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(Konny K) wrote in message . com>...
> williamwaller > wrote in message news:<mailman.20.1093962849.1141.rec.food.sourdoug >...
> > On 8/31/04 9:15 AM, "Konny K" > wrote:
> >
> > > Hello from Germany. I'm not exactly sure, what you mean by "artisanal"
> > > but I think, you mean a more rustic bread with irregularities in the
> > > dough and a chewy texture. At our bakery in Germany we like to use a
> > > retardation process to obtain this. This means a slow fermentation
> > > period and rather cool temperatures.
> >
> > Konny,
> >
> > There has been a lot of discussion on this list about retardation, mostly
> > for flavor benefits, but lately for crumb. In your view, what is going on
> > during the slow, cooler fermentation?
> >
> What I believe is, that the gluten strands have a chance to relax
> perfectly and get more time to "make out" so to speak.
>
> > Would you post an old dough recipe for us. We can scale it to our needs.
> > Thanks...
> >
>
> A basic old dough will consist of a white flour, a few crumbs of yeast
> and enough water to make a stiff ball. Let it sit for 4 to 12 hours
> and it's ready to go. You can make a lot of breads with it, giving
> them a thin crust and a better flavor. It's not to be mistaken for the
> sourdough method, which gives a different texture to the bread. The
> quality of flour will vary a great deal. When I tried to make my
> recipes with american flour, they didn't work, because american flour
> will absorb more water than the german white-bread-flour. Sometimes
> you have to "destroy" the flour by pouring boiling water over it, if
> the recipe demands it. The american "unbleached all-purpose" flour
> really is a beautiful flour to make robust white breads with, that
> have a crunchy outside and a chewy texture.

I remember in Australia a baker there, trained in France specializing
in gourmet breads produce the best tasting bread if compared to other
bakeries who made the same item .
His secret was the addition of old dough up to a quarter of the weight
of the flour used in the recipe.The dough was from previous batch that
was continously maintained by cutting a piece of his whole batch and
stored for the next day production in the cold room.The flour used was
in the 11-12% protein.I am aware that Australian bread flour is
stronger than many european flour but the baking result was succesful
inspite of it.If the flour is stronger you just have to ferment it
longer so that it will mellow the tougher gluten better; therefore
his old dough is stored an average of 24 hours before use sometimes
longer( 2 days).
Roy