Sourdough Bread

[lunchman]

The Continuing Saga of Sourdough Starter

As posted in another thread, like many of you during this time I'm experimenting with Sourdough starter. I posted about the Sourdough biscuits which turned out great. But I was torn as to what to make next with it. I finally decided upon Sourdough Bread.

I looked through a number of websites and recipes, some of which I was referred to on this forum (many thanks) and decided to use a recipe on a site called Amy in the Kitchen. Last night I made a Levain which is essentially a starter made up of the Sourdough Starter, Flour and Water.

This morning I mixed the Levain with Flour, Wheat Flour and Water using my kitchen scale and weighing all the ingredients in grams. So much easier than working with volume measurements. Funny thing though is this recipe uses only 1 Tbsp of the Sourdough Starter.

Here's the shaggy dough, prior to the inclusion of Salt and the last 50g of water -



After resting for some time, the salt and water is added, which had me a bit worried as the dough became very wet -



It then enters the Bulk Fermentation stage during which the dough is pulled over itself from one side, turned 90 degrees, pulled again, etc. four times, then rest. Repeat this every half hour for an hour and a half. Then let rest to rise in a warm spot for 4 to 5 hours.

After 5 hours, I turned it out onto the mat to work with it -



After being cut into two pieces and shaped a bit, it's supposed to be a bit tighter than this, but it'll have to do -



I dusted the top,



flipped it over and performed that same pulling process of the dough back onto itself -



Flip it back over so it's seam side down. Then rotate and pull the dough ball to tighten it up. Now it's looking a lot better -



Dust lightly with flour -





Place it in a bowl with a flour-dusted tea towel -



and now they sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Sorry 'bout that, you probably thought you'd see some nice loaves of bread at this point. I thought the same this morning and even though I'd read this recipe many times I somehow missed the "put in the refrigerator overnight" step. So no bread for me today.

More to come tomorrow. Thanks for following along.

Regards,
-lunchman

[ShadowDriver]

This is great, Dom. No worries at all.

We're a few days behind you with the starter, and I'm enjoying following your adventures.

[Free Mr. Tony]

Wet dough in bread making is a good thing. For the most part, it creates a fluffier and lighter loaf. Most bread is better with those characteristics. Beginning bread makers often suffer with heavy and dense loaves which there is a time and place for, but most people are looking for light and airy loaves when they start baking bread. Looks like you are on the right track

[bschoen]

I just stumbled upon this, more like tripped over, wasn't looking for it, didn't even want it, I was watching a youtube on smoking a chub of bologna. This guy had me with what he did with the discard starter, straight into a hot oiled frypan. [edit: occurred to me you might want to know its content.] 15 tips for sourdough bread making.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M

20 minute vid, worth the time, not like you are going any where any way.

[Big George's BBQ]

[Stingerhook]

You are such a tease Dom.

[lunchman]

Continuing with the Sourdough experiment I was up early this morning, preheated the oven to 450 and got to work.

The dough just out of the fridge -





Flipped over and scored, trying my hand at some patterns -



Into my Lodge Dutch ovens which are cold, then into the oven covered for 30 minutes. Remove the lids and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Mine took 25 at which time they looked like this -





Let 'em rest on a cooling rack for about 2 hours -









Glamour shots -





The moment of truth. What's it look like once I cut into it?





At first I was somewhat disappointed, it appeared doughy but the internal temp when I removed them from the oven was right on at 210 and the crust was perfect. What matters most is how it tastes, which is excellent. I have to remind myself that these do have wheat flour and the color reflects that. And I can't beat myself up since this is the first time I've made Sourdough bread using my own starter.

I asked my wife for her opinion and she thought it was perfect. A nice chew, good taste, crispy crust. I value my wife's opinion and if she likes it then I'm happy. And that's all that matters.







Bottom -





So there you have it. The experiment was successful. The bread tastes good, looks good and we've got 2 loaves to eat over the next few days.

I've got plenty of Sourdough Starter in the fridge, ready for the next project. Perhaps I'll try the King Arthur Flour recipe or something else I come across.

Thanks for following along and if you're experimenting with Sourdough Starter remember if I can do it, you can do it.

Regards,
-lunchman

[Clasko2]

Looks great! We're our own worst critics sometimes. Well done! I've really enjoyed this thread, thanks for sharing!

[cowgirl]

Looks delicious Dom!

[gthelectrician]

looks really good, if you feed your starter too much, instead of throwing away the extra try making pan fried scallion pancakes.

[food4thot]

Looks great!

[lunchman]

Being my own worst critic, I decided to read through a number of other sourdough bread recipes today in an attempt to determine what I can do better next time.

The first thing I forgot to mention in my post is this recipe calls for Bread Flour. I used AP. If we weren't in the middle of a pandemic I would have made a trip to the store. So it goes. Bread flour has higher protein content vs. AP. Bread Flour will go on the Alexa shopping list.

I might try the overnight fermentation on the counter instead of in the fridge. Since my kitchen at night is still cool at this time of year I think it would have been fine. If I'm baking bread in the summer I'd use the fridge.

Although I'm a fan of wheat bread, I probably should have chosen a recipe for my first loaf that didn't use it.

It's all in the fun of experimentation, and I need to remind myself that I didn't learn to cook in one day.

The next loaf will be better. But this one still tastes good.

-Dom

[redchaserron]

I've got a bowl of sour dough proofing now, in the morning I'll kneed and put into loaf pans. I'm going for a finer grain, more sandwich type bread, but with a bit of sweetness. It's the same recipe I used to make years ago, just with a new starter that's now been fermenting for a week.

[sudsandswine]

Your first time turned out better than mine mine could’ve been used as a hockey puck. I will regroup and try again.

[Norm]

Looks good to me!

Last loaf I made I tried cooking on my steel plate in the oven. The result was a burned bottom and so tough my bread knife now needs sharpening!