Of Sourdough and Cheesy Braids

So my first sourdough from my own starter was a success!  My only setbacks throughout all of this was the amount of time every stage of it needs to rise and proof.  The starter itself was ready (a very loose usage of the word ready, more on that later) after 6 days.  From there it needed another 6 hours after I mixed it into a biga before it sat in the fridge overnight.  Then, when I mixed a part of that into a firm starter it took another 4 hours on the counter before another night in the fridge.  The next day I mixed the final dough but as usual, 4 hours of counter time and another night in the fridge.  Fortunately, I was randomly woke up at almost 2am the other day to preheat the oven in time and bake the 2 loaves before work!  

The thing I find strangest about the whole sourdough experience is that it doesn't smell like sourdough until it's completely finished.  But the wait was well worth it!  I have another firm starter proofing right now so I should have another loaf on Sunday.  I have some cool ideas on how to incorporate my dutch ovens into finishing this next one.

They were a little smaller than I expected.  As mentioned earlier calling the dough "ready" at any point was a bit of a misuse of the word.  From the beginning it took longer at each step than I had read it would.  I think that part of that was I typically keep it colder in the house.  With it being winter and all, it was in the mid 60s in the kitchen most of the time.  This would hinder the wild yeast growth.  Also, my keen-eyed mother pointed out I was using plastic to grow my starter instead of glass and that may have hindered growth as well.  When I return from Japan I am going to start all over again and see what I can come up with.

My first two loaves of sourdough:

Like my first bread posted here, it was a little dense.  However, it was incredibly chewy and had a wonderful sourdough flavor/aroma!

That same afternoon at work Charles had brought in some homemade pulled pork, baked beans, and coleslaw.  I offered to bring in my dutch ovens and cook some bread on charcoal!  This bread was made from the recipe found in The Full Circle Dutch Oven Cookbook.  One of my absolute favorite Dutch Oven books.  I had to pay very close attention to temperature and heat on the dutch ovens.  This was only the second time I've baked bread on charcoal and several burned a batch of rolls on the bottom the last time.  Fortunately diligence paid off and they turned out PERFECT!  I only wish I snapped a crumb shot before it was gone.

When dividing the dough I got a little distracted and miscut a few pieces.  This is the smaller loaf.

 The larger one took a few more minutes to hit 200 degrees internally.

Both were cooked in 12" Dutch Ovens, the larger loaf had to go in my 12" deep.