31–40 of 124 posts
I’m from Australia, and this site uses a weird imperial mix and metric measurements. Weights are in grams, but temperature is in fahrenheit (I think, doesn’t actually say). Please use one measurement system make it consistent, as well as switchable. Thanks.
So funny how tech people must have such a detailed recipe for baking with sourdough. It's the same with coffee. Listen. Dough is a living organism. You cannot set a timer to it. It must be nursed, especially based on what flour you use, freshness of the flour, the climate, the moisture etc. If you want to be really good at baking, then bake at least 100 loafs and see what you learn. Then try to change the flour brand…
This is super interesting. I tried my first bake yesterday, and it... did not go well. Second try is currently forming. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for this. I'm extremely blessed to have a wife that enjoys making bread, and makes the best sourdough I've ever tasted. It's mostly in her head but from the notes I've pieced together it seems close to the weekday sourdough. Bread is so easy to make and so delicious if you have patience, I really hope this leads to more people making bread. Store bought tastes like paper in comparison. Protip to any future bre…
I've been wondering about that. The last time I baked bread was 10+ years ago. At the time, I got professional results with just a pizza stone and a spray bottle of water. The water replaced the steam oven and did a great job of gelatinizing the crust. Unfortunately I don't think I can get a dutch oven during the lockdown.
ymmv and I don't know where you live, but I was able order one off Amazon and get it in about 4 days about a week ago. Just mixed up the dough for my first bread a few hours ago :)
I’m from Australia, and this site uses a weird imperial mix and metric measurements. Weights are in grams, but temperature is in fahrenheit (I think, doesn’t actually say). Please use one measurement system make it consistent, as well as switchable. Thanks.
- Put everything in a bowl, and mix it until it's consistent. Usually takes 2-ish minutes. I find a simple, non-sharp knife to work best. - Cover it with cloth and let it sit for 12-20 hours depending on the mixture and temperature. - Get the mixture out, en cover with flower on all sides. Don't knead or overly touch (it will lose volume). - Preheat the oven with an iron cast over pot, once it's hot (250C), take out the pot, put in the mixture, and put on the lid. Halfway into the baking time, take off the lid.
After years of baking sourdough I find that I cannot predict precisely the timing. I have to judge the dough at each step and not proceed until it is ready. This is especially true in that I like trying new things, making tweaks, fermenting at different temperatures, and this alters the timing. The timing depends highly on temperature, where in the refresh cycle the starter is at (still rising? fallen and foamy?), but also very much on your particular starter. Some starters run slow (especially newly created ones). Others are fast. Using someone else's timing just never seemed to work for me. Early on when I started baking sourdough I made some absolute bricks because I followed the timing that the recipe specified, even though their descriptions of the dough seemed very different to what I was seeing. And if they said two hours, then eight hours must certainly be enough... but it wasn't enough. Yes, it really can be off by that far (especially with a new weak sourdough starter that wasn't refreshed properly).
Nonetheless, you have to have some sort of plan. Turns out that I can always make it work within a certain set of bounds if I am home all day on some given day. And that has driven me into the following pattern:
1. Remove sourdough starter from refrigerator the night before, and refresh.
2. Build dough in the mid morning with active starter
3. Bulk ferment (with stretches and folds) in a proofer until it is ready
4. Pre shape. Then shape. Then refrigerate in bags.
5. Bake the loaves (I always do two boules) early the next morning.
This is by no means the only pattern that can be made to work, but it's robust and flexible enough for anything I've ever thrown at it.
I hope this works for somebody, but I'm going to have to critique the whole concept of "timing' when baking sourdough bread. After years of baking sourdough I find that I cannot predict precisely the timing. I have to judge the dough at each step and not proceed until it is ready. This is especially true in that I like trying new things, making tweaks, fermenting at different temperatures, and this alters the timing.…
And honestly, good butter is hard to find too, although I did locate a little store in San Mateo that carries Echire.