Wild Cherry Sourdough Bread

See recipe summary at the bottom.

I followed the instructions from YouTube's My Strongest Starter Ever – Made from Grape Must! Naturally, Ideal for All Breads and Sweets to make my starter. But I used wild cherries that are growing here in Woods Hole. My son Joe suggested using wild fruit, since the plums and cherries I did this with before came from the supermarket where they were washed thoroughly. 

This time, I collected a couple handfuls of cherries from a tree at the corner where Quisset Ave become School Str, removed the pits and squashed the berries in a glass. Not much liquid so I stirred in a small amount of water. Although the lady on YouTube recommends 3 days of fermenting, I covered the glass with a wet cloth and let it sit for 2 days, stirring it in the morning. This produced about a tablespoon of deep rich juice, to which I added flour making a small, dry "puck" of dough. The timing was: noon make the mash. Two days later, at noon, extracted the juice, made the dense flour "puck" with the cross cut in its top. 5 hours later, it had "exploded".

Then, at 5 pm, I mixed in the same amount of flour + 1/2 the amount of water to produce a starter. Given the time of day, I made a "leaven", with the plan to use it 1.5 hours later, at 6:30. For store-bought yeast bread with a poolish that has been in the fridge all day, 6:30 gives me enough time to rest the mixture and follow it with 3 stretch-and-folds before going to bed. Usually I put the dough in the fridge over night, take it out in the AM, shape the dough while heating the oven and then score and bake. This time I left the dough on the counter, got up at 1 AM and proceeded.

Joe and I came to the conclusion that fruit-based yeast does not tolerate the fridge well and advantages the bacteria, so things stop foaming and get sour. So with this cherry starter leaven ready at 6:30, 

and an additional poolish made from 1 tsp sugar, 0.7 cups warm water, 1/2 tsp of store-bought yeast that rested for 15 minutes, I mixed it all together with 2 cups  (King Arthur All purpose) flour, and a 1/4 cup of dark rye flour, then added more flour till the right consistency was achieved. I follow Adam Ragusa's method of stirring with a wooden spoon till no more flour gets incorporated. 

Finally, this dough stayed on the counter, not the fridge, for the overnight bulk fermentation. My house is warm right now, in summertime, at around 70F or a bit more. I got up in the middle of the night and the dough was starting to over proof, bumping up against the plastic bag covering the bowl. So I shaped the dough and then put it in the fridge until morning. It had continued to puff up (after the shaping deflation) and I baked it at 450F in a Dutch oven. I looks like a great loaf. [Sadly, I forgot the salt.]

Recipe: [I am using King Arthur All Purpose Flour, in a 70F degree kitchen.]

For the starter: 

 - 1/2 cup wild cherries (pits removed), squash, and let sit for 2 days- stirring each morning. Add a tsp of water (preferably de-chlorinated) to add liquid.

 - Push the mash through a sieve to get  ~1 tbs of dense liquid.

 - Mix in as much flower as possible to the liquid, cut a cross in the top, let ferment in glass covered with damp cloths for 5 hours. 

Gives about 2 tbs of material.  [See first photo]. 

For the leaven: 

 - After 5 hours, mix 2 tbs starter with 1 cup of flower, and 1 cup of warm water. Let rest for 1.5 hours. 

Gives about 1.5 cups of material, composed of 1 cup of flour plus1 cup water.  [See second photo] 

For the poolish: 

 - Take 0.7 cups warm water, mix with 1 tsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast. Let foam for over ~15 minutes.

For the final dough: 

 - Put leaven in large mixing bowl. (Don't worry about the amount, it is about 1.5 cups)

 - Add 2 cups of flour plus a handful of dark rye flour.

 - Add poolish.

 - Add 1 tsp of salt. [I forgot it by mistake]

This gives a total of 3+ cups of flour and 1.7 cups of water. I had to add more flour to get the right consistency, so probably about 2 times more flour than water.

 - Let rest for 1/2 hour, then do 3 stretch-and-folds, with half hour in between them.

NOW: Let bulk ferment for 4-6 hours until doubled. Do not use the fridge. Then shape the dough, and put in fridge for 3 hours. It should keep inflating slightly. 

Preheat oven and Dutch oven to 450F. Score the dough, spritz it, and bake covered for 18 minutes. Remove cover and bake for another 10 minutes.