San Francisco Starter Experiments

Today I baked up a lower hydration dough using the San Francisco starter. I made a preferment from a motherdough of 80% hydration and let it set for 18 hours.

Then I added more flour and water to the batch and fermented it 6 more hours. After that I added the salt and rest of the flour and water and mixed it to a somewhat stiff (for me) dough. 

 I let this set for two hours to raise and then put it into the refrigerator overnight. In the morning I let the dough warm up for two hours, shaped, proofed and baked.

Here is the first loaf:

Here is the second loaf:

I used the roasting lid again to obtain a superior crust. It worked great! You could hear the crackle of the crust as it cooled.  The batch is a great success with  a terrific flavor and crisp crust. I served it with fresh butter and Turkey soup.

Here is a picture of the crumb which I took the next day. It is a lower hydration dough, so not too holey: