I have a sourdough starter in the fridge. I have been successfully feeding it but i have yet to actually make bread with it.

How much of the starter do i use for a loaf of bread?

Looks like flour is the 100% in this case. To convert it to "American" units (or any amount, ounces or grams):

40% starter
100% flour
115% water
2.5% salt

For example, if you want to use 16 oz of flour.

6.4 oz starter
16 oz flour
18.4 oz water
.4 oz salt

Of course! But I'm pretty sure he knew that already

Do any of you have a sourdough book or online resource that you love? I have a bread book but it only touches on sourdough and I have lots of questions. I'm looking for something that has info on how wet the dough should be, how to shape, etc. More of the process than recipes.

amanda04 said:

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Do any of you have a sourdough book or online resource that you love? I have a bread book but it only touches on sourdough and I have lots of questions. I'm looking for something that has info on how wet the dough should be, how to shape, etc. More of the process than recipes.

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YouTube. It's how I learned how to make bread.

Can you share your neading & rising schedule?

I've got a good starter going, and have used it for about 8 loaves of bread now. Here's the recipe I've been using:
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 cups (298g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (454g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter
1/2 cup (113g) lukewarm water
(Source: King Arthur Flour)

I like the recipe because the neading/rising/baking schedule is easy and makes sense to me. I don't want to near it once every half hour for half a day, nor do I want to let it rise for 12+ hours. With that said, it's just mediocre bread. I want to do better.

Any particular YouTubers or channels you followed?

Binging with Babish and Joshua Weissman are two channels I like. Weissman is goofy as can be and I don't care for a lot of his commentary. But they both put out great videos.

How long should you feed the starter before making bread? Did you buy a kit or something to make your starter?

It's easy to make it on your own, you just need time. And a scale. Takes about a week to get properly funky.

Put a big mason jar on a scale (don't tare) and add 150 grams water and 100 grams of flour into the jar, and make sure it has lots of room as it's going to expand a lot. Document the empty weight of the jar before you add the mixture. The final reading on the scale should read as: weight of jar + 250 g

Place a lid on top and let the jar sit for 24 hours. The wild yeast in the air will get in the jar. You don't need a yeast packet. And when you put on the lid, don't tighten it, just put the lid on top loosely (it will explode if you tighten the lid).

Now you gotta feed the damn thing.

After the aforementioned 24 hours, take out all but 75 grams of mixture.

Add 100 g of flour and 125 g of water.

Rinse and repeat for 5 days.

After this you can put it in the fridge and feed once a week and it'll be fine. Cold slows down fermentation.

Plenty of YouTube videos will walk your through it visually.

Or, even better, go to your local bakery and ask for some starter and you can skip the 5 day process. Most are pretty cool and will give your some.

It's an endeavor, no doubt, but once you have a starter going it's easy.

amanda04 said:

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Do any of you have a sourdough book or online resource that you love? I have a bread book but it only touches on sourdough and I have lots of questions. I'm looking for something that has info on how wet the dough should be, how to shape, etc. More of the process than recipes.

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Flour Water Salt Yeast

I hate sourdough baking youtube videos. I'm looking for legit recipes on youtube, and I keep running across trash like this:


There's countless psuedo-science in that video, and they spend 3/4 of the "dimpling" and talking about hand-kneading techniques. It's bread, not some mysterious spell.

Ornlu said:

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Can you share your neading & rising schedule?

I've got a good starter going, and have used it for about 8 loaves of bread now. Here's the recipe I've been using:
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 cups (298g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (454g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter
1/2 cup (113g) lukewarm water
(Source: King Arthur Flour)

I like the recipe because the neading/rising/baking schedule is easy and makes sense to me. I don't want to near it once every half hour for half a day, nor do I want to let it rise for 12+ hours. With that said, it's just mediocre bread. I want to do better.

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I feel like you're doubling up by using both yeast and starter here, use one or the other. If you're using yeast, why do you need a starter and vice versa?

Also, for 2.5 cups of flour, that is a lot of yeast and a TON of starter. You can make amazing bread with only .5 tsp of yeast per 3 cups of flour.

Are you getting an open crumb with this recipe, or is it pretty dense?

As for kneading schedule, experiment. I've made great bread kneading it every 30 minutes for two hours, so folding it four times. Find a method that works for you.

