If you're looking for some more guidance on how to bake the loaf itself, I've been making bread in the following way several times a week for most of the last seven years, and it is easily adapted to sourdough: http://mackerron.com/bread
Make your own sourdough
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Re: Make your own sourdough
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve got a lazier option. Get some starter, add 70g of flour, 100g water and leave it overnight. Then stick it in the fridge and use it like you’d use a very slow working shop bought yeast (and maybe 20g at a time). Don’t feed it till it gets low. Treat it mean, any more effort on it is wasted. Mine’s coming up on 10 years old now and is just fine. I accidentally put it in the freezer and lost it for a month, I think…
Even lazier option - go ask for some starter from a bakery.
For each loaf you make? That takes more effort than opening the fridge.
Re: Make your own sourdough
#183I'm still trying to figure out how did something edible grabbed such attention on HN??
Re: Make your own sourdough
#184How about that 122 year old sour dough starter mentioned in the recipe! The starter has been passed between multiple families and across generations.
Is anyone familiar with starter? Would a unique flavor or anything like that carry with the bread all those years?
Re: Make your own sourdough
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would suggest to score the bread in the middle before baking. That way you will have a higher rise in the oven. I did an experiment here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhERhlnDgdQ Basically it's like cracks in the surface. At an angle the rise can be much higher.
Forkish suggests not scoring your bread. From what I understand it can be somewhat of a contentious issue in the bread-baking community. I've experimented with scoring with mixed results, although I'll admit I don't have the right tool for it and my technique may not have been correct.
At the bakery i worked- we used forks - and only little punctures
Re: Make your own sourdough
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve got a lazier option. Get some starter, add 70g of flour, 100g water and leave it overnight. Then stick it in the fridge and use it like you’d use a very slow working shop bought yeast (and maybe 20g at a time). Don’t feed it till it gets low. Treat it mean, any more effort on it is wasted. Mine’s coming up on 10 years old now and is just fine. I accidentally put it in the freezer and lost it for a month, I think…
Even lazier option - go ask for some starter from a bakery.
Laziest option - buy bread from the bakery.
Re: Make your own sourdough
#187On the topic of bread for a moment: I recently started making my own bread. I bought a book on the topic by Ken Forkish "Flour water salt yeast", and I've fallen in love with the process. The recipes are great, but the first few chapters that cover his journey to making bread, a bit of the science behind it and talking about the less scientific components of what almost sounds like "luck" (Really, just super detailed…
Just to throw in another title, Tartine Bread is excellent. The sourdough recipe from that book is the official recipe we used at the restaurant where I cooked in Park City, called Handle.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8185785-tartine-bread?fr...
Re: Make your own sourdough
#188Would this have appeared here is it wasn't hosted on github? Don't get me wrong, I am quite interested in fermentation (I make my own sauerkraut for probiotics), but it seems strange for it to appear at number one on the front page of HN.
Here's one secret to getting on News YCombinator.
Re: Make your own sourdough
#189My mom's been baking sourdough bread once a week since I can remember. We've been a family of 6 killing at least a whole leaf a day. The awesome thing about sourdough bread compared to yeast or yeast/sourdough based mixtures is the ability to stay fresh for way longer. The neighbors would show up and ask for a piece of the mother dough for their occasional bread-baking experiments. While studying I really missed 'proper' bread - especially during my time living abroad. I've been baking my own bread ever since, too :)
Re: Make your own sourdough
#190On the topic of bread for a moment: I recently started making my own bread. I bought a book on the topic by Ken Forkish "Flour water salt yeast", and I've fallen in love with the process. The recipes are great, but the first few chapters that cover his journey to making bread, a bit of the science behind it and talking about the less scientific components of what almost sounds like "luck" (Really, just super detailed…
I'll have to checkout Ken Forkish's book, but, in the meantime, I feel the need to throw out a quick mention of Jennie Shapter's Bread Baker's Bible [1]. I'm not much of a bread eater, but it's one of my favorite cookbooks despite that fact. There is a fair bit of information on the science behind the recipes, and she doesn't take any shortcuts for convenience's sake. Her recipes for English muffins, pizza dough, and many other things have never left me wanting. Some of them take a lot of work to prepare, but they're absolutely worth it.
[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Bakers-Bible-Traditional-Recipe...