. With this one the sourness was really only beginning to come through, but it was still very enjoyable to eat. As the results keep getting better I'm beginning to be more and more optimistic with what my more promising starters have in store.

Fourth on the docket, the Whole wheat/Rye blend:

This one I actually thought I had a timer going for it but it turned out that I forgot to hit start...Luckily I caught it before it was too late but wow this one looked incredible despite the dark crust. I think I forgot to mention this before, but with every loaf beyond the first, the crust has literally been shattering as you bite into it. Nothing like I've ever experienced before and it's such a wonderful thing. The flavour was there too! lovely sourness, I had a slice with butter and then later that day I had 4 with tomatoes. I just wanted to keep eating it. Very happy with these results even with the hiccup.

The following were the results of the fifth loaf, the Rye starter:

So this was the 'patient zero' of the bunch. Where all of the research I made was based from. And this honestly has been the best looking loaf so far. The crumb was airy but had the best structure and honestly the crust was just as good as the 2nd, so not much changed there. In terms of flavour, it actually wasn't as sour as the WW/Rye blend which I was surprised to discover, but still very pleasant to eat.

Lastly was the 'Hoochy' 12 grain starter:

I say hoochy because it did smell like some grain alcohol the whole time it was developing. That being said this one didn't have the greatest rise, but the crumb had a good mix of airiness and soft sponginess. The booziness was gone and there wasn't much sourness to my surprise. 

So moving forward I think I'm actually going to combine my WW/Rye with my pure rye and just take it from there. They both had characteristics that I desired and I figured mixing them together is the best way to get the results I want in the future. If not, then I'll just start another one as this has become something I want to keep working on and this has become a less daunting task maintaining 1 starter than 6.