The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Sour Dough Frustration Down Under

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Sour Dough Frustration Down Under

Hey there!!!!! I'm new to the  amazing site and all things sourdough and bread actually. It had me at the first bubble in my starter! I Like most of you on here I find myself hooked. I have developed a healthy obsession in the past two months and my husband has been awfully overlooked and replaced by scales, jars and a lot of mess. My kitchen looks like an explosion in a flour factory, I'm finding dough in places I didn't know existed not excluding on my body and in my hair, and don't get me started on the amount of cash I'm flashing about on organic whole food flours.

I've got my local libraries full collection of all things bread related, I've watched hours of Youtube tutorials, read a whole load of blog posts, and my instagram account has been taken over to sourdough porn....... But here's the thing.

Do you think I can find an easy, plain speaking, tutorial which would allow for the following factors in my sourdough bread making.

Fabulous crunchy crust

Tasty chewy-fish open creamy crumb

Doesn't expect me to get out of bed to slap and fold and care for my wild starter like a baby? 

Doesn't confuse with bakers percentages ( my maths is shit)  or jargon

Uses a straight starter 

kneaded??? 

I found this awesome tutorial by Patrick Ryan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FVfJTGpXnU Which I followed an had good results from but I didn't get an open crumb.

And everything else I've read or watched uses Autolyse and Levain as in this blog post from  The Perfect loaf https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/

Which seems much more complex and now I'm slightly confused by cold Autolyse, cold retards and the like.

Im a Brit who lives in Australia and it's driving me a bit potty each time I tend to a new batch of dough, fussing over it for days on end like a baby only to take the promise of the holy grail out the oven and have my crumb hopes dashed into smithereens! 

So can any one who's been here help save me from a divorce and give me a point in the right direction please. 

Thank you, I'm looking forward to some decent bread chat and baking banter. 

X

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

might be the hardest concept.  Perhaps fish sauce or ground shrimp might add that flavour.  Lol!

Dont worry about the rest, it comes with the journey.  :).  Just bake and have fun.

 

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Thanks for your comments, Should probably wear my glasses more. Obviously im talking about a chewy-ish texture. But ive been experimenting. I hit the jackpot once last week. So ill continue in my bread adventures. Thank you! Katy.

 

JeremyCherfas's picture
JeremyCherfas

Many people regard open crumb as some kind of holey grail. It is probably the hardest thing to achieve. I'm not even going to try and point you in that direction, but search for Trevor Phillips and be prepared for a lot of experiments.

You don't need to do any midnight slap and fold. You might want to work on your math, because it makes life SO much simpler.

Pick a recipe, any recipe. I like a 50% wholemeal loaf.

Build your leaven. For me, that means take 10g of my starter in the morning, feed with 50g flour and 50g water. That evening, feed again with 100g flour and 100g water.

Next morning, remove 10g starter to save for next time. Put it back in the fridge. Add 500-525g water to the starter and swish it about a bit to break it up. Now add 18g salt, 350g wholemeal and 500g strong flour.

Mix it any which way you like to get it all incorporated. It might be a bit sticky. Don't worry. Cover with a damp tea towel. An hour later, do one set of stretch and fold in the bowl. An hour later, repeat, and an hour after that, repeat.

Divide in two, preshape, bench rest and shape. It is probably lunchtime or early afternoon by now. Put the shaped loaves (in bannetons or bowl with floured tea towel) into a plastic bag and into the fridge.

Next morning, early, preheat oven as hot as it will go, 230°C is mine. If you are going to bake in a casserole, heat that too. If not, prepare to steam. Pull a loaf out of the fridge, score, stick it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Take the lid off the casserole or remove the steamer. Bake for another 25 minutes, maybe at a slightly lower temperature, if you prefer less well-done crusts. Done.

You can, of course, halve the quantities.

The detail of the pre-shaping and shaping have a huge impact on the crumb. The gentler you are, the more open your crumb.

When that is working well, every time, try upping the water 25g at a time.

You'll have your chewy fish open crumb in no time.

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Hey Jeremy! Thanks for this.  Thank you for taking the time to write me a full reply and share your knowledge. Ill give this a go and see if I get my chewy fish crumb! Ive been busy all week, had a few great loaves. I was over the moon. Now my starter has been in the fridge for a week and I have to get it bubbly again before having a bash at this. 

Hope you have some cracking baking days! Katy.

Alan.H's picture
Alan.H

I've just come across this recently posted tutorial on YouTube which might help save your marriage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eod5cUxAHRM

I found the style a bit off putting at first (you might not) but if you persevere for about 1min 20 secs or even start watching from 1 min 20 seconds in, what follows is as good a basic tutorial on basic sourdough as I have seen and seems to tick most of the items on your list.

Hope it helps.

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Hey Alan! You my friend are very kind to reply and send a link. I thank from the bottom of my bread tin! Ill check it out and see if the level of annoyance is too off putting but I've weathered quite a few bad ones and found some good tips. I love this site, it's so cool to get help, feedback and advice from fellow bakers. Many thanks. Happy baking! Katy.

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Hey again Alan! I just watched! Yes I found a video from this dude too! Yup its a bit on the annoying side, but like you say, great content! 

treesparrow's picture
treesparrow

Here's a nice tutorial by a lady in Australia who also gives some good tips for hot days, maybe that's useful for you. No mess, no math, no complicated procedures. Happy baking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkA8JUmLT8k

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Hello Treesparrow, Thanks, and thanks so much for factoring in the hot days. Its been on the up here and we are headed for summer, so maintaining room temp requires hiring a polar bear and his iceberg, so it'll be great to find out some info about that. 

Loving all the replies and help from everyone. thanks for your time and advice. Best baking to you. Katy!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Welcome to club! I have a standard responce for a simple sourdough bake. We posted the “123 Sourdough No-Knead Do-Nothing” bread with you and others just like you. Take a look at this POST and see if it interest you.

I recommend starting with a very basic and simple bread. Bake it until to consistently succeed, then either move on to another bread or tweak the original. It is your most efficient route to success.

If you decide to bake the 123 Sourdough, you can visit this LINK and also this LINK to get an idea of various possibilities, all using the same basic bread. But it would be best to nail down the basic bread before venturing out.

Please continue to post. Let us know about your successes, and your flops. We are here to help.

Wishing you great success!

Dan

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Hey Dan! Thanks for the welcome. Im in the middle of a dough proof and it's looking awesome! I'm of the tear chucks off and enjoy hot mind, so should be tucking in about 6 this evening! Thank you for the links and time to reply. Much appreciated. Ill post some photos of today's baking efforts! If the bread lasts that long! I shall keep you posted and continue to post the high and lows of my dough life. Cheers! Hope you're having a lovely Sunday. Katy.

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

So as you can see from my tiny photographs ( I cant for the life of me work out the re sizing) Had few stand out experiments in todays bake day. Even got me some ears, albeit mouse sized. So thanks for all the input. They are delish and not a whiff of Fish about them! Crusts are superb. I think the autolyse  makes a huge difference! 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Katy, on the Insert/Edit Image box enter 600 in the first box and leave the other size box empty.

bakingbad's picture
bakingbad

Thanks Ill try that next time!