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I will assume most people reading this are already sourdough bakers - but if not, baking sourdough can be extraordinarily simple, easy and cheap - give it a go!
by ljf 1y ago
I will assume most people reading this are already sourdough bakers - but if not, baking sourdough can be extraordinarily simple, easy and cheap - give it a go!
All you need to flour and water to make your starter, and a little salt for baking. I've got my (BakeWithJack style) process down to about 10 minutes (across 30mins) in the morning, 12 hours proofing, a few folds then into the fridge for 12 hours, then bake. A loaf lasts us 2 days and I can do the dough or bake while getting the kids ready for school.
My wife offered to get some sort of bread machine, but it is the process that I love as much as the bread (same as brewing beer).
This guy made baking really simple for me https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos
- AnonHP 1y agoThanks for the link. It has hundreds of videos though. Any specific videos you’d recommend to get started and to fine tune it?
- ljf 1y agoHey, Try this series from him that is a great intro: https://youtu.be/vmb0wWKITBQ?si=S3MVF8qyKLOuCHmq https://youtu.be/vmb0wWKITBQ?si=S3MVF8qyKLOuCHmq I was then inspired by https://youtu.be/ZxCf39G_7pY?si=Mf5dfcZIngyXCuEY https://youtu.be/ZxCf39G_7pY?si=Mf5dfcZIngyXCuEY The worked up my own process below through seeing what worked for my flour and starter: 100g sourdough starter 300g water (cold and filtered) 12g fine sea salt 10g olive oil 550g white and brown bread flour mixed (I use 200g brown, 350g white) Morning of the day before (24 hours), or on the night before (12hours) you will bake: Feed the sourdough starter 50g brown bread flour and 50g water. Make sure that this is at least 12 hours before you plan to make the dough, allowing time to double in size and form a very bubbly starter before using. Morning: Measure 100g of bubbling sourdough starter into a bowl, add 300g cold water and whisk with a fork for 1min. Add 12g salt and whisk briefly again until the salt is dissolved. Add 10g olive oil and 550g flour and stir until all flour is mixed in, at least 2 mins of mixing. Use your (wet) hand to complete the mix. Leave for at least 5 minutes then gently lift and fold one corner of the dough into the middle, rotate the bowl 1/4 and repeat. Fold the dough 4 times then cover and leave for 15 mins and repeat the folding, before one final folding 15 mins later, before leaving to proof for the rest of the day. Proofing: Cover the dough, let it proof (rise) for 10-12 hours at 16-19c in the kitchen. It only needs to double in size - you don't want it to over proof. That evening: Shape. Check your dough, and when it has almost doubled in size, it is ready to stretch, fold, and shape. Wet your hands, and bring the dough in from the corners of the bowl, then reach in from each side and lift up the dough in the middle, letting it stretch down front and back. Let it stretch for 15 seconds, then fold these two dropping sides over itself, turn the bowl and repeat until folded this way 4 times. Shape roughly into the loaf you want, onto a lightly floured parchment-lined bowl - if your shaping has formed a seam, put the seam side up and pinch it closed. Cover and this in the fridge overnight. The next morning preheat the oven to 225c - if you have a cast iron pot add this to the oven to pre heat with the lid off. Remove the proofed loaf from the fridge, and add any cuts or slashes to the loaf before baking. Place the loaf (still on the parchment paper) into the cast iron pot, cover and bake for 20-25. Remove lid, and bake 10-15 more minutes, until very deeply golden. For my oven total baking time is 35 mins, 25 covered and 10 uncovered. Remove from the over and the pan, then remove the parchment paper. Let it cool on a rack for at least an hour before cutting. If you don't have a cast iron pot you can bake in two roasting trays placed face to face, or you can bake just on a baking tray, uncovered - if so add a small pour (20ml) of boiling water to the base of your oven, every 10 mins for the first 20 mins (at start, at 10mins,and at 20mins). Iterated from these instructions (with videos of the folds) https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdough-bread/#tasty-recipes-35045-jump-target https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdough-bread/#tasty-recipe...
- piva00 1y agoAs an alternative, I can recommend Hendrik's "The Bread Code": https://www.the-bread-code.io/ https://www.the-bread-code.io/ He has a very simple beginner's recipe on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqU-ylXWUs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqU-ylXWUs It's the resource I shared the most with friends who asked me how to bake sourdough breads, even though I didn't learn the basics from it I really like his style of teaching, concise and thorough at the same time.
- Spellman 1y agoI also highly recommend The Sourdough Journey for a lot of the science and showing how different variable can affect the results. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMNnFRtsaxxzZsbxK3yAjw4JF4Eq3oQ2S https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMNnFRtsaxxzZsbxK3yAj... His chart showing Temp and Time for Bulk Fermentation gets referenced A LOT. Key is higher temp means faster bulk fermentation. https://thesourdoughjourney.com/tools/ https://thesourdoughjourney.com/tools/
- amelius 1y agoI just wish there was a way to make it taste less ... sour.
- orthoxerox 1y agoGet a bread machine if you don't like the sour taste. Or bake a basic no-knead loaf. I would mix the dough in the morning and bake it in the evening.
- ljf 1y agoProof then bake soon after - I find the sour flavour develops more the longer I leave it to rest in the fridge.
- iainmerrick 1y agoIf you don't like sourdough, you don't need to make sourdough! Use baker's yeast instead. That doesn't limit you to basic recipes -- there's a vast range of interesting stuff you can bake. You'll usually need to make a preferment with flour, water and yeast (a "poolish" or "biga") so the overall routine is very similar to sourdough.
