Sourdough Thread

Since it seems like almost everyone is trying their hand at sourdough these days (including me), I though it would be nice to start a thread to share and learn about tips, tricks, recipes, methods, flavors, etc.

I’ve been following @fullproofbaking on Instagram and she’s very thorough and easy to follow, even though her methods are more advanced.

Today’s Bake:
Black Garlic Sourdough
70% King Arthur Special Patent Flour
30% FarmerGroundFlour Fresh Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread Flour
79% Hydration

Black Garlic is a slow fermented garlic that is jet black, sticky, and almost sweet-ish. It was rather tedious in this bread as I was inspired by @fullproofbaking She presses the garlic through a garlic press and meticulously separates every sticky strand, so of course, I had to try. I sprayed the press with oil to try to keep the garlic from sticking too much. The dough is then stretched out and the garlic is laminated in.

It was a lot of work, but worth it. The loaf was demolished within minutes by the boys. I had to jump in and save some for Marty to try. The garlic gives the loaf an earthy, umami-laden taste — almost like a savory Balsamic glaze.
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I bake a sourdough bread loaf, every two or three days. No need to buy bread.

I wish I could figure out how to post pix. I’ve been very into the Chad Robertson recipe from Tartine Bread. I’ve made about 10 boules in the past two weeks. Love seeing the progress.

Beautiful, nicely done! I am doing a bunch of sourdough but still working on technique. Of course I went to order a bunch of baking tools from Amazon and everything is a few weeks out, of course. Anyway, it has been fun. I supplied several friends with starters and there is now a sort of baking competition going on. I am losing.

Hey Kenny,

If I were to judge by your posted dinner pix, I highly doubt you’re losing ANY cooking contest. That said, for someone who is so addicted to Amazon Prime, I totally agree with you…waiting for a great bench scraper or banneton has been frustrating. One banneton did show up here in a timely manner and I have another on the way, but for those of us who want instant gratification, it’s definitely a challenge. I actually went to Home Depot and bought a large spackle knife to use as a bench scraper and a box cutter to use as a lame. Additionally, I’m using a colander as a second banneton.

I’ve also been giving away starter. For my cousins, I dried the starter in order to mail it. I crumbled it into little pieces and put them in ziplock. One even had to be sent to Canada. He just got it today, 10 days after mailing. I was afraid AFT agents were going to pay me a visit for sending several packages of mysterious white substance through the mail. [whistle.gif]

That’s quite inventive! I’ve been trying out recipes from Tartine Bread and from Flour, Salt, Water, Yeast by Ken Forkish. It took me several tries to build up the dough structure and tight shaping to get the dough to release from the Banneton without sticking and deflating because of course I was drawn to the higher hydration doughs.

I just ordered packs of single-sided and regular double-sided razors as I think I would prefer free-handing it to the Lame. We’ll see. Hopefully I won’t bleed on any loaves.

LOL Christine…we think alike. I just ordered a bunch of razor blades because I’ve been unhappy with the scoring from my box cutter and after watching food geek videos about scoring on You Tube, I think the razor blades will be an upgrade. Much like you…I’m hoping to avoid bleeding on the dough!!!

I’ve watched a bunch of shaping videos on you tube and they all make it seem so simple. I’m definitely improving, but I have a long way to go.

As an aside, your black garlic boule looked amazing!

One other thing…a light dusting of rice flour in the banneton has made all the difference for me. Previously I used bread flour or AP flour to prevent sticking and it didn’t work. But rice flour seems to work much, much better.

Yes, found out about the rice flour. It definitely helps, though better shaping has too. I used Rice flour for the Black Garlic loaf, and it came out of the Banneton nicely, but the garlic color had bled onto the linen cloth. I had to hand wash that yesterday. I’m glad I used it as it would have been worse if the garlic had seeped into the Banneton itself.

Been doing sourdough for a while now, biggest problem i have is not building enough tension in prior to the baneton on high hydration loaves. Anything above 85% and they just deflate when scoring. If i stick around 80% i’m usually okay.
My other problem is forgetting to turn the oven down after the initial time in the dutch oven.
Bread is still good, but the look is off. Oh and i finally found some rice flour to try on the higher hydration especially.
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Milton - Are you using any whole-grain flour? I find that over 85 with white flour can be pretty difficult but you need to get to that if you’re using whole grain flour or the dough is just too dry.

Those loaves look pretty good to me.

One other thing - there seems to be a real difference in razor blades. I ordered some from Amazon last year. Some kind of sample pack. They’re real crap!

The loaves above are 90% KA AP and 10% KA white whole wheat
I make another loaf that is 80/10/10 AP/WW/Rye that i push to over 85%
I love the flavor of that one. I am doing something a little different with the 90/10 loaves, taking the active starter and mixing it with all the water then adding that to the flour then a 30 minute rest, series of stretches add salt then stretch and cold bulk. It is allowing me to bake on a bit of a schedule that works with my work schedule.

Thanks, but don’t like the burnt ears. Just not pretty.

An economist perspective.

I found this for lame work. He’s got a lot of sourdough videos. I love how he handles the dough. He does a lot of videos comparing techniques too. He has one comparing two different bread flours against AP flour, and one where he pushes hydration to 120%! [wow.gif]

I’ve seen that video before. It inspired me to try some new cuts, none of which worked out.

What seems to be the key here is that his crust is fairly tight and dry. He’s dumped it out of a container and it’s floured, which helps it dry out. That works best. If you don’t have that kind of tension, even the razors don’t get those beautiful cuts. I don’t mind singed ears if the loaf opens well but to get that, you need a tight exterior.

Where is the wino whose handle is sourdough. Jay has been at it for a very long time. wineismylife, oskiwawa, and I have had the pleasure of enjoying some of his efforts. I think oskiwawa has caught the bread baking bug and is getting a lot of practice now that the Coronavirus has had him off the road for a while.

Today’s bake:
70% King Arthur Special Patent
30% One Degree Organic Sprouted Spelt
80% Hydration

Getting better! Wonderful crackly blisters. Only very lightly sour. I like this formula!
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Gorgeous, Christine!

Feel free to send me some starter any time you’re feeling long. Nothing in my life has been as humiliating as my starter attempts. I must have poison air hereabouts.

You should not have retired. I hear that lawyers have very fermented arguments.

Pizza bake from last night:

565 g central milling white bread flour
345 g H2O
90 g 100% hydration starter
8 g salt
2 T olive oil
Pinch sugar

Makes enough dough for two 16” pies. Top as you please. Baked on steel.
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