Why do I have to wait three days?

I know I could make a loaf in two days, even some claiming they can make a loaf in a day. You don't have to follow all the sourdough "rules", and it will be an okay loaf. But, if you like really good sourdough, there is a process.

Day one: I get my orders and I figure out how much starter I will need for those orders, and then I take my nice, healthy starter, which is maintained every single day, and I add appropriate amounts of flour and water to it, stir to make sure there are no gross clumps of gummy flour in it and let it grow overnight.

Day two: I organize my bins for the different loaves, add my ingredients at the appropriate times, and wait for an hour.

Now comes the heavy lifting, depending on how many loaves I have going. Each bin is capable of holding ten loaves of dough, each loaf being 900 grams. So, that can be up to 9000 grams of dough. That is almost 20 pounds of dough. (Who needs a gym!) Every 30 minutes for two hours, there has to be a series of stretch and folds or coil and folds. This involves pulling the dough vertically, turning it, and repeating this process several times. Move on to the next bin.

After all that is completed, the dough is left to bulk ferment, or rise. This process can take 6-18 hours, depending on the temperature and humidity levels. I wait until it reaches that perfect point when I can dump the dough from the bin and do a primary shape. Wait again. I do my final shaping and place each loaf into a special bowl. It is covered and placed in the refrigerator to cold ferment overnight.

Day three: I heat the oven and remove the loaves from the refrigerator. The dough is dumped onto a sling, a device that allows me to lower it safely into one of the Dutch ovens. I score each loaf (if I don't have too many to do, I might try something fancy on it), spritz it with water, and place it in the Dutch oven.

After 7-10 minutes, I pull each loaf, I usually do 6 at a time, see if they need another score and complete the bake.

Follow up by printing labels and package cooled loaves.

At a recent farmer's market, a lady walked up to my booth, sneered, and said, "I'm not paying $12 for a loaf of bread." You know what? It didn't hurt my feelings. It didn't make me angry. I kind of felt sorry for her that she had never had a really good loaf of bread and probably never will. She will be eating bread full of all sorts of additives and preservatives instead of simply flour, water, and salt.

Before I started making my own bread, it was always a special treat to trek on down to our farmer's market and pick up a loaf of fresh bread. It felt extravagant, indulgent.

I know this is a really long post, but there are those who like to know, and I had a moment to share it with people.

You all have a great day!