My First Sourdough ~ A Real Primitive Bread

I really had luck when I finally raised my own sourdough starter. It was God's gift. Now I can bake my own bread that can't be really copied by anyone else. This is really a major leap in my baking. A bread made with primitive leaven baked with primitive methods back when there are still no ovens, this is some real primitive bread made with love.

I'm really enjoying my accomplishments as a baker and this one especially because I've been dreaming of it for years and now, it's finally here! This post is all about evolution not only as a baker but as a human. I've always felt out of place since I was a child except when I'm with my parents and my closest friends. I can't play any musical instrument, can't play any sport because of severe scoliosis (S-shape 30 degrees upper curve - 40 degrees lower curve), can't do math really well, and can't appreciate "trendy stuff. Now I realized that baking is my true passion and I really shine in it but nobody appreciates it here aside from my parents so when I joined TFL a year ago I felt accepted. There's is almost no better feeling than being accepted; I could almost cry while typing this, but you have no idea how you folks have made me happy. Every time I get a notification that someone commented on a post, I feel euphoric. Posting in TFL is really great, I really saw the evolution of this blog, my breads and my techniques. They really got better over time. Sometimes I read my own posts and I'm surprised how well they are written, it's like reading another person's work. A bonus is I had friends here from different parts of the globe that help me with my passion for languages, also appreciated by only a few people where I live. I really just want to say a sincere and big THANK YOU first to God, then to Floyd, and to you all good TFLers!

I didn't follow any formula. I took a bit from my starter and fed it and left if for 12 hours until double for the first levain build. Sorry if I used any wrong terms, I still have an inadequate sourdough vocabulary.



It's full of holes and clearly more than double.



I took all of it and doubled it with flour and water and left it again for 12 hours until doubled.



Here it is after 12 hours. Growth can be clearly seen, I think it's also more than doubled.



I autolyzed the flour and water at the 10th hour mark so 2 hours of autolyze in total. I used AP flour for a softer bread; ever since I used AP for a lean hearth bread, I fell in love with it. I also didn't add too much water, it's much drier than what I usually do. I am not after big holes now after being enlightened that they are fine but not totally necessary. A well made low hydration dough is better than a mishandled wet dough that depends purely on luck to be fine.



At the 12th hour mark, the levain and salt were incorporated into the dough. You can clearly see the difference in color. I made and feed my starter only with unbleached bread flour. Bread flour is the only variety of flour here that comes unbleached so that's what I used for my starter so there is a higher chance of presence of friendly microbes because they were not killed by the bleaching process and it can't be a potential starter killer.



I did 60 slap and folds to incorporate the starter and salt. The dough became a shaggy mass. After 40 minutes, I then followed it with 3 sets of with 40 minutes in between. By the last fold it was much much smoother and uniform. I can describe it as silky. After 30 minutes from the last fold I, as I am already very tired and sleepy (it was already 2 AM) from all the training I received all day, I shaped it into a boule without pre-shaping and put it seam-side up in a cloth line rice floure bowl for an overnight cold poof. 



Afternoon the next day, I pulled it out from the fridge and saw that it did not expand very much. Could it be my starter is slow or not used to cold temperatures? I let it proof for another hour (I planned to proof it for another hour but it was getting dark and a thunderstorm is coming) then I flipped onto the very hot lid of my clay pot preheated over a blazing wood fire the scored it to bake it gravity-defying style.



After 30 minutes, it was flipped for the top to face the heat source below. I tilted the bread this time the whole time the top was baking so the "sides" will be the one to blister and brown rather than the score mark.

The color looks like there were whole grains in it but there's none! Very even color and there are no burnt spots.The crust was thin and crispy! So nice, the prettiest loaf I made!



Some close-up shots of the crust.





My signature shot!




With this promising beauty, the crumb was not so much. It was dense with some random large holes. I think they were the ones called "the room where the baker sleeps". I suspect underproofing (I really just squeezed this bake in my tight schedule because I really want to try sourdough out of too much excitement) or poor shaping as the cause of this. What do you think? My adjustment for next let them proof at room temperature









Thank God it was not undercooked. Despite the less than optimal crumb, the flavor was wonderful. I ate the whole loaf, it became a part of my breakfasts before going to my training. I need a lot of energy for the training especially for the accent neutralization part. It was so difficult! My teacher said I have a strong "British" accent and I am the only one who has it among the trainees too so I am getting attention I'm not used to. My co-trainees only have traces of our native language in their accents so I am the one who is the most difficult to neutralize. I struggle especially in drills about "t" and "r"; Yes, we roll our "R" in our native language but I am used to non-rhotic English. The American t and r in [otter, wetter, butter,] are giving me a headache; in class I always pronounce them as "Aht-tuh" "Wet-tuh" "But-tuh" so I usually have to repeat them many times until I get them right only to have the same "mistakes" the next day but practice makes perfect and we still have a long way to go in our training so I hope I get them right by the end of it.



The aroma was not yeasty, very different from all the breads I made, instead it has a nice, sweet, nutty aroma. The flavor was sweet with just a slight sour that's very mouth watering and appetite enhancing. I want to be more sour but Zhou Clementine is still very young, fed often and kept at room temperature, I have to wait until she ages in the fridge. The texture was dense but the flavor really made want to eat it slice after slice. I don't know what's with the sourness but it really goes great with peanut butter, lots of it! It's the prefect breakfast and snack for me. A very nice bread for a first SD. I'm so excited to try another SD loaf when I'm not in a hurry. I bet it will be much better. I also can't wait to experiment with add ins. Just wait for it!





It was so much fun! I really felt like I was in the old times; just discovered wild yeast then finding a way to bake the new kind of bread before there was an oven. A real primitive bread! Like in the old times that people grow their own food, here are some photos from our yard. They are not as beautiful as some of your gardens but they are what we grow here.

Mangoes hanging low from the tree.



A young coconut tree planted by my dad.




Three week old tamarind plants.




.Bandera Española. It has a very Spanish sounding name. The Spanish really have a big influence in our language. In 1930's it was still common for everyday speech, in fact we found love letters of my great grandfather for my great grandmother written in Spanish. I wish learning Spanish was passed on up to my generation so we can understand what the love letters say.





Some Lagundi flowers. The leaves are an excellent cough remedy. The butterfly has almost the same colors as teh flowers. So beautiful!





Santan flowers. Yellow santan is blooming very nicely.



Finally, the white santan has bloomed. I never tried nectar from white santan but I'm sure it will be delicious too.



And some orchids! They're really beautiful even if they only bloom once a year!





I hope you enjoyed this one! Thank you very much! Job