Sourdough Breads from the Store
I couln’t believe it but I found some La Brea Bakery bread in a Hilo store! Not only that , but I found some San Francisco Sourdough bread as well from Raymond’s Bakery. So I bought them and brought them home to see how they compared ( In the last post there was a a contest for a free sourdough. The fourth responder, Patty, is the winner of the Hawaiian Sourdough Starter, please email me with your contact info Patty).
When I got home, I popped the La Brea French Baguette into the oven to crisp. I served it with a salad and pasta dish. The baguette was beautiful, it had a terrific crust and very pretty slashes all down the crust. It weighed 10.5 ounces. I cut the loaf into several chunks and we had them with lots of butter. The interior was holey and light, a very nice crumb.
I have to admit though, that I taste the commercial yeast flavor in the bread and was just a bit disappointed. I wish I could call Nancy and tell her to cut back to the barest pinch of commercial yeast, as it is coming through a bit strong. It is probably my fault. I am pretty much a sourdough purist (It is very rare that I use any commercial yeast) and I can taste the commercial yeast in sourdough when other people can’t seem to. The ingredients listed are:
Unbleached Flour, water, sour culture, salt, yeast, semolina and some vitamins.
All around the baguette was a pretty good loaf, I especially liked the crust.
For the Raymond’s Sourdough bread, I popped it into the oven for ten minutes and served it for lunch the next day.
The crust looked beautiful even before I crisped it in the oven: