The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Be gentle with me, a new baker who has thrown himself in at the deep end!

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

Be gentle with me, a new baker who has thrown himself in at the deep end!

Sooooooo, not to do things by half, and only ever tried making Soda bread, once, with edible results I've decided to dive into the deep end. With concrete boots, and anchor chains for cufflinks.

I'm trying my hand at sour dough, from scratch with a simple 50/50 wholemeal/white bread flour and water starter.

 

So far I think it is going ok. Feeding daily it is getting frothy and smelling a little beery like a good yeast growth should. 

It has been fed for 6 days now :)

 

Any advise/criticism welcomed.

Ru007's picture
Ru007

how the first loaf turns out. Good luck!! 

 

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

your starter looks great...my advice: keep feeding consistently and watch, smell, and taste consistently too.  Get to know its stages.

Also, be sure to have some fun and relax...a lot of people get pretty nervous about their starter, or get frustrated with it.  While there is plenty of complex science you could go into, it is pretty simple in many ways, and if you take reasonably good care of it (which is also pretty simple), it should take care of you.

Finally, I agree that starting your bread journey with sourdough might be considered a little ambitious...so be patient and cut yourself some slack if things don't always turn out, and start with easier breads (simple white sourdough of moderate hydration, or a pain au levain (or VT or Champlain sourdough...all similar variations)).

You certainly are off to a good start with the starter, and also being plugged in here - although you may have to sift through some of the advice with care ;-)

 

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

I tend to feed at the same time daily and keep an eye during the day :)

I'm really looking forward to my first bake, but I know good things take time :)

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

there are endless possibilities for feeding ratios and schedules, but if you find the once a day schedule gives you an overly ripe starter, you can:

- feed it more frequently (e.g. 2x day)

- reduce the ratio of starter retained to new flour/water added

- reduce the temperature

- reduce the hydration

- reduce the proportion of whole grain flour you feed it

So you are either slowing down the process, or shortening the cycle.

 

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

It is is this kind of information that is invaluable right now.

I know from researching, unless it goes bad, mouldy or smelly, there are many ways to save a starter but very few places actually tell you them :)

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

Made the sponge yesterday, it grew nicely.

Made the dough, this morning and it came to life, knocked it back and proved it this afternoon, the warm weather here in the uk is helping.

It is in the oven now, so I'll soon see how I got on :)

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

Starting from scratch, never made anything with sourdough before, and a made myself starter.

 Best described as rustic but tastes so good :)

IPlayWithFood's picture
IPlayWithFood

As I'm fast discovering, the good thing about learning to bake bread is that most of the time even the mistakes taste nice enough to eat quite happily (:

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

And back to life already for another weekend loaf :)

Let's see if I can make this look a little better :)

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Good luck!!

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

Thank you :)

clazar123's picture
clazar123

This is, indeed, a delicious and addicting path! Keep making the same recipe and keep a notebook of observations and what you did because after a few more loaves, you won't remember what you did, loaf to loaf.

Have delicious fun!

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

Shape wise :) Fresh from the oven so still cooling :)

 

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Well done, this looks good!

Ru

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

well done.  look forward to the crumb shot.  

Leslie

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK

When it is cut for breakfast :)

ElderUK's picture
ElderUK