A Simple Successful WWW Sourdough Loaf

I enjoy using Wheat Montana flours. I first heard about them from a post on "The Fresh Loaf" website and since I was planning on driving up to Glacier National Park, I made a mental note to look for their flour/ gas station/ restaurant conveniently located next to I-80.  It's worth a stop if you're driving by because they serve great coffee and a plate size cinnamon roll. They also had all their products available for sale in the different sizes. A small mill was located by the front door for customers who wanted to grind the wheat they bought in the store. There were also some Wheat Montana delicatessens located about the state. One of those delis was located in Kalispell, MT when Mrs PG and I were staying there during our visit to Glacier NP. That was three years ago and they were doing a brisk business. I hope they're still going strong.

For a while, some of the KC area Hy-Vee supermarkets had the Wheat Montana mills in their stores which gave me access to freshly milled whole wheat or white whole wheat. For the last ten months or so, the local Walmart store has carried five pound  bags of the WM flours which is convenient but lacking the cachet of fresh flour. However, the bags are unique in that they made of a sturdy plastic with a zipper top for storage. That's a thoughtful touch in my book. I like to use their "Natural White" AP flour for my pizza crusts and the "Prairie Gold", a white whole wheat, for bread as I did for the subject loaf.

This was about as simple a sourdough loaf as I've made in a long time. No soakers, no specialty flours, or experimental techniques were involved. I did a two stage build for the starter and used a 30 minute autolyse for the dough. At just over 71% hydration, the dough was only a little bit sticky but handled well. I merely sprayed the loaf before loading. It tastes great and the crumb has stayed moist after slicing. The only change I might try is to do an overnight retarded fermentation. Alas, I haven't given it a name so I'll refer to it as the SSWWWS loaf until I get the urge to call it something else.

Starter
165g of 75% white flour starter, done in a two stage build process.

Dough

285g bread flour
115g Wheat Montana Prairie Gold flour
280g water at 85F
10g kosher salt
All of starter


The enduring heat wave is expected to come to an end tomorrow night with the arrival of a "cold front". I guess that's all relative since the forecast highs will be 86-90F for the next week. That should allow the tomato plants to recuperate and start setting fruit again.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.