Sourdough bread makers - how hard is it?

[Jitters22]

As someone who has had digestive issues, I find that Sourdough bread suits my metabolism extremely well. Not only that, it's bloody delicious (especially the texture) but at £1.70 a pop for a small bloomer in Tesco, I'm wondering about the possibilities of making it myself.

Anyone here make their own Sourdough and if so, can you give me your recipes and tips on how to get started?

It would probably have been easier & cheaper to continue to buy bread, given the equipment and courses I've bought and attended...

However, it's fairly easy but best learnt from someone. Bake with Jack on You Tube. Or a course with someone like Ma Baker, who has moved to the Welsh Borders but was the No.1 course to do in London prior. Totally recommended.

The basic recipe is easy. The skill is the folding and shaping. Very addictive, you'll never go back if you crack it. :-)

It’s easy to learn but tricky to master. It’s all about having a strong starter. I’ve been doing it for a few years now and bake consistently good bread, but it took a while to get there. I started with ‘Bake with Jack’ (on YouTube) and after a while I signed up to Martha de Lacey (Instagram) as I got more into it. It was from following her that I really properly began to ‘get’ it and also became more confident.

Totally worth giving it a go. It’s very satisfying and a bit addictive!

@Wombat98

It would probably have been easier & cheaper to continue to buy bread, given the equipment and courses I've bought and attended...

However, it's fairly easy but best learnt from someone. Bake with Jack on You Tube. Or a course with someone like Ma Baker, who has moved to the Welsh Borders but was the No.1 course to do in London prior. Totally recommended.

The basic recipe is easy. The skill is the folding and shaping. Very addictive, you'll never go back if you crack it. :-)

So financially you're saying that £1.70 a loaf isn't that bad?

To be fair to Tesco, their Sourdough bloomer is delicious. Even my 20 something son, who NEVER notices things like that remarked on how good the bread was. It's more the texture than anything else. I'm quite old and it reminds me of bread when I was a child, which sounds ridiculous but it does.

I'd like to make my own, but I don't want to do that if it's going to be vastly more expensive, as I do have a low household income.

@Flockameanie

It’s easy to learn but tricky to master. It’s all about having a strong starter. I’ve been doing it for a few years now and bake consistently good bread, but it took a while to get there. I started with ‘Bake with Jack’ (on YouTube) and after a while I signed up to Martha de Lacey (Instagram) as I got more into it. It was from following her that I really properly began to ‘get’ it and also became more confident.

Totally worth giving it a go. It’s very satisfying and a bit addictive!

@Flockameanie

Do you bake your own because it's better, or for economic reasons?

Overall does it work out more expensive, or less expensive that just buying it?

(there is also an issue in that my local issue tends to sell out if you don't get there early, so making my own would mean I have a constant supply)

My experience is that a starter needs a bit of time to adjust to a new home (or settle down, if it’s a new kid). Be prepared for it to be temperamental until it gets used to you, even if you follow recipes perfectly. You’re not doing anything wrong during that stage and the bread is usually still edible

It is much better for you, especially if you source your flour from decent millers.

Longer fermentation, better structure.

But it can be as cheap as you need it to be. It's literally just flour & water. Find Bake with Jack on You Tube. Very thorough.

It's really not as hard as people make out, unless you're determined to be perfectly natural. I think I did this one as a starter which does use yoghurt but was completely reliable and is still going 2 years later! https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sourdoughstarterr_22976/amp

I LOVE MUMSET!

Thank you everyone who has posted on this thread.

I've been thinking about doing this for ages, because I'm not kidding, ordinary bread really upsets my stomach but Sourdough bread doesn't.

The problem is, it's not always available, so making it at home would be the ideal solution.

I'm going to watch those videos that have been suggested and give it a go.

MUSMET? - MUMSNET even!

DH has the same problem - normal bread gives him an upset stomach whereas sourdough doesn't. He reacts to the bakers yeast.
We did a course on sourdough a few years back & keep a starter going but making the bread is time consuming. We tend now to use it to make sourdough pizza bases or sourdough rye bread which is much quicker.
It should definitely be cheaper than buying it, it's just whether you have the time to do it.

It's not hard or expensive but as previous poster mentioned your starter will improve over time. I also used the BBC recipe. No special equipment required but quite a bit of waiting around. Try it and let us know how it went!

Its not hard- i can do it! But it does set off my hand eczema

I used bake with jack (i also massively fancy him!) But the starter is like a pet so needs care and a nice place to sleep

I've been baking sourdough bread every week for 5 years. A friend gave me a recipe and took me to a session where I watched the basics. Started being strict with the recipe but after a few weeks began to improvise. It really is very hard to mess up! sometimes looks better than others but always tastes great!

