If you are struggling with your bread, I have help.
I made my first sourdough starter in 2008. I knew all of the best bakeries in the Bay Area where I could buy the best bread, but I wanted to make it myself.
This came in handy. Soon I would live where I couldn’t easily buy a loaf of “real” bread. It would have to come out of my kitchen.
Now I make about one loaf a week. Sometimes two. There are too many other carbohydrate choices in our home.
I wish that I could tell you that your journey will be simple, because it won’t be. It takes time to learn from each batch of dough, particularly if you don’t have an expert to help when you have questions.
Bread making was my favorite class in culinary school. I still had many hurdles to overcome because making one loaf a week goes against the professional baker’s method.
I have had to work out what works best for me and my kitchen.
I finally found the Homemade Food Junkie. This recipe is the best documentation for making sourdough bread with what, for me, is the right ratio or starter to water to flour. And overall directions to get started.
I’m going to defer to her for the recipe, but there are still tips that I can share from my experience to help you have a better experience.
Starting the starter
I have made a starter now three times. If you are interested, here is a good starter recipe I like.
The first two times that I did it, it took forever for the starter to look “right.” It came together after more than two weeks of feeding and discarding. Just when I was ready to throw the whole thing away, I came in one morning, and like magic, it looked like all the pictures.
I wanted to replicate this to give you confidence that it might take longer than expected. But when I made a test starter last month, to recall what happened, it only took five days and looked beautiful.
After I made it, of course, I read this article in Heated, which explains that the yeast is on me and in my kitchen. Since I make sourdough all the time, it was easy to start the starter now.
The first two times, we, the kitchen and my body, had no exposure to the culture before making the starter.
If you want to make it yourself, give it a try, but don’t expect the same results as a recipe.
How to keep your starter in the fridge, without continually having discard.
When you make your own starter, you will need to discard half of the starter at each feeding. Once you have a happy starter, you can keep it in the fridge. It will stay healthy if you take it out and feed it once a week.
I keep about a cup of starter on hand. It stays in the fridge. I take it out and let it warm up, about 2-3 hours. I pour half of it into a bowl and feed it for my weekly loaf. Then I feed the remaining starter that I keep in a jar. I let them both sit for 8-12 hours.
After they have risen, I put the jar of fed starter back in the fridge, and I use the starter in the bowl to make my dough.
The time difference depends on the temperature in my house. In the summer, it takes less time and more in the winter. My house is usually about 78 °F in the summer and 68 °F in the winter.
The Quantities of Ingredients
Most of the sourdough recipes are in quantities for two loaves of bread. I don’t understand. If I make two loaves, the second one will be a few days old before I start eating it, right? Why would I make my own bread if I am going to eat it when it is old? I guess I should make some friends with the neighbors and give the other loaf away.
But until then, here are the quantities to make one loaf.
372 g water, 145 g ripe starter, 510 g flour.
Tips for a laid-back dough.
I mix the fed starter and water and then stir in the flour, in the quantities above.
Cover the bowl. I use a plate on top of the bowl. Let it sit for 20 minutes to 4 hours. No, it doesn’t really matter. Add the salt and mix it in.
Every 30 minutes or so, mix the dough by scooping from the bottom and folding over the top. It just takes about 3-4 folds. Do this 4-5 times, until the dough is smooth. The folding will take all morning.
If you work from home, making the dough gives you a moment to stretch and walk to the kitchen. If you aren’t at home all day, feed the starter when you leave for work and then make the dough when you come home. (Hopefully, you work 8-10 hours a day)
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. I bake the bread after 24 hours, but you can let it sit in the fridge for up to 48 hours if you are delayed.
Use parchment paper while your loaf rises.
I have never been able to use the “floured-towel” without the dough sticking to the towel.
Never.
I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but I end up with a mess of dough stuck to the towel and an ugly loaf of bread. (I still eat it, of course.)
In culinary school, we had the special baskets and wooden bowls, and I have thought about buying one and trying that instead, but I hate buying things, so that hasn’t happened.
Then I saw a picture of a professional baker with all of her unbaked loaves rising on the workbench, without bowls, and said to myself, “She doesn’t have a bunch of floured-towel-lined bowls.”
I solved the problem by shaping the dough and then putting the loaf on a piece of parchment paper, let it rise for an hour or two, and then transfer the parchment paper with the dough into the heated Dutch oven.
Save money with a Cast Iron Dutch oven or “off-color” Le Crueset.
This recipe uses a Dutch oven to replicate the steam that is produced in a commercial bread oven. The Dutch oven method is the easiest way I have found to do this at home.
I initially thought that the oven was my problem with the crust.
I have messed around with hot pans of water and squirt bottles, and it has never given me anything resembling a crispy crust.
The problem is that a beautiful and useful Le Crueset pot costs two to three hundred dollars or more depending on the size. I think this is a lot to shell out for a piece of kitchen equipment, especially if you are getting started.
The less expensive way to buy a Dutch oven is to use regular cast iron. The Lodge brand is $50.
I live near a Le Creuset outlet and have found deep discounts on odd, discontinued colors. I use a pink, yes pink, Le Creuset pot for my bread baking.
I realized that I was ever going to have a matching set long ago. It’s not in my nature to be matching anyways.
Docking your dough with a serrated knife.
A lamé is a special knife that bread makers use to score the surface of the dough. You don’t need a lamé to score your bread. A serrated knife works as a good substitute. I don’t have any intention of getting one, regardless of how many loaves I make.
Keep Trying
I don’t want to discourage you, but you will need to practice to make your own bread. The more you do it, the more you will learn.
I can say that I never made a loaf that I was unable to eat. It always makes good toast.
Once you produce a few good loaves, you will be hooked. The no-knead method is the easiest way to make a professional quality loaf of bread straight from your home kitchen.
Keep trying. The more you do it, the better it will be, and eventually, you will have your own tricks to overcome the challenges.