Shirl's First Loaf of Sourdough

[Bethers]

Looks delicious to me. Shirl's comment to me with the pictures: "If it was easy everyone would do it. "

[Shirlv]

Beth, it was suppose to be a loaf. Lol. If you dropped that bread it would break your foot. Texture should be airy and full of holes. I’ll try again.

[Bethers]

I like crunchy. Sounds good to me, still.

[JudyJB]

It looks good, but maybe it just needed to rise more. It seems to have lots of holes, also. Is your kitchen cold?

[Shirlv]

I know what I did wrong. I have been reading and watching videos for a couple of weeks so know what the dough should look like. It was recommended to use a food scale and recipe was in grams, both foreign to me. I had a scale but never used it. I mixed ingredients and knew the dough was too wet so added flour. Was apparent it needed too much flour so proceeded with other steps and you see the end result. Cooks error because of poor eyesight and lack of knowledge about scale. Plan two…found a recipe using cups instead of grams and printed recipe in large text. Lol. I will keep trying until I get it right. Might not tell you how many tries it takes. Think I need more flour.

[MandysMom]

Shirl, it looks much like the wonderful loaves we got in Morocco! As to a food scale: they are easy. Most have a button or switch to go between Metric (grams) and imperial (pounds/ounces). Usually a button to zero it out. You can set a bowl on, hit tare/clear and it goes to zero. Then you add ingredients while bowl is on scale to get weight of ingredients minus the bowl weight. Mine has a button to go from ounces to lbs and oz, grams, milligrams also. But mostly I leave it set on lbs/oz so it might read 1lb 3 Oz. You should be able to set it to measure grams.
Velda

[Cudedog]

Shirl, I have made quite a bit of sourdough bread - and you are correct, if it was easy everyone would do it! I'll dig around and see if I can find a photo of one of my loaves, and also the recipe I used.

I had a lot of trial-and-errors (LOL - all errors!) before I broke down and purchased a scale similar to the one that Velda describes, and was more careful in evaluating my starter - and in measuring my four in grams, rather than by cups.

Two things to consider when making sourdough:

First thing: Measuring the flour in grams is critically important. Why? Because "cups" measure volume, grams measure weight. Different kinds, and different brands of flour can vary in density (volume-per-cup) - in other words, a cup of one type or brand of flour can vary a lot - a cup of one can be heavier - thus more dense. Or lighter - thus less dense - than the another.

This can even be true of the same brand of flour, of the same type (bread flour, pastry flour, all-purpose flour, etc.). It can depend on how the flour was milled, and how it was stored.

In a lot of cooking things, this cups-vs-grams doesn't really matter too much. When making sourdough bread, it definitely does.

When measuring flour by grams, - a gram of flour is a gram of flour is a gram of flour. In other words, measuring flour by grams is a lot more accurate than measuring flour by cups.

Second thing: The "starter" used for sourdough must be so bubbly and active that it will often overflow the jar that it is "living" in. When it is "fed", it should double by volume in a couple of hours. And, yes, sourdough starter is most definitely "alive", it is a living, breathing, yeast culture.

I would also disagree with Sheila a bit here. Traditionally, sourdough bread is not baked in bread pans. It is formed into "rounds" or "baguettes" or oblongs, and baked that way. If the dough is the correct density, and elasticity, it will hold it's shape - and rise - without the aid of a bread pan.

However, one must "score" the top of the unbaked loaf with a very sharp knife, or a razor blade (I always used a razor blade), so that the dough can expand as it bakes.

Now I'm off to find that recipe!

Anne

[Cudedog]

Here we go:

I, like Shirl, watched a LOT of YouTube videos as I explored my sourdough bread adventure.

I tried many different recipe's on many different YouTube channels - until I found the "Foodgeek" channel. Once I watched one of his videos (the like to his "beginner" video is below) and used his recipe, I had a successful results of all of my sourdough "tries".

Yes, the recipe seems a bit complicated - but the important part is that this recipe actually worked, and resulted in a delicious loaf of sourdough bread every. Single. Time.

Enjoy!

Sourdough bread for beginners video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znv99QbfWGs

Sourdough bread for beginners recipe:
https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-bread-recipe-for-beginners/

Anne

[Shirlv]

I bought the starter from Breadtopia which also had very helpful videos. I watched several other video but was not interested in those. I use a round cast iron Dutch oven to bake bread. I will give the food scale to #3 granddaughter. I can not read the teeny little screen even with glasses. If you add 1/2 cup more water then the recipe calls for you end up with a disaster . I listed the Breadtopia link below if anyone is interested. I had a fortune cookie that said. “A situation cane be resolved with a positive attitude”. Lol



https://youtu.be/ihSIjve7msM

[Redetotry]

Looks good to me for a first try Shirl.
I bake white bread for me in a very old West Bend bread maker called Just for Two. I'm on my second or third one which I have been able to find new in the box on eBay. DH doesn't like white bread so conveniently a nearby neighbor bakes sourdough bread in several varieties to sell at the farmers markets. She also makes New York style bagels, cinnamon rolls and biscuits. She has an online order form and I put money in an envelope and tape it to my front door. On the appointed day of delivery and she hangs the bread on my door handle, sometimes it is even warm. She did say it took her a long time to get it right!

[Shirlv]

I use to have a trivet that said “I’m not a slow cook, I’m a half-fast cook”.

[Shirlv]

Found another of my problems. The recipe I’m using is for a small loaf of bread and I am using a 4 qt Dutch oven so the dough spreads out instead of rising up supported by the sides of the baking vessel. You might save money baking your own bread but that is after you second mortgage your house to buy baking equipment. It is a learning experience. Loaf #3 in the proofing basket.

[snowball]

that would account for some of it or even perhaps all of it...
I was reading a thing the other day about different types of flower and the uses of each one...
I was really surprised at some of it wish now that I had saved it ... typically use all purpose for every thing other than will get cake flour for angle food cake which doesn't happen very often and with the cost of eggs well not even a thought... but according to this report should use cake flour for all cakes and I think biscuits as well as other items that I would never have thought of
hope your 3rd loaf worked out well
sheila

[Shirlv]

Going to fall back so I can jump higher. Need a smaller baking vessel for bread. Not bought to pay $50.00 -?? So will go with a metal loaf pay which will be lighter weight and easier for me to manage. Need to learn more. Lol

[JudyJB]

I am wondering how the California 49ers and all those families headed west made sourdough bread?? Surely, they did not have all this equipment. But then again, maybe they were happy eating even flat loaves cooked in a frying pan over the fire.

Maybe modern bakers have changed their recipes over the decades to make it more complicated?? Seems like the pioneers and miners did not have expensive pans or equipment for measuring stuff. Of course, they did have months and years of experience, so I suppose they did everything by feel. Hmmmm. I'm really waiting for you to be successful and pass your learned information on to us so I can make a loaf!!