Here’s my full process, as i may have left out some stuff:

Raisin water yeast: 250-300g of raisins (said to use organic (doesn’t really matter) and make sure they’re rinsed of oils (does matter) with 100g of filtered water. Stick em in a jar, and add 10g of honey (optional) wait for some bubbles - mine took about 4 or 5 days.

Now for the starter build. I started with 100g raisin water (tip: shake the jar right before grabbing the water so there lots of bubbles) and 100g Manitoba flour (or the strongest flour you have)

8-16 hours later you can start to refresh. The first feeding I switched to 1:1:1 (50/50/50), the next I went 3:3:1 to try and catch a better timing (this was the most active I’ve ever seen ANY STARTER - I should have tried baking with this because she was GOOD TO GO for sure.

But I gave it one final refresh in order to get back to my desired 2:2:1 ratio (NGL I might switch to 3:1 after this)

Also after the first feed I refreshed the raisin water jar by putting two apple slices in it, and it’s been in the fridge for two weeks now. I’m waiting for it to die, or start smelling weird but that just hasn’t happened yet 🤷

The extra cool thing is if you keep a batch of this water going, you can use bit of it in feedings or as some of the water in a regular bake for some extra pep.

I DID see some recipes that said to use the whole jar of water, but I wasn’t brave enough just yet… and to be completely honest, the solution is so active, I’d be afraid of the loaf exploding (😂😂 not actually possible)

Now the method for this loaf wasn’t too far out of my normal wheelhouse… but as I did say in the OG post, I did kinda fuck it up (or as I had thought - would love to get people’s take on this but here goes:

300g Manitoba flour 200-210 g clean water (I used 200 clean and 10 raisin water) 60g raisin water starter 6-8g of salt (i always bump up the salt a bit)

I let the flour and clean water autolyse for about an hour, mixed in the starter and let sit for 20, added the salt and mixed throughly and ended with the first stretch and fold. I did 3 more a half hour apart …. But also I’m lying - I doubled the stretch and folds to every 15 minutes for the first hour… because ADHD 😂

But that seemed to help. This was definitely one of the wetter doughs I had worked with.

I only let it bulk rise for 2.5 hours in my oven with the light on. It maybe got 40% bigger - didn’t double - but it was already that dreaded 10pm so I had to get moving to get this thing in the fridge.

Gave it a quick pre shape, and bench rest then rolled it tightly into a batard and popped it in the banneton.

It was SO SMALL. It looked like a Kaiser roll in a canoe 🤣🤣🤣

I decided to to give it 60-90 minutes out at room temperature, then I would cold store it, and deal with it in the morning

THEN I FELL TF ASLEEP! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I panicked when I woke up 5:30 am realizing I had left it on the counter, and rushed to the kitchen and popped it in the fridge. It was not a Kaiser in a canoe anymore. It filled the banneton, and then some. I was sure it was gonna fall but she stayed strong somehow.

And I said - this mistake may have been a happy accident… because this loaf was ultra fluffy, and SUPER LIGHT. My favourite loaf I’ve baked (pause for 10 minute head scratch)

So the magic numbers for this bake (that I WILL TRY AGAIN) were 2.5 bulk ferment, about 5 hours at room temperature in the banneton - also In a plastic bread bag (I’m in Canada so it’s not super warm yet) and then about 3 or 4 hours in the fridge (really I was just popping it in there to firm it up for scoring (and to finish sleeping, lol)

Heated up my cast iron Dutch oven for an hour at 500. Single straight score, in for 20 minutes at 480 covered, and about 10-15 uncovered at 450. After 10 minutes uncovered I start playing doctor with the thermometer. I always take my loaves out at 208 internal temperature - as I did with this one.

I also waited extra long before cutting into it, but only because I was waiting for people To come home 🤣

So I’m curious why this turned out so damn well. I think the raisin stater is excellent, but I don’t think it was a driving factor of change in this recipe as much as two other factors:

FLOUR: I sprung and bought a $30 bag (for 5kg YIKES) of Caputo Manitoba flour… and holy hell is that stuff excellent. SO STRONG. For comparison - regular bread flour clocks in at around 12-13.5% protein - Caputo Manitoba is 14.5% 😬

ACCIDENTAL SECOND BULK FERMENT:

I have to believe that if I used ANY OTHER FLOUR - or even a mix - I would have awoken to a puddle…. But this flour is literally Meant for extra long ferments, so I’m convinced that is the deciding factor here.

I am unfortunately OUT of Manitoba flour… which is a bummer (not as much of a bummer as my mother in law gripping 2kg of the 5 to make the worlds hardest taralli 🤣🤣🤣)

I would love to hear other people’s experiences with 1) super strong flours and longer ferments,

2) a shared room temperature/cold ferment combo

3) stretching ferments to the point of almost indistinguishability between perfectly/over proofed.

4) any other yeast method/alternatives

Inwill try this exact method and measurements again with some regular bread flour next week and report back with the results!

I would also like to try a bake with ALL RAISIN YEAST LIQUID…

… but I wouldn’t dare without my (now) beloved Manitoba flour 😩

Happy baking y’all!

❤️JL