Breadlander: a use for Waffle Starter Remains

On occasion sourdough waffles are made; there may be leftover starter that can be put to subsequent use. The starter is made from all-purpose flour, and runs somewhere around 100% hydration, in this case 292.1g or maybe a bit less on the assumption that not all of it will get off the sides of the container.

For a loaf of bread I'd aim for 500g flour, and maybe 80% hydration. Assuming 100% hydration that about 145g flour and 145g water. The load probably will need some amount of new flour, let's say 20% added with the yeast and salt and any remaining water in the morning for the final rise. Commercial yeast will generally give the loaf more rise, hence that complication.

A cold sourdough rise will take maybe 12 to 14 hours, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to resume the work at 03:00 in the morning (no bread baker actual am I), so that's one more feeding of the starter sometime soon, then putting it out in the garage overnight.

20% of 500g is 100g for the morning, so we need 400g flour in the starter, or 255g more assuming 145g in the present starter.

80% hydration is 400g water, of which something like 145g has been accounted for, and we'll add 80g of water in the morning, leaving 175g to be added to the starter, soon. It's probably better to type this plan up in advance than to figure it out on the go. Bread usually isn't an intuitive stir fry where you go "hmm, I think this thing needs..." and throw it in.

Now (afternoon): 127g bread flour, 87g water, add to starter.

Before bed: 127g bread flour, 87g water, add to starter. Off to garage for starter.

Morning: 100g bread flour, 80g water, 11.5g salt, 2g yeast.

Not sure how long the morning rise will take, probably faster then the usual yeast-only loaf give that the sourdough has a huge start on developing flavor. That will be handled by the Mark I Eyeball over time. Oh, the morning water should be at 105F or so, and will be used to activate the yeast to be better sure that gets going. Probably not necessary with 80% hydration, but the starter will be cold from being in the garage overnight.

/food/sourdough-waffles.gmi

/food/bread.gmi

Next Morning Spill

After a bit over 12 hours the dough was ready to be formed up, but I stuck with the original plan of the morning additions and then about two hours in a bowl over another bowl with hot water in it. Probably the good rise relates to the sourdough starter being started with commercial yeast, which is still active. So if you were in a hurry you could do the full salt and whatnot the night before, form up the dough first thing in the morning, and start cooking it after maybe an hour and change in the proofing bowl, or less. Provided that the garage or whatever is cool enough to stretch the rise out overnight. Maybe you have a fridge with sufficient free space in it?

I need more practice with 80% or higher hydration doughs, as it went bloorp all over the counter and stuck to, like, everything. A focaccia would be a good plan here, just let it go bloorp over what you will cook it on and shove it in the oven, maybe after a few well-floured folds to put it back in some order after the debowling, and if the dough spreads out from too much water, that's probably not a problem.

When the dough sticks all over the proofing basket that's not good either. So the basket will need a huge amount of flour, or maybe use somewhere in the 70% to 75% hydration range, or some other smooth non-stick bowl? Or make a focaccia with it.

The loaf isn't very loaf-like (more like a bready blob) probably on account of the all-purpose flour in the starter and lack of enough structure from having too much water for me to form it up well enough. Smells good, though. Pretty tasty, though not a full sourdough flavor as a proper starter takes longer to get going than from commercial yeast and feeding it for a few days.

tags #food #bread