For the past year I have had the pleasure to spend 15 hrs straight each week in the lovely kitchen of the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts assisting Eduardo Morrell in the production of his naturally leavened breads, which are sold primarily at the Berkeley Farmer’s Markets as “Morrell’s Bread”. The video below was done to look at the science of sourdough and it’s a neat peek into the process of making artisan bread.
I felt the need to do a post along with the video because…well they left something out. Not just because they filmed on the Friday bake and I work the Wednesday bake, but because they focused only on the loaves of bread, which is what most people think of when something is described as naturally leavened or, especially, sourdough. But natural leavening, that is the ecology of yeast and bacteria we call a sourdough starter, can really be used to leaven any bready baked good, and does not have to be sour. Check out the strawberry scones I make for the Thursday and Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Markets:
The dough is basically like a biscuit recipe with starter added. I roll out 4 lbs at a time, spread out the fruit (which changed seasonally of course), fold it up and slice out triangles and then toss each in flour. Then they sit by the brick oven and rise for about five hours.
We make another scone that is really a cookie recipe with starter added and then we make it super hearty with fresh coarse ground grains, spices, and raisins. I’ve been wanting to try at home to just make five hour proofed cookies.
The scones are very special, but I think my favorite is our bagels. I don’t know of any other naturally leavened bagel. These are shaped into tight rounds ( like the bread in the video) and then proofed for an hour at room temp an then another four hours in the fridge. (It would take less time if they were proofed only a room temp, we do the fridge proof so they can be made after all the bread is shaped). After they proof I boil them in water with a dollop of barley malt syrup for about 30 sec. each side, dip the tops in a bowl of seeds, and then bake. They are chewy and fantastic with a very slight tang. The power of sour goes way beyond the loaf!
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