The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My First Sourdough

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

My First Sourdough

Hi all.  I am new to this site, but have been following it and it's recipies since I started baking bread about 4 months ago.  The following photos are of my 1st and 2nd sourdough loaves, baked the same day.  Up until last week, I was busy perfecting a few riffs off of Jeffrey Hamelman's Five Grain Levain.  My first attempt at sourdough was a riff off of Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough recipe.  I know, you must be thinking, 'just started baking bread and already riffing??'  I do things backwards sometimes.  I was so excited with the external finished appearance of these 2 sourdoughs (first time trying a covered roaster method) that I forgot to take photos of the crumb.  Any comments/questions on the exterior are welcome however!  I need honest feedback and scrutiny!

 

 

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Looks great!  Looking forward to the crumb pics too!  From the looks of the crust, I know the crumb will be beautiful.

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks for the comments guys!  Now I feel bad I don't have crumb pictures.  I will be baking a riff of JH Five Grain Levain tomorrow and will certainly take photos of exterior and crumb.  This however, will be my 4th attempt at that particular recipe.  But seriously?  There is nothing from those photos of my SD that can be criticised??  C'mon, get your belts out!

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Saw your sourdough you baked the other day and I love the scoring.  I need to improve on that aspect.  I found some crumb pics for the Vermont SD, 5 days old though.  How about some crumb pics of yours?

Mebake's picture
Mebake

What scrutiy? It is by far the best 1st time SD boule i've seen on TFL. Yes, a crumb photo will tell much more about the bread than the exterior, yet i believe that for a first timer, this boule is simply beautiful!

My first whole wheat SD bread turned into a frezbee disc. there you go :)

Khalid

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Lol, I said it looked great and that I think the crumb would look beautiful based on the nice crust!  It has a nice rise and blisters!  Positive scrutiny at worst lol.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

wouldn't even fly!!  A worthless frizbee if there ever was one.

Mebake's picture
Mebake

I was referring to the scrutiy demanded by the author of this post, loafgeek  :)

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Lol, sorry misread!

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Oh sorry I reread the OPs post and I assume the OP ate it all now, so no crumb pics :)

BEAUTIFUL BOULE though :)

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Sorry, I meant to post that reply to loaf geek in the general message area.  Still learning!  Anyway, as I said, it would be great to get some actual criticism.  Gimme all you got!  And I do very much appreciate the positive comments.  I have to be completely honest, the crumb wasn't exactly the way I wished it to be.  It looked fine but did not keep well (dried out in a few days) and did not have the sour flavour I wanted.  I did not retard the proofing for 18 hours, but only for5 hours.  From what I have read, it takes a longer fridge retarding to develop more flavour and sour.  Eventually I will be posting the recipes as well so I can get feedback from that point of view.

loafgeek's picture
loafgeek

Search the forum here for "San Francisco Sourdough Quest Take 4".  I am going to try that method soon--it should produce a very sour bread because his levain is 50% hydration for hours.  The lower the hydration the better the lacto bacteria can work on the dough (at least from my understanding of the Detmolder Method Stage 2 for Sourdough Rye).

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks for the tip loafgeek!  I did see that recipe few days ago when I was searching for some more SD recipes.  I might just make that one my next attempt at SD.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

and nice baking.  Tease us with the outside and no inside shots? -That should be against the law if there were any around here :-)

Bake on

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Sometimes I'm reminded why I got married.  My wife points out the obvious things my brain ignores!...I still had a few slices left from the Vermont SD, bare in mind, 5 days old at this point.  So here are some crumb photos.  Any feedback would be great.

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Since the discussion of retarding the proof in fridge was opened, is it ok to retard a proof overnight in fridge with only sourdough breads?  Or can it be done with other breads such as the one I am planning to bake tomorrow (making the dough this evening as I type) which is pretty much J. Hamelman's 5 Grain Levain, except no sourdough starter levain, just active dry yeast.  Please let me know before I place this puppy in the fridge tonight!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I have to agree with Khalid (about your bread, not his). 

Your crumb looks very good. It is well-aerated and is a smidge less open (denser) than is typical for this particular bread. I would be happy with that crumb in a Vermont Soudough. It looks shiney which is a sign of a well-baked loaf.

Regarding cold retardation of yeasted breads: Generally not advised. The commercial yeast is more tolerant to temperature changes and will keep working in the fridge more than wild yeast would. If you plan ahead, you could probably get away with it by using less yeast in the dough. However, I have no personal experience with this. Perhaps others can provide more valid input.

David

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks for the comments.  To be honest, in the month and half before joining this site, I've had a keen eye on your postings and recipes, so your attention to my baking is much appreciated.  Well, unfortunatley I did not wait for your suggestion against the fridge retarding.  It's in the fridge as of 2 hours ago and its past my bed time to take out and bake at this point.  I will post what happens tomorrow.  Hope for the best i guess!

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Here are the results of this non sourdough retarding proof experiment.  You were absolutely right.  The retarding made the dough over proof and become more dense than I wanted.  As you can see from the crumb, it could have been worse.  Still tastes good but that will be the last time I do that method with a non sourdough.  Thanks for the advice!