- inferiorhuman 1y agoYou don't have to make bread. My current favorite thing is sourdough English muffins, but King Arthur has a whole list of recipes that use the sourdough discard. The sourdough pancakes are excellent, especially after you drown them in maple syrup.
- mweibel 1y agosourness is depending on quite a lot of factors - amount of water in starter, how long you proof, temperature etc. I also prefer less sour breads and since I started using a stiff starter it's much better than more liquid ones. I still haven't found the perfect recipe yet but it is possible. A good intro into the difference of starters is at the bread code: https://www.the-sourdough-framework.com/Sourdoughstartertypes.html https://www.the-sourdough-framework.com/Sourdoughstartertype...
- eadmund 1y ago
- wodenokoto 1y agoIt’s not really substantially different priced than yeast based bread baking
- ljf 1y agoAgreed - though before I baked I thought sourdough was complex process that likely needed stuff I didn't have to hand, and assuming getting a starter would require and Etsy order. I bake 'normal' bread on occasion but since we all prefer sourdough and it costs so much in the shops for good sourdough, it is my go to.
- iainmerrick 1y agoI'd like to add one piece of advice that I don't see very often. You tend to see pictures of sourdough starters in big jars. But you don't need a big jar! A tiny amount of starter is enough to get going. Each time you feed it, the size multiplies, so you can start with a teaspoon of starter and make enough for a big loaf in just a day or two. When I'm in a bread-making routine, I keep like 10g of starter. One feed brings it up to ~50g, another feed to ~150, and that's enough for a loaf (saving 10g for next time). If you keep your starter in a big jar, it'll just go to waste. Keep it small and you'll never need to throw any away. On more than one occasion, I've made sourdough pancakes or something, and forgotten to save some of the starter. The tiniest scraping of uncooked batter from a leftover spoon is enough to keep it going -- just mix it with flour and water and the magic happens.
- ljf 1y agoTotally this! I was using huge jars when I first started and making massive levain - now just 10g in a jar, 50g water and flour as you say and it is good to go.
- inferiorhuman 1y agoYeah I just use a wide mouth pint jar. Stays in the fridge until I feel like making something with the starter.
- torvald 1y ago> If you keep your starter in a big jar, it'll just go to waste. Keep it small and you'll never need to throw any away. I tend to make «sourdough discard crackers» if I have leftovers. It works well timing wise, I'm in the kitchen doing the initial stretching of my loaf anyways.
- bluGill 1y agoUnbleached flour. My attempts at making starter failed until I got unbleached flour.
- ljf 1y agoBrown flour is brilliant, and already has plenty of wild yeast in it.
- bluGill 1y agoI'm not sure what brown flour is - at least where I live in the US that is not something I've ever even heard of before. I know that our whole wheat flour is sometimes bleached. This doesn't change the color (much?), but it kills a number of nasties and thus makes raw flour safer. (you should still never eat raw flour, but if you do bleached is safer... I know many people do eat raw flour, but there are some things can can hurt/kill you if it isn't cooked). I'm not sure if whole wheat is what you mean by brown flour or not.
- dsr_ 1y agoTo a first approximation, nobody eats raw flour. Flour is cooked in a pan with fat to make a roux; a roux plus broth can become gravy. Flour is cooked in a pan with liquid to make pancakes or crepes. Flour is cooked in an iron to make waffles. Flour is cooked in an oven for baked goods. Who do you know who eats raw flour, other than by accident?
- im3w1l 1y agoI used to eat the batter that had stuck to the walls of the mixing bowl with a teaspoon as a kid. It had both raw flour and raw egg.
- alt227 1y agoFlour is used to make food not stick to cooking and preparation surfaces, therefore lots of raw flour is eaten intentionally on the outside of baked goods (bread, pizzas etc).
- rfrey 1y agoThe only thing that's tough is the timing. It's gotta sit for an hour before slicing, which means if it's to be ready for school lunches it has to go in the oven at 5:30.
- eitland 1y agoYep. It is one of my life hacks: when I know I can/have to bake in the morning I find it much easier and much more enjoyable to get up at 0500. (Before I used two alarms, one that could only be defused with a barcode next to the sink on the bathroom + an (un?)healthy dose of self discipline. Now I enjoy it.)
- e40 1y agoDoes the amazing smell of bread baking make it easier for the kids to get out of bed?
- VoodooJuJu 1y ago[dead]
- misiti3780 1y agoAs a sourdough baker, I wouldnt say it's easy to make good bread consistently but it's not super hard to learn. As long as your starter is in a decent place and you take your time with the stretch and folds, you will arrive with something edible. I split my time between the north near canada and miami and fermentation works a lot differently even indoors in the winter in Buffalo vs Miami in the summer :) This is a good video for learning the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M
- bigstrat2003 1y agoI've tried to get a starter going multiple times, but it eventually gets to a point where it doesn't grow. It just forms a pool of liquid on top whenever I feed it, and never grows again afterwards. I've never been able to figure out why.
- inhumantsar 1y agothis happened to me whenever I kept the starter in the fridge. it stopped happening after I started keeping it in a cupboard that didn't get direct sunlight.
- dottjt 1y agoThe bit I always struggled with sourdoughs is the baking part. It would just never bake correctly and end up either exploding (large pocket of air) or be some kind of subterraneous sponge cake. I've never had this issue with baking regular yeast bread.
- d1sxeyes 1y agoSounds like you might be over proving it. If you’re at a high altitude, or live in a warm place, or it just keeps happening, try knocking half an hour off your proving time, and keep going until it starts getting worse.