January 28, 2022 - 2:20am
Anyone tried Elaine Boddy's sourdough method?
I tried it once and although the end result was pretty good as regards the loaf shape, the bread was rather too sour for my taste. It's a quite easy way to prepare the dough, but the sourness is a minus for me. If you tried it and it worked for you do you have any suggestions as to how to reduce the sourness of the bread?
Link to Foodbod Sourdough website. Her process is described here.
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I am familiar with her website but have not tried her specific recipe. I will note that her bulk/proof times are a little ambiguous, including a second cold proof between 3- 24 hours! after an overnight room-temp ferment of approximately 10 hours. So, depending on which times you followed, that likely explains the overly sour flavor in your bread. A lot of formulas include a starter build, then autolyse, bulk ferment with S&Fs, shape (all of that on the same day), overnight cold proof then baking the next morning right out of the fridge. Essentially, her formula is adding another day to the process. Even though the second proof is cold, it seems like a lot of proofing after an 8-10 hours room temp/overnight proof--a lot of folks would bake right after an 8-10 hour room temp ferment. The longer you room temp ferment/proof and/or cold proof, the stronger the flavors will be.
You could cut down the total times with the linked formula and/or you can search this site for basic recipes that you might find easier and that would provide you with the flavor profile you are looking for. At my house, we also prefer naturally leavened breads that are not sour, so I usually follow the formula I outlined above (build the starter the night before, autolyze/mix/S&Fs and laminate/bulk ferment/shape then cold proof overnight and bake the following AM).
Hope that helps! I'm sure you'll dial it in through ongoing baking adventures. Happy baking!
Noting that I don't bake frequently and my baking trials generally vary, that's the method that I use. I would also add the time-temperature combination into the process as shown in the The Sourdough Journey (see Section V) experiments.
I'm always striving for a "standard" formula for everyday baking and then I'll try and experiment from time to time with other baking recipes. This is a goal that I'll probably never achieve! :)
Her method seems very similar to the bake I did yesterday/this morning. I started the process at 11:30 AM and moved to cold retard at midnight. Baked them at 7:00 AM this morning.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69828/overnight-heirloom-red
A couple ways to reduce the sour…. Reduce the starter inoculation (I used 4% instead of her 10%) and substitute some of the water with Yeast Water (I’ve gone as high as 20%). Also, you can skip the extended cold retard and bake them after the final proof.
You baked great looking bread! I haven't heard of yeast water and the idea sounds intriguing.
You can probably find numerous threads on TFL about how to make one. This is the process I follow, but I replace the sugar with honey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8jbrE-BB9U