Baked my first loaf
My name is Chris, everyone calls me Pops :-) I’ve been lurking here for a bit now. I’ve read and read and read until I’ve nearly drove my wife and myself insane. It all started when I started me a sourdough starter just a few weeks ago. For weeks now I’ve been all over the internet reading recipe after recipe, feeding and feeding, discarding and saving and saving and saving and saving starter LOL - I just couldn’t make myself throw it away. I’ve made a few pancakes with it but I still have a difficult time tossing it in the trash. Anyway, I’ve become obsessed with bread these days. My starters name is Toby. He lives in a wide mouth mason jar. He’s given me a lot of headaches these past weeks. He’s taken over my life it seems. I even dream of him. However, I’m starting to calm down a little.
Anyway, to make a long story short I baked my first loaf. I wanted to share my pictures. I’m not too disappointed but I guess maybe I was expecting more oven spring and the inside was moist and chewy. I checked the temperature inside which read 210. Baked it inside a Dutch oven for 20 minutes and continued to bake until brown about 25-30 more minutes. I probably didn’t cook it long enough. I did follow the times of the recipe though. I don’t know. I’m excited. It was good as toast to me. My 20 year old son likes it sliced right off. Me, it was too damp and moist that way. It had a slight sour taste to it. Not too much at all. I was happy with that. Where could I have messed up though to have caused it to be damp and moist? Any pointers? Any advice? Please by all means critique and help an old man out lol. Did I do okay? What does it supposed to look like? What should it taste like? What should it feel like? It’s my first time eating sourdough. Thank you.
Did you let it sit uncovered or in a paper bag, or in a bread box for 20 hours after taking it out of the oven, and before cutting it open?
When we say "let it cool" it's not just a matter of temperature. Some of the excess moisture evaporates out through the crust. As well as the crumb "setting up" in the first 2 to 4 hours.
You loaf looks pretty darn good! And for a beginner, it is super duper most extremely excellent to the max!
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The thing is, flour can have varying levels of moisture already in it, depending on how long it sat in the store and in your home. And different brands of the same type of flour can soak up water to different degrees.
And ovens can be off, high or low. Have you checked your oven setting against a thermometer? Maybe it was cooler than you thought.
210 is about the highest you should go for internal temp. At sea level, 211.999 is the theoretical max anyway, (boiling point of water is lower at higher altitudes), unless you totally dry it out.
Internal moisture level (at the end of the bake), and degree of browning of the crust, are subject to personal preferences. So if you want less moisture at the end of the bake, use a slightly lower hydration dough, or bake a longer time (at a lower temp) so the internal moisture has time to cook off before the crust "sets" too much and impedes its escape. You lower the temp for a longer bake so the crust doesn't get darker than you want.
If you want a darker crust, bake at a higher temp, or for a longer time.
It's all a balancing act.
Hydration % of the dough, desired final (subjective) moisture level at end of bake, temp of the bake, length of the bake, length of the cooling/evaporative period, are all tied together. Once you understand the relationships of all those, then you, the baker, can figure out what you want and how to get there.
Keeping good notes of all ingredients and procedures, and baking temperatures and times, along with your written assessment of the loaf, helps you figure out what to do next time. Pictures help too. I have a separate page of notebook paper for every bake now; and usually do pics, but not always.
Welcome to the club!
Your bread looks absolutely great! If you sliced it early, that would probably account for the moisture. Believe it or not, many of us wait until the following day to cut into the bread. Best to wait at least 3 or 4 hours.
210F internal should be completely baked.
Keep posting your progress. As you know, baking bread can become an obsession. So much so that I’ve been on a diet for the last 6 weeks, but continue to bake bread even though I eat very little of it.
Danny
Also diggin’ your artistic scoring...
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Thank you both so much for your feedback. I appreciate the kind words from both of you. I appreciate the warm welcome as well. I’ll definitely be making more. I’ve already made another with I didn’t take a picture of last night. We’ve already cut it and had some with tonight’s dinner. Our youngest son (20), my wife and myself liked the first loafs tang. It had more tang and sourness to it, the second didn’t have much tang, but we still loved it too. I’m not sure why the difference. It’s actually kind of confusing. The first loaf was made with AP flour with a starter fed only with AP flour. The second loaf (pictures included) was made with all AP flour but a separate starter which was fed with AP, WW and Rye. I figured the second loaf would be more sour because of what that starter was fed. I can’t remember much on fermentation. I really do need to start taking notes. The first was kneaded, the second was stretched and folded. Both were allowed to rise about the same length of time and in the same location. Both spent a night in the fridge. Maybe using the starter at a different time made a difference. I don’t know. I’m researching now on how to manipulate the sourness. If my wife and son liked it I want to be able to duplicate it lol. Any ideas on how to definitely get that sour taste again? Again, thank you both so very much. I truly appreciate the kindness you’ve both shown me.
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perhaps the simplest answer(s):
https://truesourdough.com/18-ways-to-make-sourdough-bread-more-or-less-sour/
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This next one is a bit more complicated, because you have to sort through the comments. And it gets into "lactic acid sour" versus "acetic acid sour". And, to complicate things more, the experts seem to say that it's not the starter that determines the sour, it's how you ferment the dough after the starter/levain is added.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/37061/making-starter-more-sour
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And if you want to get real techy, and have your head spin, these two:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10375/lactic-acid-fermentation-sourdough
and this comment:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14913/very-liquid-sourdough#comment-99010
Enjoy!