San Francisco Three Day Sourdough

While I was preparing the batch of Basic White Sourdough, which was the subject of my last entry, I also had going on the side a batch of Three Day Sourdough, using the San Francisco Starter. On day one I mixed up a sponge using starter, water and flour. My pantry was 50 degrees so I put it in the pantry overnight. Next day I added more flour and water and stirred the sponge. In the afternoon, I added the rest of the ingredients and proofed until evening. I then shaped the loaves and put the loaves in the pantry again to proof overnight. (I have an attached  porch with a pantry connected, so it stays nice and cool here in the Northwest). Next morning early, I brought in the loaves one by one and proofed another two hours. Then baked. The smell of this long fermented kind of dough, while it’s baking,  would be enough to bring in the business if this were a bakery!Here is what we got, this is the first loaf:

Here is the first and second loaf:

The first two loaves were two pounds the small loaf was one pound.                              Here are all three loaves:

Here is a close up of the second loaf:

The wonderful color comes from the longer fermented dough. It is funny though, if I had let any of the stages go on too long and not fed the dough in stages, the dough would have depleted its sugars and these same loaves would be pale, ghosty white and lackluster.

Here is a picture of the crumb. I didn’t get any really good pictures this time because it is raining outside so I can’t take pics outdoors, and my lighting inside is poor. Sorry about that!

The smell and flavor of these long fermented doughs is indescribable, you think, “Bread cannot smell this good!” But it does, and it tastes this good too!