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Abe has helped me so much over the last 10 days.  When I thought my starter was failing he helped me patiently to wait, feed, wait and then held my hand to help me create Forkish's Overnight Country Brown.

I am deeply indebted to him for giving me the confidence to forge ahead and for being by my side (despite a distance of 3400 miles between us)  for my first SD loaf.

This year I've decided I want to be a pro, become a baker. Make pretty and delicious bread that a lot will enjoy.

Last tuesday, I bought called Della Fattoria and baked my first loaf (from the book) a White Sandwich Bread the next day.

Day One:

The recipe yielded to a kilo of dough, not wanting to end up with a lot of bread I halved the recipe.

Hello everybody,

That's what my closest coworker calls me, and she's probably not wrong. Ever since falling in love with baking bread, I've found myself unconsciously (it really is unconsciously!) seeing the world around me through the lens of bread-creation. I'm not TRYING to glance at the wicker baskets on friends' desks, only drift out of the conversation to imagine how they would make perfect brotforms.

So, I threw in an unweighed glob of soaked flax seed in addition to the toasted sesame the recipe calls for. I had intended to mix the dough last evening, bulk ferment for a couple of hours and then cold proof the loaf (another ginormous boule) at bedtime, and bake in the caldera this morning. Except I completely forgot my patiently waiting levain until bedtime rolled around.

I was planning on a bake free day. But early in the morning I was asked if I could come up with loaf of bread.

I knew I had about 250 grams of whole wheat flour so that was my starting point. I let the whole thing ferment most of the day and just about time to bake and I was called away. So I threw it in the fridge overnight. Next day I wasn't around to pull it out when I had hoped, but pulled it out late turned it into a loaf and baked. It worked.

71% hydration

Baked French bread and came out great except the crust just wasn't crunchy enough.

The oven was set at 425 F .  25 to 30 minutes

Pizza stone and baguette pan used.

I had a small amount of water in a pie pan at the bottom of the oven.

The oven was preheated and the temperature checked.

Any Advice would be appreciated

Thank You

Jim

jimcornwall57@yahoo.com

As a moderately experienced baker with instant yeast, but an utter beginner at sourdough, my experiments so far extend only to this. If you’re a person who thinks it’s simply not worth baking with sourdough unless you’re going to do a long ferment, slap and fold, and aim for a beautiful free-form artisan loaf, look away now:

200g starter (100% hydration, before feeding)

400g strong white flour

275g water

5g salt