sourdough

I've been neglecting my sourdough starter so I decided to refresh it and try a couple of Peter Reinhart wild yeast recipes.

The first just came out of the oven: classic San Francisco sourdough from Bread Baker's Apprentice. I started to build the mother starter on Friday afternoon, refrigerated that overnight, pulled it out on Sunday to build the starter (biga), and then mixed the final dough yesterday morning, rose it for 8 hours, and finally formed the loaves last night, retarded their rise overnight in the fridge, pulled them out this morning for a 4 hour rise and baked. Wow...this bread is the best-looking I've made in months.

I've got a Pain au Levain (from Artisan Breads Everyday) starter on the counter now, which will rise for 8 hours; I'll mix and rise the dough tomorrow for a Thursday bake. One thing about sourdough: you have to plan ahead.