With instant yeast, which can rise multiple times, you can knead, let rise, fold, let rise, fold, let rise, multiple times until you get the nice airy product you want to put in the oven.

hbc07 said:

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amanda04 said:

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Do any of you have a sourdough book or online resource that you love? I have a bread book but it only touches on sourdough and I have lots of questions. I'm looking for something that has info on how wet the dough should be, how to shape, etc. More of the process than recipes.

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Flour Water Salt Yeast

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Yup, Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast is the Bible for breadmakers on r/breadit.

SACR said:

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Ornlu said:

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Can you share your neading & rising schedule?

I've got a good starter going, and have used it for about 8 loaves of bread now. Here's the recipe I've been using:
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/2 cups (298g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (454g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter
1/2 cup (113g) lukewarm water
(Source: King Arthur Flour)

I like the recipe because the neading/rising/baking schedule is easy and makes sense to me. I don't want to near it once every half hour for half a day, nor do I want to let it rise for 12+ hours. With that said, it's just mediocre bread. I want to do better.

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I feel like you're doubling up by using both yeast and starter here, use one or the other. If you're using yeast, why do you need a starter and vice versa?

Also, for 2.5 cups of flour, that is a lot of yeast and a TON of starter. You can make amazing bread with only .5 tsp of yeast per 3 cups of flour.

Are you getting an open crumb with this recipe, or is it pretty dense?

As for kneading schedule, experiment. I've made great bread kneading it every 30 minutes for two hours, so folding it four times. Find a method that works for you.

With instant yeast, which can rise multiple times, you can knead, let rise, fold, let rise, fold, let rise, multiple times until you get the nice airy product you want to put in the oven.

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Yea, I don't really know what I'm doing. That's a copy/paste from King Arthur Flour. Yes, it's very crumby. I may just give up on making bread, as folding something every 30 minutes for half a day isn't really possible with my schedule & lifestyle.

Quote:

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I may just give up on making bread, as folding something every 30 minutes for half a day isn't really possible with my schedule & lifestyle.

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Two hours isn't half a day.

That YouTube video, a few posts above, takes 7 hours.

I respect your 2 hour version. I'm Just searching for the version which works for me.

We're on this train using two starter recipes. We're investing in a scale but it hasn't shown up so for the last week we did this:

One started with whole wheat flour - 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. No yeast, used a clean spoon to mix. After 2 days we got a nasty stench but no mold or anything. Using a spoon we took the water (hooch) off the top, then pushed aside the top layer. We tried to get about half of the starter out and put it into a clean jar. Then we mixed in another 1/4 cup room temp water and 1/2 cup white flour - our recipe said to.

Our second was Alton Brown's recipe. Again we don't have a scale so we had to fudge it but we did similar: 1/4 cup room temp water and 1/2 cup white flour. No yeast but he said to use a clean hand to mix it so we did. Then after 3 days we started feeding. He says to xfer 20% to a new container so his took a long time to get going. We feed it 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup white flour.

Each one lives uncapped in a jar in our oven with a towel over the top. We don't run the oven but keeping the door closed and the oven light on makes it a little warmer than our house - prob around 80 degrees. Once either one rises and then falls, we go to a clean jar and feed it 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup flour.

After a few days they stopped stinking. They really do start smelling yeasty and even a little fruity - the Alton one smells faintly like banana to me. We also switched to feeding our first batch whole wheat flour to see if it differentiates a little more.

They feed very differently, and there's no real rhyme or reason. Some days the wheat one goes faster, some days the white one. By now neither one is particularly nasty so in the next few days I'd like to transfer to the fridge to slow down their reaction... we're going through 7 cups of flour a week just on these things!

Once I feel like they're ready I have a whole slew of recipes I want to try with each - sourdough bread obviously but also pancakes, waffles, muffins, crackers.

Decay said:

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Once I feel like they're ready I have a whole slew of recipes I want to try with each - sourdough bread obviously but also pancakes, waffles, muffins, crackers.

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Add pizza crust to this^

Ornlu said:

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That YouTube video, a few posts above, takes 7 hours.

I respect your 2 hour version. I'm Just searching for the version which works for me.

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So, here's the thing with sourdough. Since the yeasting process is more organic, it's going to take longer for the bread to rise and proof. At minimum, making sourdough is a 3-4 hour process with mixing/kneading/folding/proofing and then baking.



Overnight no knead might fit your lifestyle more? Obviously it's not sourdough, but it will still give you high quality fresh baked bread.

It takes about 5 minutes to mix. Longest thing is letting it rest overnight for at least 12 hours. Fold and let proof in the morning for an hour while you get your oven ripping hot at 500. Bake for 30-35 minutes and you're good.

