If you want to make bread just like they do at Publican Quality Bread, you’ll have to wait 40 years. That’s how old the sourdough starter is. If you want to press ahead using a less than middle-aged leavening, here are some pointers to guide you along the way.
Publican partner, head baker and author of Bread Head, Greg Wade feeds the starter with water and a blend of whole wheat and bread flours. That combo will autolyze – or start forming gluten chains.
“Something to note is that we withheld salt, because salt strengthens the ionic bonds between gluten chains,” Wade said. “If you added it at the beginning, we have short chains.”
1. Preping the starter
A 15-minute rest allows for longer gluten chains that will result in a more open, airy structure to the finished loaf. Salt is added, then a four-hour fermentation. The dough is divided, shaped and rested again, before being nestled into baskets where it will rise for 12-18 hours.
2. Shaping the loaves
The next day, the bread is turned out of the basket and scored. “There’s always going to be like weak points in in the bread,” said Wade. “That’s where the bread is going to burst if you don’t score it. You’re making an intentional weak point. And then you’re able to control the way that it opens up.”
3. Scoring to allow maximum rise
4. Into the oven
The bread is greeted in a 500˚ oven by a burst of steam that keeps the exterior pliable, so the bread has ample time to rise to its fullest. As the hydration burns off over a 10-12 minute bake, it gives the finished loaf its shiny crust.
5. Greg Wade with finished loaves
