How to make sourdough bread...

[Breadhead]

Steve Vojtek and chudzikb

You both have really surprised me with the high quality loaves of sourdough bread you have produced in your first few loaves.

You guys probably don't know it but many of us, me included, bake doorstops for a few months before we get a really nice loaf of bread.

My intent with Steve was to try to reduce his learning curve by giving him a short list of instruction that would condense his time of making a really nice loaf of bread.

You both have really shocked me that you could produce these quality loaves of bread so quickly. I've been on many bread websites over the last few years and you just never see beginning bakers posting pictures of quality loaves like these. It really blows my mind you guys could pull this off.

Chef Jacob is the magic, I'm just the director.

You guys have been excellent students that seem committed to learning a new and fun craft.

Good for you guys!

[chudzikb]

Thank you sir, you are the one bringing us along! And for that we thank you!

[Breadhead]

@chudzikb.

Breadheads are like BBQ guys... We love to learn and we love to share our successes.

3 years ago I had NO idea of how to mix flour and water together to make a starter. I had NO idea how to mix flour, water, starter and salt together to make a loaf of bread.

Today... After studying bread making as much as I have studied BBQ, I'm very confident I can bake any type of bread I want to. I now understand yeast and flour. I understand hydration. I fully grasp the Bakers Percentage. I know how dough is supposed to feel and what it is supposed to look like at each step.

You and Steve are slowly becoming Breadhead's. Once you've made a loaf of bread like you have, it becomes addictive. Soon you will become bored with making sourdough boules. Then you'll start venturing in to baguettes, same dough but different shaping techniques. Then you might venture into Ciabatta bread, Brioche bread or who knows what your interest might be.

The great part of starting with sourdough boules is you learn all of the fundamental techniques to guide you to other types of bread baking. I have designed the lessons in this thread to guide you in that direction.

Most people don't start their bread journey by developing their own sourdough starter out of flour and water. Most people don't start their bread journey in the sourdough category.

I did it that way only because I didn't know sourdough is the most advanced bread category. It just seemed more intriguing to me when I researched bread making online, before ever baking a loaf of bread. I thought I don't know anyone that knows how to bake sourdough bread so... I'm going to give it a go.

As you've discovered... It really isn't very hard. After all, human's, have been making sourdough bread for 1000's of years. It kind of lost favor when man figured out how to make fast acting commercial Dry yeast.

We that bake bread... Know that bread factories that bake 100's of thousands of loaves of bread a day - quickly, produce bread with the desired texture but little flavor.

We that bake bread learn that really great tasting bread takes time. Low yeast and long fermentation times is how you develop flavor. Much like BBQing tough cuts of meat... Low and slow is the answer.

Enjoy your bread journey my friend. It's been a pleasure guiding you on your journey. Pass it on to someone else.

[chudzikb]

I was going to make some this a.m., but, my starter did not pass the float test. I had let it do it's thing over night. Usually take about 4 hours after dump and feed. Never had a problem till I let sit over night. Just tested again, about 3 hours post dump and feed, passes the float test. Will make some this p.m.

[Breadhead]

[Breadhead]

@chudzikb

Smart move.

I don't know who figured it out , or when the float test was created but it makes it easy for us sourdough bread bakers.

How did your last loaf turn out?

[chudzikb]

Basically a disaster. But, it tasted good, so I got that. Good crumb as well. However, couple of things went wrong, first I ran out of time and tossed the dough in the refrigerator, it never really proofed to my liking after that 4 or 5 hour rest in the refrigerator. Then, in an attempt at preventing the house from becoming death valley, I did threw the dutch oven on the grill. I know better, should have broken out a real thermometer. ( I have plenty) Trusted the grills, mistake would be the term of the day. Burnt the bottom. The worst part was stuck to bottom of the dutch oven. And as those that follow along know, that would be my wife's dutch oven. There was hell to pay for that transgression. I just finished chipping that stuff out of the bottom. Next time, I will follow the script, maybe throw some garlic in the dough at some point just to see what it does. Fresh pealed and chopped.

[Breadhead]

@chudzikb.

Not perfect sourdough bread always seems to taste fine.

Delayed fermentation in the fridge is a good thing. I usually do that overnight or up to 24 hours. I give it a couple of hours to final proof and come up to room temperature. I start the poke test after about 1 hour and use that as my guide to know when to bake it.

Burnt bottom... You probably had it to close to the direct heat. I bake most of my bread in my BGE. I use my plate setter to make sure I get no direct heat. I burnt a few loaves before I learned the proper setup and temperature control for baking bread in a ceramic oven.

Oh my... Using the wife's DO on the grill. She'll be reminding you of that transgression for the next 10 years. They never forget blunders like that. Just remind her you bake this wonderful bread for her enjoyment and her health.

Added flavors are fun to play with. Try putting some cheese in there too.

I'm glad to see you are enjoying baking real sourdough bread. It's a great hobby just like BBQing is.

Breadhead...

[gcdmd]

"Not perfect sourdough bread always seems to taste fine."

Like sex, even when it's bad, it's good, eh?

On a more serious note, I've enjoyed reading this thread. I can see that my approach to sourdough bread baking has been much too simplistic. You now have another "little grasshopper," Master.

