August 15, 2015 - 9:05pm
My limited but rewarding sourdough experience, an introduction.
I mixed up a starter a few months ago and have been baking two loaves a week for about 6 weeks now. I started with 100% flour (bread or all-purpose), 68-70% hydration, 2% NaCl, and 1% yeast. I use a stone and sometimes a dutch oven. Over the weeks I've lowered the yeast to zero and the hydration to 55-65%. I've now been baking loaves with no added yeast for the last two weeks. I really like the flavor much more. I do vary the flour I feed the starter: rye, fresh milled wheat from the local bakery (phillymuffin), bread, all-purpose. I've been reading a lot of books and online about bread baking (Tartine, Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt, Artisan Bread in...
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Not sure what happened to the rest of my post, but anyway, I'm Robert and I live in Philly. Would love to meet some local bakers from whom to learn.
Hi Robert, great to see a first post from another relative newbie to the site (I'm just a couple of months ahead of you!) Those look like fine loaves and I bet you are pleased with them. While I can't help with suggestions of other bakers all the way from here in the UK, tons of advice is available from members of this forum, and if you haven't explored them yet, there are some really good videos on YouTube by professional bakers demonstrating techniques. Happy baking! Colin.
Well done, welcome and happy baking
I am glad you found out that you do not need to add commercial yeast to the sour dough, the bread tastes so much better without the additional yeast. I suggest you work back up to the higher hydration -- the crumb will improve.
Ford
I have difficulty with the dough flattening if I go above 65% hydration. I proof in a basket, turn it onto a peel, and if I didn't get it in the oven quickly I think it would flatten completely.
Are you stretching the surface (skin) of the dough when you shape your loaf? The shaping process is important to the final shape, even when a loaf is baked in a pan.
I just saw this video on shaping: https://youtu.be/vEG1BjWroT0 . I think this might help.
Ford
Welcome
When you say you change up what you feed your starter, are you feeding the starter itself or taking part of it and feeding it different flours to make varied pre-ferments. If it's the former, you might want to settle on something consistent. It can be a blend if you like (e.g. 60% rye and 40% AP) but it should be the same blend every time. Otherwise, it seems likely your starter will have different characteristics from one feeding to the next different one, which can affect dough behaviour and the taste of your end product.
It is the former and yes I have not really had two exact batches yet. They are close but all slightly different. I understand the consistency concept in baking and feeding it the same would improve that. I will try it. I wonder though, how much the starter affects the loaf as it's generally only about 20% of my bread. E.g. 200g starter + 400g four and 400g water. I'll let that sit overnight and then in the am will add another 500g of flour, and 100-150g water, 20 g salt. Then bulk ferment for a few hours, proof....
is rather subjective. Taste-wise for example, if all other things are equal, using a rye starter will give you a more sour loaf than a white starter will. The difference may be quite substantial to some palates and much less so to others. And even that doesn't take into account that a person't palate isn't always the same, which means the same difference in sourness may not always be perceived that way.
Oh, and thanks for the responses!