8th Day of the Master Dough...WOW!

[JoeV]

Before anyone thinks that I'm tooting my own horn on this whole Master Dough thing, let me clear things up. What I'm actually doing is chronicling how this dough is developing as time goes on, based on the originator's claim that the flavor continues to develop as time goes on in the fridge. This is my first experience with it, and if I like the results I can then recommend it to others. That being said, here are today's samplings from my kitchen.

I had a taste for a small pizza at lunch time, so I figured I would try a mini pizza prepared in the convection toaster oven. So out came the 8 day old dough, bench flour (All Purpose Flour), and I covered the toaster oven tray with foil and dusted with cornmeal to save myself the nasty cleanup job later.

After cutting off a hunk of dough about 3-1/2 oz (about the size of a racquetball) I rolled into a ball with a dusting of flour, then stretched it out to a disc shape to fit the tray. You can just as easily make it rectangular or square if you prefer. Then I get together the rest of the ingredients ready.

I like to keep plain spaghetti sauce around for small treats like this, and I love fresh sweet onion on pizza. Now it's time to dress my pizza in it's Sunday best. Looks yummy, huh? Off to the sauna for 15 minutes at 400 F.

And a short time later here's lunch.

I did notice an improved change in the flavor of the sourdough with the pizza, but the difference really came through when I made a couple of rolls for DW and me for dinner. The "sourdough flavor" is now evident in both the taste as well as the roll's fragrance. The crumb structure remains nice and the oven spring was significant.

That's it for day 8. Looks like we have a nice, flavorful multi-purpose dough. I think I might experiment with freezing a hunk of the dough and then thaw it out and bake with it next week. Have to toy with that idea for awhile.

Joe

 

[PieSusan]

How sour is it? I made a semolina bread with a starter and after just 18 or 24 hours, it was quite tangy. I preferred the bread a bit younger.

 

[Llamaso]

Say, your bread looks good. If you want to try another one give this a try.

1 C. sourdough starter
1 1/2 C. warm water
1 t. diastatic malt powder
2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
2 t. instant yeast

and enough flour for the right dough

proof 1 1/2 to 2 hours
make loaves and proof 1 hour
bake @ 425 for 22 minutes

I use a french bread pan, makes 2 loaves

If you want a photo e-mail me.. Roy

 

[JoeV]

How sour is it? I made a semolina bread with a starter and after just 18 or 24 hours, it was quite tangy. I preferred the bread a bit younger.

Right now there's no doubt it's sourdough. It's got a nice tang, especially for those who like this. it helps that it was made with a 1/2 C of my sourdough starter, in lieu of yeast like the originator recommends. He even suggests using yeast along with starter, which is just see as redundant, and way too many yeast beasties for my liking. I prefer a longer bloom that is sustainable.


Llamaso,

I don't have any diastatic malt powder on hand right now, but will try your recipe down the road sometime. I've read that the malt powder releases enzymes that give the bread a real burst of natural flavor. Have to hunt some of that down.

 

[PieSusan]

Joe, there is diastatic and non diastatic malt powder and King Arthur Flour carries each.

See difference between the two here:
What is Malt Powder?