Kevin's Sourdough ::

[Tyler Evans]

Kevin Wolfson is not only the best frame fitter and designer I have ever had the pleasure of working with, but he also makes some of the finest sourdough bread on the planet. His approach is thorough, well thought out, playful and curious. He blends the finest ingredients he can find with ever evolving techniques and equipment gathered from his extensive real-world research.

His quest for the elusive "perfect loaf" has let him into the kitchens of some of the finest restaurants and bakeries in the greater Boston area and beyond. He is a member here but doesn't really ever post or even browse the V place often.... So I thought I would share some images of his bread. (it doesn't hurt that he is an amazing photographer as well) ::

All images poached from his instagram feed :: @find_sparky

Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough ::



Toasted Sesame ::





30% whole wheat and 80% hydration. 3hr autolyse, 22hr proof (20 in the fridge) ::



More ::

[Matthew Strongin]

#breadporn

The sandwich I'm about to make will be significantly less enticing after that ^^ post.

[bking]

wow. just beautiful. and serious gas in there (good thing). nothing better on the planet than good hard crust bread with some big holes, and chilled european butter.

[zetroc]

That looks amazing. It's like I'm reading the Tartine bread book. Really makes me want a sandwich.

[GonaSovereign]

That is some fine-looking bread. Might need to get to work this evening on a couple loaves. Thanks for the inspiration!

[kwolfson]

Just found out about this post last night. Needless to say, it was totally unprompted and unbelievably nice of Tyler to write, on a bunch of levels. Thanks Tyler!

As for the bread, I've only been at it for the last 4 months or so and have a looong way to go, recognizing that good bakers get good by baking thousands of loaves, not tens. But I love the process of learning about it and making it and eating it, and I love the community that exists around it. There are some wonderfully open and thoughtful bakers, professional and amateur, around the world that are extremely generous with their knowledge online.

Anyway, thanks again Tyler!

[davids]

I've only ever shared Passover with Kevin.
Figures...

[Honus]

Wow- that looks amazing. I'm a total sourdough nut and really good sourdough bread has to be one of my favorite foods in the world. Last time I was in Boston a friend took me to a great sandwich shop so we could stock up before our trip to Mt. Snow and it was amazing.

[Shinomaster]

Wow, killer photos of amazing breads. I can just tell it's beautiful to taste.

[TMB]

Just found out about this post last night. Needless to say, it was totally unprompted and unbelievably nice of Tyler to write, on a bunch of levels. Thanks Tyler!

As for the bread, I've only been at it for the last 4 months or so and have a looong way to go, recognizing that good bakers get good by baking thousands of loaves, not tens. But I love the process of learning about it and making it and eating it, and I love the community that exists around it. There are some wonderfully open and thoughtful bakers, professional and amateur, around the world that are extremely generous with their knowledge online.

Anyway, thanks again Tyler!

Curious what % hydration you aim for in these breads?

[kwolfson]

Not on here often and totally missed this, but I've been working between 75-81%, depending on the flour. Because I'm still pretty inconsistent with shaping, I've found that I've made better bread at lower hydrations that are a bit easier to handle.

[corko]

Proper Artisan bread

[rwsaunders]

Resurrection thread for some beautiful bread...Kevin...any chance that you or other sourdough aficionados can post your starter tips and recipes? I'm day 2 into growing some starter and I've just been following the tips on the King Arthur website. Thanks

[happycampyer]

Wow, not sure how I missed this! That bread is as beautiful as your bikes!

[dgaddis]

Resurrection thread for some beautiful bread...Kevin...any chance that you or other sourdough aficionados can post your starter tips and recipes? I'm day 2 into growing some starter and I've just been following the tips on the King Arthur website. Thanks

I'm no expert and certainly firmly in the 'still learning' camp. But, I read a bunch of how-tos and they all varied wildly. Seems there's really not a right or wrong way to do it. Flour, water, and time. Thats it. Also, many instructions involved using a lot of flour, most of which gets thrown away, and that seemed wasteful. If the most starter I'll use on a single loaf is 100g (which is 50/50 water/flour) why would I want nearly 1000g of starter sitting around??

Anyhow. I started with 50g of water, 50g of flour. First couple days I added 20g flour & 20g water each day. After a few days I'd discard half of it, then add 50g water, 50g flour, and continue doing that for a few days. Eventually the starter develops to where it'll ~triple in volume in a few hours - good to go! Mine took about a week to get going.

Using a mix of 50/50 all-purpose and whole-wheat seems to go faster IME. There's more nutrients in the whole wheat.

[drietz]

If you want a no nonsense, fast developing starter - use rye flour. A whole lot of people that make sourdough use a 100% rye starter because 1.) they're easy to cultivate and 2.) they add some tang to your boule.

But otherwise, Dustin's right...flour, water, and time.

[rwsaunders]

I used whole wheat flour for the starter and I'm on my third day of feeding the mix with white flour and gas bubbles are appearing now that I placed the jar in a warmer room. I'm going to try Dustin's starter mix in a two weeks as I'm traveling next week and my wife won't keep the feed going...she thinks I'm daft. I'll show her the coffee roasting thread to calm her down.

[dgaddis]

I used whole wheat flour for the starter and I'm on my third day of feeding the mix with white flour and gas bubbles are appearing now that I placed the jar in a warmer room. I'm going to try Dustin's starter mix in a two weeks as I'm traveling next week and my wife won't keep the feed going...she thinks I'm daft. I'll show her the coffee roasting thread to calm her down.

I wouldn't start over. Keep feeding it to cultivate it until you leave. The night/morning before you leave discard all but 10 or 20g. Give it a big feed. Say, 100g of flour and water. Mix it well, then put it in the fridge. In the fridge it goes realllllly slow, so with enough food it will likely last till you get back.

When you get back, discard some and feed it again, and see what happens.

Again, that's an educated guess. Might not work. If it's totally dead then you can start over haha.

[rwsaunders]

Day 3 for the yeast beast....Mrs. RW has threatened to secretly stash the concoction in my luggage this weekend and notify the TSA in advance of my arrival at the airport.

[dgaddis]

Hey, it's going!

Anyone baked with 'yeast water?' I can't find too much info on it via the Google machine, but there's a facebook group (artisan bread bakers) and folks post these *amazing* looking loafs made with apple yeast water instead of store bought yeast or a traditional starter.

I mean, check this out, made with pear yeast water: