sourdough bread

[Marjorue]

My first time here........wondering if there's anyone interested in baking sourdough bread, or am I in the wrong area?

[KyleW]

Wecome to ChefTalk Marjorue

There are a few of us here that love sourdough! I'm one of them. In fact at the moment I'm in the middle of a desem adventure.

[Marjorue]

Do you have a recipe for sourdough cibatta made without yeast? I have only seen recipes using yeast and I almost never use it..unnecessary. Before I realized what the dough was supposed to look like, I thought it was a typo. I ended up with 4 loaves instead of 2, good bread, but not cibatta!!
I sure hope someone can help.

[KyleW]

I don't have a sourdough ciabatta recipe. The one I make, from Artisan Baking Across America by Maggie Glezer, uses a total of 1 1/4 tsp of yeast. 1/4 tsp in the preferment and 1 tsp in the final dough. I would imagine you could do a sourdough version, as long as you get the hydration to about 85%.

[Marjorue]

Thank you Kyle. I guess I'll have to break down and use yeast! Everyone can't be wrong, I guess.
Once I conquer the sloppy dough problems, I'll experiment with the yeast thing.
Thanks for being there! Marjorue

[tpaul]

Here's a sour dough ciabetta formula that has worked for me using baker's percentage. Be careful about the hydration % since the absorbtion varies from flour batch to batch.
Whole Wheat Flour 39.6%
White Wheat Flour 60.4%
Water - 89% - use double hydration method, initial mix use 70% hydration, after dough develops add remaining water at 1st Speed.
Sour Dough - 31% - my culture is 65% hydrated
Salt - 1.98%

Dough is very slack and hard to work with if you don't have experience, cut down the water percentage to what works for you.

Fold a couple of times during fermentation for added development. Good Luck.