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Make your own sourdough

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Re: Make your own sourdough

#191

Post by verelo »

moosehawk wrote: post #153
verelo wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These look great! The thing that blew my mind is that I've tried making various bread products before, with terrible outcomes...my first attempt to make something from the book was with a Poolish and it turned out astonishing; "That is the kind of thing hipsters would pay big bucks for!" - Amanda (my partner)

Thanks! I was intimidated by the poolish before I tried it, I commend you for going for it first! Now it's one of my go-tos because its timings are really convenient for my schedule (plus it tastes great). I personally like to make the poolish with 20% wheat.

Haha, funny because the first time I made it I did something a novice should never try and made it with 40% whole wheat (because i bought the wrong flour by accident...).

It's certainly a great bread to make in terms of timing, this conversation is going to make me get one started tonight!

Re: Make your own sourdough

#192

Post by blueprint »

moosehawk wrote: post #140
verelo wrote: post #129

On 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…

Second "Flour Water Salt Yeast". I've been baking bread for a few years now following his techniques with great success. He also has a 2nd book called "The Elements of Pizza" that I highly recommend. I had a similar experience when starting. The process seemed time consuming and complicated, but now I can bake a couple loaves any day of the week with a small amount of planning and little effort/thought. In both books…

WOW dat pizza

Re: Make your own sourdough

#193

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

saalweachter wrote: post #178
bonesss wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very relevant for the bread-making process. For starter feeding, though, I'm with the GP post: measuring all the time is a PIA, and totally unnecessary. The margin of error is massive, after a few measures you'll know the consistency to aim for, and if you're too stiff/wet it's dead simple to compensate when baking. Feeding by texture lets you get to know your starter better, follow its rhythms, and makes dail…

I think one of the biggest culture divides in baking is the "I love baking, it is so scientific and exact" crowd versus the "Everything makes bread!" crowd. I personally use the big measurements (flour, water, etc) as a rough guide so that I'm in the right ballpark on consistency and don't need to add too much one way or the other to get it right, and usually ignore the smaller measurements entirely (salt, baking sod…

> so that I'm in the right ballpark on consistency

You can get lack of consistency with an accurate scale, just always experiment, e.g. vary a weight. That way you know what you did also get _repeatability_ if you like the result.

> entirely (salt, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla ...)

Sourdough bread famously has only 4 ingredients: flour, water, salt, yeast (starter). Though that's not the whole story, there is also seeds, and more than one kind of flour sometimes.

> pour what looks like an appropriate amount in my hand before dumping it in the mix. Fewer dishes to wash that way :-)

Measuring by weight is exactly the same, the mixing bowl is on the scale. pour in until the right weight is reached.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#194

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

bonesss wrote: post #99
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would strongly recommend getting a digital kitchen scale (cost is under $30) and measuring water and flour in repeatable weights. A volume of flour is just not a consistent weight - it can be packed loose or tight.

That's very relevant for the bread-making process. For starter feeding, though, I'm with the GP post: measuring all the time is a PIA, and totally unnecessary. The margin of error is massive, after a few measures you'll know the consistency to aim for, and if you're too stiff/wet it's dead simple to compensate when baking. Feeding by texture lets you get to know your starter better, follow its rhythms, and makes dail…

> For starter feeding, though, I'm with the GP post: measuring all the time is a PIA, and totally unnecessary.

If you use the same flour every time, and are aiming for the same consistency, then you will want roughly the same amount by weight of it each time. I get that you don't need to be that precise for the starter, but I don't find the weighing process at all hard.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#195

Post by bsder »

verelo wrote: post #129

On 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 bought a book on the topic by Ken Forkish "Flour water salt yeast", and I've fallen in love with the process.

Does this book actually have a process that makes a "fluffy" interior like the baguettes and boules I can get everywhere in France?

Normally, my bread excursions always come up what I term "artisanal"--nice flavor, but kinda "chewy". I have no idea what I need to change to fix that, and I can't seem to find anybody who does.

I would even be happy making "Ye Maligned Plain White Sandwich Bread" just to know the process as I could probably figure out what the differences are. But I can't seem to find anybody who can tell me how to do that either.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#197

Post by convolvatron »

bonesss wrote: post #103
keithpeter wrote: post #15

Nice guide. I have tried a couple of sourdoughs but mine nearly always end up with a lot of alcohol (acetone smell, bitter liquid). As OA says, you can just scrape the liquid off the top and feed the sourdough to refresh it, but then the bread I bake has a slight acetoney taste. Suggestion: add a description of the sourdough after each day so people have a rough idea if their sourdough is growing. The photo helps - y…

Fermentation goes through four phases, roughly paraphrased into: wheatey, champagne, alcohol, vomit. You're describing a starter that is too 'old'. Very 'young' starters have little flavour, and then get sweet and honey-like before getting souuuuuur. Personally I'd recommend just leaving it on the counter and going to a 24 hour or 12 hour feeding schedule. Flavour: you can absolutely scrape the bad stuff off the top…

> If you start with some 'alcohol' or 'vomit'

I've always heard it called 'hooch', which I find really charming for some reason.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#198

Post by socratesque »

firmgently wrote: post #79
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a great "engineer's guide" though. My main issue at a glance is it's too linear "Day 7 Add another round of ingredients. Day 8 You are done". it doesn't work that predictably. You have to describe the outcome you're waiting for, it might happen on an earlier day or later. For SW engineers, it's a "while (!ready())" loop, not a "for (day in 1..8)" loop. Maybe it worked that way once for the OP. But it will va…

Yes! I'd been baking all my own bread for years but had repeatedly failed to cultivate a sourdough starter despite following lots of guides to the letter. I finally got mine living nicely when I completely let go, stopped measuring and worrying, just learned to smell and watch. I pour flour in straight from the bag and splash water from a big container, as long as the consistency is somewhere between thin mud and thi…

> I was even without an oven for a year and learned to bake bread in a cast iron pot on a gas burner/hob

What was the results like? This post piqued my interest but I don't have an oven in my home. Only gas stove top and a tiny gas grill.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#199

Post by kylemurph »

jmenn wrote: post #176
verelo wrote: post #129

On 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…

After reading Sloan's _Sourdough_, I ended up buying FWSY and have been making sourdough for about 6-9 months. I find the entire process remarkably fun, relaxing, and exciting. Unfortunately, I still can't get that real "sour" taste from my breads.

If you refrigerate your dough after shaping for the 2nd proofing, for 12+ hours, you’ll get those more sour flavors.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#200

Post by irremediable »

I've been getting into baking bread lately, so it's very cool to see an article like this on HN.

That said, if you're new to baking, I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point unless you strongly prefer sourdough to other breads. Sourdough is trickier, and this recipe is quite minimalist: lots of ingredient ratios and timings should actually vary with your ingredients, equipment and supposedly even atmospheric conditions.

I'd recommend one of two loaves for fellow newbies: a bloomer or soda bread.

The bloomer requires more effort and time, and is a fun way to try out all the basics of baking: kneading, yeast, proving, shaping. It'll give you a loaf like the kind you're probably familiar with, albeit at a higher quality than supermarket bread.

Soda bread is very easy to get good results from and very fast to bake. It doesn't require kneading, and doesn't use yeast -- instead using bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk. You can substitute buttermilk with anything milky and acidic; I use soy milk mixed with lemon juice. This is a great way to get quality bread with minimal effort, and you can make it sweet or savoury according to your preferences.

I'll post some recipes later...

Edit: recipes in my reply to this comment.

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