George

[Breadhead]

Steve Vojtek & @chudzikb....

How are you guys doing on your bread journeys? I've been busy moving the last 10 days. I've not had time to keep up with the AmazingRibs forum.

[chudzikb]

Too damn hot here to bake in the house, I would be run out of town by the rest of my family. Got to wait for it too cool off a bit.

[Breadhead]

chudzikb

Sometimes... You must submit to the wishes of others. It seems to me you might need a ceramic oven my friend.

[chudzikb]

My friend has one, does that count? Happy with all the crap I have already, not saying it would not be great to have more, but, even I have limits. If it did not take so long to make, I would try again with the grill, using a pizza stone as a buffer for the DO. At least that was what I was thinking.

[Breadhead]

Yes... You can take your fermented dough to your friends ceramic oven. He/she would get a kick out of you baking bread in it.

If you need setup instructions for that, let me know.

[Jay in Ames]

This is a fascinating post. Thank you for all the information.

I have been baking bread for years now. The only time I buy bread is to make croutons for salad. It's just impossible for me to make burnt bread cubes from something I created, better to let the grocery store take the hit. I have made some sourdough loaves, but haven't gotten the great results here. They were ok, and loved the flavor, but now I can step it up a bit, and make a really killer boule. Currently I use the starter (named J'Ames, from a friend) to flavor sandwich type loaves, rolls, buns, etc. I've gone the no-knead route too, and gotten crumb similar to what you are seeing, but no where near the spring with sourdough, only with regular yeast.

I'll be experimenting soon, and posting a couple of results (I hope!)

[Breadhead]

@Jay in Ames

Welcome to our sourdough bread thread. It's pretty easy really. Just follow the steps and you will get great bread.

I look forward to your posts.

Breadhead

[chudzikb]

Put a real thermometer in the grill, put a round pizza stone under the DO. (which my wife said, why worry, you destroyed it already) Put some fresh garlic in the dough, should be done late tonight. Hope springs eternal.

[chudzikb]

Well, this worked out much better than I had hoped. Only mistake was again putting the dough in the DO. Shape, while not perfect, has the color I like and I have hope for the taste, cut in the a.m. Have to get over the fear of the 500 degree DO.

[Breadhead]

Nice loaf my friend! Very nice.

[chudzikb]

Well, my hope for taste was rewarded. The addition of some fresh garlic was a game changer. Really added a lot of flavor. I put in about 3 cloves diced. Doing on the grill worked out really well, no heat in the house and with proper set up, no burning the bread. Taking the heating up the house issue out of the equation, will have more time to work on perfecting this, but, really, really like the garlic addition. I am sure I will be avoided today at work!

[Breadhead]

Great loaf! I've never added garlic. I just might give that a try.

[Breadhead]

gcdmd .

Welcome to our breadhead community. I'm pleased that you are interested in improving your bread baking skills. I think you'll be surprised at how simple it really is. Watch Chef Jacobs's videos and you will be ready to bake a loaf of bread. If you don't already have a sourdough starter that will take about 10 to 14 days to develop.

Feel free to ask questions while you are learning. Steve and chudzikb are now qualified to help you too. Be sure to take some pictures of your bread. Seeing what you've done, good or bad, will allow us to guide you on your journey.

Have fun learning to bake bread my friend.

[Breadhead]

My latest loaf of sourdough bread.

I took half of the flour content and an equal amount of water and 1 teaspoon of sourdough starter. I mixed it to a shaggy mass and covered the mixing bowl with my shower cap. I let it ferment at room temperature (75°) for 16 hours. When it had doubled in mass I added the remaining ingredients and mixed them to a shaggy mass. I let it rest/autolyse for 30 minutes. Then I did slap and folds to develop the gluten structure. Then I shifted to stretch and folds. Then on to final shaping and tension tugs to get it very tight. Then I put it in my banneton and let it final proof which took about 2 hours.

Recipe:
600 grams of bread flour
420 grams of water
A teaspoon of sourdough starter
12 grams of salt. Added after the final mixing process, right before starting the slap and fold process.

The preferment, Poolish:
300 grams bread flour
300 grams water
1 teaspoon sourdough starter

Final mixing of the dough added to the preferment:
300 grams bread flour
120 grams water
12 grams salt

All turned out nicely...😁 a nice crumb.


And a nice crust...

[chudzikb]

Well done, did a loaf this week, it did not last long, my wife's friend is now insisting I give up my day job and take up bread making full time! Funny stuff.

[Breadhead]

I'm retired so I cook bread as a hobby. Many of my friends and family are beneficiaries of my obsession with bread. Breadhead's bake much more bread than they can possibly eat so we're always looking for someone to give it to. I manufactured and sold furniture for 40 years and that was fun but baking bread and BBQing is a nice retirement project. Bread factories suck. They make 100's of thousands of loafs a day that have very little taste. I like using just a pinch of yeast or sourdough starter in a preferment and letting it ferment for 16/24 hours and then mix in the rest of the ingredients in. Then let it slow ferment in the fridge overnight. I like giving the flour, water, yeast/starter and salt a couple of days to work their magic. Artisan bread is really, really different from store bought bread. You can't make money selling that kind of bread so you can't buy it anywhere - that's sad.😩