Hi everyone,
Now that Stephen brought up the pre-ferment topic, this is a good example.
You could treat the amount of sourdough starter used in the original
recipe as a pre-ferment. It is just a matter of adding the
appropriate amount of yeast to a portion of the flour (about 1/3) and
water. The reason behind this is to allow the yeast to work on the
flour early and slowly to coax the wonderful wheaty flavour and
acid. I would normally add 1/8 teaspoon or a pinch of yeast to 2
cups of flour (say total flour is 6 cups) and 1-1/4 cups water for a
12-hour rise. This combination would be called a
sponge/poolish. It's like a wet batter.
Some bakers also make a biga. It is a stiff dough with this
combination say 2-3 pinches yeast, 2 cups flour and 1/4 water. Let
rise 16 hours.
Now back to the actual discussion.
Try changing these instead:
Use pre-ferment: Mix 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup water and one granule of
instant yeast. Cover and let ferment at room temperature for 12
hours or until mixture is full of bubbles and smell good.
Use 1-1/2 tsp salt and 2 tablespoon of sugar instead.
Omit the egg.
After the pre-ferment is ready, continue adding the rest of the
ingredients (including the original amount of yeast) and continue as
usual with the recipe. Remember to minus 1/2 cup flour from your
final dough. You could reduce the yeast amount to 1/2 teaspoon if you
are not using a bread machine. I have never used a bread machine
before so I can't say much about it.
Hope this is helpful. Happy baking!
Leslie