FancyKetchup14 said:

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Ornlu said:

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That YouTube video, a few posts above, takes 7 hours.

I respect your 2 hour version. I'm Just searching for the version which works for me.

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So, here's the thing with sourdough. Since the yeasting process is more organic, it's going to take longer for the bread to rise and prove. At minimum, making sourdough is a 3-4 hour process with mixing/kneading/folding/proving and then baking.



Overnight no knead might fit your lifestyle more? Obviously it's not sourdough, but it will still give you high quality fresh baked bread.

It takes about 5 minutes to mix. Longest thing is letting it rest overnight for at least 12 hours. Fold and let prove in the morning for an hour while you get your oven ripping hot at 500. Bake for 30-35 minutes and you're good.

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From his earlier comment:

Quote:

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I don't want to near it once every half hour for half a day, nor do I want to let it rise for 12+ hours.

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I don't think he has the time right now to make good sourdough.

Ah ok. I missed the "not wanting things to rise for 12+ hours"


Regardless...I still think an overnight no knead consumes hardly any "real" time.

Spend 5 minutes mixing 4 ingredients in a bowl (salt, water, flour, yeast) and let it rise for 12 hours (can just set it and forget it for overnight)

Spend 10 minutes folding and shaping in the morning, and let prove for an hour. Then bake for a half hour.

This isn't sourdough, but it is a simple white bread. There is some folding, kneading, proofing, etc. but it is not too bad. Can all be done in one afternoon, and you aren't checking on it every 30 minutes.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/08/simple-crusty-white-bread-recipe.html

FancyKetchup14 said:

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Ah ok. I missed the "not wanting things to rise for 12+ hours"


Regardless...I still think an overnight no knead consumes hardly any "real" time.

Spend 5 minutes mixing 4 ingredients in a bowl (salt, water, flour, yeast) and let it rise for 12 hours (can just set it and forget it for overnight)

Spend 10 minutes folding and shaping in the morning, and let prove for an hour. Then bake for a half hour.

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Ya'll have some good advice here. I'm going to try this later in the week and report back.

FancyKetchup14 said:

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160g of starter for 400g of flour and 230ml of water and 10g of salt

edited to fix water amount, mistyped*

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Okay, trying this now. My only substitution is that I only had about 320g of bread flour, so I also used 80g of whole wheat flour. I just got it all combined to do a 30-minute hydrate, then I'll knead it a bit. Here's the rest of the plan:

• I'll do a bulk fermentation until about 5pm this evening.
• I'll fold it 5 times (30 minutes apart) between 5pm and 7pm
• The last fold, I'll shape it for a final overnight rise in the fridge.
• Tomorrow morning I'll pull it from the fridge, let it come to room temp, and then bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

How does that plan sound?

Only thing I'd do differently is put the oven at 500.

FancyKetchup14 said:

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Only thing I'd do differently is put the oven at 500.

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Probably get a walnut brown at that temp

SACR said:

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FancyKetchup14 said:

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Only thing I'd do differently is put the oven at 500.

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Probably get a walnut brown at that temp

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Is that a good thing?

Ornlu said:

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SACR said:

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FancyKetchup14 said:

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Only thing I'd do differently is put the oven at 500.

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Probably get a walnut brown at that temp

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Is that a good thing?

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I think it depends on what you like. I bake bread in a dutch oven, and when I preheat the oven I preheat the dutch oven inside with the lid on.

I bake at 450-500 for 30 minutes. 20 minutes in I check for color, and if I want more browning I take the lid off.

Baking time and temp is all personal preference. I just find that those temps and that time work for me.

Ornlu said:

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SACR said:

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FancyKetchup14 said:

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Only thing I'd do differently is put the oven at 500.

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Probably get a walnut brown at that temp

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Is that a good thing?

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It's a matter of preference.

I'd have to find the article, but there was a bread chef in Vegas who believed darker crusts cooked at low temps over a longer period of time gave a more complex, nutty flavor to the crust. He even wrote a book on it.

I think you'd burn the hell out of the bread at 500 degrees for 45 minutes, so I think your time is much more realistic.

I've read multiple places to bake to 195F internal temperature. Is that correct?

Quote:

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I think you'd burn the hell out of the bread at 500 degrees for 45 minutes, so I think your time is much more realistic.

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Right, and I agree. I think 500 for 30 minutes is ideal. But again, that works for me.

I should've specified the decrease in time in my original reply to Ornlu.