Hey, All --

So, following up on the oven-spring thread, I went back to basics and
just went after a plain old white bread to see what was up. The
results are at <http://www.speakeasy.org/~marccarter/cracked.html>.
(Don't let the filename fool you; being terminally lazy, I just modified
the old file from the "cracked" discussion. Also, apologies for the huge
images, but it was the only way to get the details in the images.)

It's a half-portion of Silverton's Country White:

6 oz 50-50 starter (all things by weight except salt and germ)
1 lb 1 oz bread flour
9 oz water
1/4 cup wheat germ
2-1/4 tsp salt

Ferment three hours at 78, slap, shape, proof at 40 degrees (refrigerator)
for about 14 hours, then 4 hours at 50 degrees (wine "cellar" that I have
co-opted for a retarder!), then 1 hour at about 65 (the ambient room temp
here). Bake 450 with steam first five minutes for 45 total minutes.

The weird proofing schedule has to do with having to be at work some of the
time. (Damn that work.)

Lots of spring, nice crumb and crust. Doesn't have the depth of flavor
that I think is in the _levain_, but is a tasty and presentable loaf. Got
some colleagues coming over for dinner this weekend, and am planning on
doing some baking before they get here. Hope this is the start of a trend...

Wish I could share it with you all.

m