King Arthur is a big deal in the baking world, they tell me. Most of the bakeries in NY use their flour. I signed us up for an afternoon class on sourdough basics.
The class was held in their headquarters, which is set into a hill a few miles from the Dartmouth campus. It's a combination school, flour mill and café.
They teach pros and amateurs alike - this class targeted home bakers. As we went around the room introducing ourselves, I joked that I had a ton of bread eating experience but not much more. Everyone else sounded like they've been baking bread at home for years. The classroom was modern and sleek, with overhead monitors, wooden work benches and large commercial ovens.
They explained the science behind sourdough, the feeding process, whether you should leave your sourdough starter out at room temperature or in the refrigerator, and the balance between the sourness and fluffiness of the bread. I never knew how complicated it was. They gave us starter which had been fermenting for a few days and we combined and kneaded it with a special technique.
After the initial shaping, we let each boule rest for a few hours. Each of us made two.
The shaping technique was interesting. You folded the four corners of the boule into the center, turned it over and then began a series of pulling motions. The idea is to pull the boule towards you so that the leading edge catches and stretches the top of the boule. You then rotate it 90 degrees and repeat. You do this a number of times until the top of the boule is tight.
After letting it rest again for a while, we used a different technique to arrive at the final boule shape. It's hard to describe but imagine picking up a child from behind from under the arms, slamming him on his back and folding his head between his knees, turning him 90 degrees and repeating the motion, over and over. Prior to baking, we slashed the top of each boule with a razor blade choosing one of many suggested slash patterns.
The final product was impressive looking. Each loaf was as big as a soccer ball.
We took our four loaves with us to our B&B. We ate some immediately, toasted some more for breakfast. They were pretty tasty, not as sour as some I've had. Easy to make with teachers by your side, guiding you but daunting otherwise. Our B&B host was a bread lover so she was beaming ear to ear when we left a few loaves with her. Upon returning to Brooklyn, I baked a simpler loaf using some wheat flour and whole oats we'd purchased. It turned out ok. I will practice more this winter, it's quite fun.
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