Not wanting to be a snob though but I had sourdough from tescos and it's very different from homemade. I would guess it has some sourdough culture but also the normal yeast as well. Maybe try buying some from a posh bakery or even Gail's at waitrose for a better idea of what a homemade one will taste like 🙂

@APurpleSquirrel

DH has the same problem - normal bread gives him an upset stomach whereas sourdough doesn't. He reacts to the bakers yeast. We did a course on sourdough a few years back & keep a starter going but making the bread is time consuming. We tend now to use it to make sourdough pizza bases or sourdough rye bread which is much quicker. It should definitely be cheaper than buying it, it's just whether you have the time to do it.

I'm self employed and was at home all day long before Covid so time isn't really an issue, especially as my 27 year old business has been totally decimated in the last two years, but that's a whole other thread!

The way things are at the moment, I could definitely make enough time in the day to make my own bread, it's the cost that's more of an issue for me.

I'm a vegetarian (no meat, fish or eggs) but I do eat dairy and pizzas are one of my favourite foods. I'd love to be able to make sourdough pizza bases.

My starter lives in the fridge when I’m not using it & seems perfectly happy just coming out first thing on days when I want to bake.

The dough does most of the work itself. Once you’ve got the hang of pulling & folding, which is easy, it’s mainly about waiting.

@northernstarsoutherncross

It's not hard or expensive but as previous poster mentioned your starter will improve over time. I also used the BBC recipe. No special equipment required but quite a bit of waiting around. Try it and let us know how it went!

Thank you @northernstarsoutherncross

Your post is very encouraging.

The waiting around doesn't bother me too much, so given all the positive responses to this thread (including yours) I'm gong to give it a go.

Thank you again!

@EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn

My starter lives in the fridge when I’m not using it & seems perfectly happy just coming out first thing on days when I want to bake.

The dough does most of the work itself. Once you’ve got the hang of pulling & folding, which is easy, it’s mainly about waiting.

Thank you @EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn

I like the sound of the dough doing most of the work itself.

I'm a seasoned pastry maker so pretty good at kneading, pulling, folding etc., but never made bread apart from focaccia once and it was underwhelming.

I'm so glad I started this thread because I am genuinely going to give it a go.

If you want to have a loaf ready in the morning, you can leave it to do its second proof in the fridge overnight, then remove it, let it warm up to room temperature and bake. I had an old bread machine and I I mix the dough in there and it works really well. Good luck with it!

It's not that hard to make, it's keeping the starter alive that's tricky. You need to keep feeding it even if you aren't baking and that can be costly in flour.

Will the whole family be eating it ? If so and you are baking regularly it might be worth it.

You can buy starters off the internet or even ask in a bakers that sells sourdough.

@RiverSkater

It's not that hard to make, it's keeping the starter alive that's tricky. You need to keep feeding it even if you aren't baking and that can be costly in flour.

Will the whole family be eating it ? If so and you are baking regularly it might be worth it.

The 'family' at the moment comprises me and two grown children.

I'm a vegetarian (they aren't) and I definitely eat the most bread. Neither has digestive issues with bread whereas I do. Bloating, gas, nausea.

With Sourdough I have none of those.

Served son Sourdough with soup and he was raving about it.

I just know that for me personally, normal bread gives me tummy ache whereas sourdough bread doesn't. I just can't buy it all the time.

I've been making sourdough for just over two years, about 5 loaves a week. My starter took 3 weeks before it was active enough to bake with and after that the biggest difference to my finished loaves was using bottled water for the starter, strong bread flour and a baking pot good enough to take a temperature of 230 centigrade.

Personally I like the videos from www.youtube.com/c/TheBreadCode

Making sourdough is a big commitment in time - if I want fresh bread for Sunday, then the process starts on Saturday morning. Today's dough has just gone in the fridge and I'll bake it from cold tomorrow morning. Be prepared for a lot of trial and error at first - although even the 'failures' make good toast!

Definitely check out some of the links others have mentioned too and if possible find someone who already has an active starter to share.

@KeepQuietAndCarryOn

I've been making sourdough for just over two years, about 5 loaves a week. My starter took 3 weeks before it was active enough to bake with and after that the biggest difference to my finished loaves was using bottled water for the starter, strong bread flour and a baking pot good enough to take a temperature of 230 centigrade.

Personally I like the videos from www.youtube.com/c/TheBreadCode

Making sourdough is a big commitment in time - if I want fresh bread for Sunday, then the process starts on Saturday morning. Today's dough has just gone in the fridge and I'll bake it from cold tomorrow morning. Be prepared for a lot of trial and error at first - although even the 'failures' make good toast!

Definitely check out some of the links others have mentioned too and if possible find someone who already has an active starter to share.

Thank you so much @KeepQuietAndCarryOn

Your post makes me feel this is doable.

The time commitment doesn't bother me. Our world shruk with Covid19 and we got used to this way of living.

I will watch all the videos you wonderful people have posted on this thread and I will make my first tentative steps at Sourdough.

And I promise I will come back here and post progress reports.

I used to make sourdough and it's a fun process. It will take some trial and error to get to know your starter but the results can be lovely. The nice thing is they take 18-24 hours so are a bit more forgiving than a normal loaf in terms of timing.

My next challenge is to get one of the 3 day cold prove loaves right, if anyone has a recipe for those I would love to have it!