Behold my Sourdough

[AhBiscuits]

Like a lot of us, I'm trying to reduce UPF. I'm a huge bread fan and decent, non-UPF bread costs a lot. Decided to have a go at cultivating my own sourdough starter. It was ready to use after 19 days and today I have baked my first ever sourdough loaf. Made using just flour, water, salt and time. It's so tasty and I'm really pleased with it. Now I have a mature starter, I might make another straight away.

The only reason for this post is showing off because I am proud. 😄

I'm not sure how big it is. Not big. It never has more than 50g starter, 50g flour, 50g water, which is about 1/4 full. Even once risen I've found it big enough.

That looks great bread and thanks for the tip about using a cold casserole.

I went on a course by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou (excellent) and he says you only need to use 2g starter, mixed with 20g flour and 20g water to keep it going. I do this so don’t end up with masses of discard. I do now make crackers with the small amount that I have, but before I learned this I was drowning in it. He uses small amounts when creating your original starter, too.

Ml and g are much of a muchness when talking about simple liquids, so maybe try a 550 - 600ml jar to be on the safe side. I don't know why 'no bigger' is an issue because I use 1l kilner jars (with the seal removed) for all sorts of amounts of starter, with no issues.

I know though that when I first started sourdough baking I stuck to the instructions pretty closely until I got a feel for it, so it's probably worth you doing that. I already had the kilner jars, so I took a chance on using those out of convenience. I often do batch baking of sourdough using 4-500g of starter at a time, so the big jars work well for me

I almost always make mine in a stand mixer for the same reasons. I now mostly make a 3lb no knead loaf (from King Arthur Flours site I linked to above) because it's even easier and we like the taste of it. The recipe says to fold one an hour but on very tired days I just give it a turn or two with the dough hook.

The loaves are huge so I cut them in half and freeze one half. I've also done this with regular sourdough loaves, again made in my stand mixer and I've never had an issue with them rising well and tasting good.

I don’t understand about discard. I just use what’s left to feed and make bread next time?

It depends how much you bake I think. I don't bake every day so need to feed and discard.

Another day another loaf. The crumb is exactly how I like, moist and soft, a bit chewy, but I cannot score for shit. Maybe it doesn't matter, but I am jealous of the pretty Instagram loaves. I think part of the problem is my shaping and not enough tension. I've just watched a video on shaping higher hydration bread so I'll try that next.

I only bake once a week but still don’t discard.

I've been baking sourdough since I jumped on the bandwagon during Covid. The starter doesn't need upkeep or maintenance if you're not baking with it. Just store it in the jar in a fridge. When you want to revive it for baking give it a few feeds until it is bubbly and rising up in the jar (active) (may need to discard a bit and then feed the remainder a few times). I bake bread approx 3 times a week, cheddar and jalapeno loaves, cinnamon and raisin, but most often just a plain boule or sandwich loaf. I've also made cookies and cakes/pancakes with it. It does take practice to get the timings right and to learn how to read the dough but it's utterly worth it.

You can bake with it past peak, it just may be a little slower to bulk. Alternatively you can increase the feeding ratio to slow the peak down.

I bought a cast iron loaf pan so that I can make regular loaf shaped bread. It came out beautifully. Best toast ever.

Does it need to be cast iron ? I was thinking about using one of my big round cake tins as I have them up to 12 inches

My loaves are like bricks now and I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. They just seem to get worse and worse.

No it doesn't need to be. Cast iron is good because it distributes the heat evenly, but you can bake a decent loaf in whatever you have to hand.

I don't think so, but then again I have not got that far yet. But I see many people just use normal bakeware for theirs.

My starter is not doing well. It's on day 10 now, and well, not doing a lot. But it is winter where I am and I think my house is just too cold for it. We don't have central heating and all that to help it along, so I may just have to try again when its warmer.

I am persevering though. I know you are not meant to, but this morning I have just shoved it in the sun. It is just doing a whole lot of nothing and I feel like I am wasting flour discarding every day.

Not the best start on this journey.

That looks absolutely gorgeous!!!!! Well done I'm drooling here 😂

Keep at it. Once it starts it will progress quickly. Mine wasn't ready until day 19.

Maybe it's a starter issue. You said you don't discard, how do you maintain your starter?
It may have become acidic. I'd keep it out on the counter for a few days, discard down to 50g each day and feed 50g flour and 50g water. See if you can strengthen it.

Love sourdough. Yum

The teacher I learned from never discards so I am following her method. I think it might be acidic, yes. I was just told to feed it once a week , nothing else. I don't really understand the need for discarding and how much to discard.

Can anyone tell me how to make sourdough without it looking like I’ve massacred the pilsbury doughboy and tried to wash him down the drain???! Everything ends up covered and I use ALL the water to clear it up.
I have to be missing something?

The method I learnt was to discard all but 50g each day and add 50g of flour and 50g water. You discard so that you can feed in a 1:1:1 ratio without using tonnes of flour. I know there are zero discard methods that work well.
I think acidic starter is a problem everyone gets from time to time.
I'd either do a few bigger feeds or peak to peak feeding for a few days.

How are you making so much mess? 😄
Mine stays in the mixing bowl until shaping and then into a banneton. Do you have a dough scraper? I find them essential for the shaping stage. I don't touch the dough with my hands that much, except for wet hands during stretch and folds.

Marvellous!

Love this thread, making my mouth water!