This is Takashi, the head baker at @agoramarche with his very first sourdough loaf, made and baked entirely by him.
I’d been working with him for two days baking afternoon tea cakes and, just quietly, he asked if I could could teach him how to make a sourdough loaf. We only really had white flour (I’d found some weeny 200g bags of Japanese wholemeal wheat flour and buckwheat flour that I’d been refreshing the sourdough leaven with in my hotel, ahead of next week’s sourdough class in Tokyo with @britishpride) so we wing’d a recipe and had a go.
When a working baker, already tackling a huge list of shop and wholesale baking they have to get through each day, quietly asks you to explain a technique they want to learn and you know it’s coming straight from their enthusiasm and curiosity, then that’s a very special request you have to grab and appreciate with both hands and heart.
Takashi aced it in one go, 25% leaven, 76% hydration, a Japanese t55-style flour, 7 hour bulk inc delayed salt and autolyse, overnight rise at 8c. Feel very fortunate to have been able to guide him though this technique, and won’t ever forget it.
Thank you Takashi and @agoramarche ????
