Followed the Farmhouse on Boone “Beginners Sourdough Bread” recipe.
I’ve been keeping my starter in the fridge for the past two weeks, but took it out on Friday and fed every 12 hours with King Arthur bread flour.
Saturday I fed my starter about 4 hours before making the dough (475g bread flour, 100g starter, 325g water, 10g salt). Mixed with my hands and let sit for 30 minutes before starting 4 rounds of stretch and folds, spaced 30 minutes apart. We keep the house super cold (probably about 67F) so I had a space heater running in the kitchen during the bulk ferment (about 6 hours). Left it in the counter without the space heater while we went out to dinner and it definitely doubled in size by the time we got home (about another 2 hours).
Shaped, and transferred into a bowl with a floured tea towel, then fridge for 12 hours.
Scored this morning, super excited to try for a prettier design next time. Baked in a preheated Dutch oven for 20 minutes covered at 500F and then another 20 uncovered at 475F.
Definitely a million times better than my first attempt (ended up making a large batch of croutons from it). Having the right tools was also a huge help. I also definitely over-floured the tea towel during the cold proof!
Does anyone else have advice for working in a super cold kitchen? The cold definitely makes proving much trickier. Does my crumb look ok?
by letscirclebacktothat
29 Comments
Doesnt look like you need any feedback lol. This ks legit
Looks like you’re doing it right.
Keep doing what you did. Crumb looks excellent.
Keep doing exactly what you’re doing. It looks perfect.
This looks great! I’d say maybe warm up the oven with the light on and turn it off so you can speed it up a bit without a space heater. Might also help if you start with warmer water instead of tap temp water.
If you want to warm things up a bit you can get a seed heat mat. Get one with a thermostat and speed up your process a bit.
Agree with another commenter, I start with pretty warm water and I also do all my dough resting in the oven with the light on. Within a few hours, my oven is noticeably warmer / more humid.
Beautiful loaf!
Beautiful! How does it taste?
What you’re doing seems to work fine, my kitchen is also cold so what i do is ill microwave a glass of water for 30-60 seconds and just put my my bowl in there to proof, the microwave keeps the moisture and heat from the glass of water. Just dont forget its in there and start the microwave with your dough in it
My advice, for what it’s worth… Start selling!!!
She’s perfect!
Celebrate! Beautiful loaf. Lovely photo comp too. 🖤
I think you nailed it, it looks absolutely perfect and I bet it was delicious! Well done!
I’ve paid unreasonable amounts for far worse bread. This is excellent.
You can proof it (2nd rise stage) in your oven with a shallow sauté pan of boiling water. This works well especially if you are using a banneton.
Invest in a Brod & Taylor proofing box. It’s a real game changer.. wish I’d bought it when I started this sourdough adventure in 2014…last 3 years have been amazing
Mix with hot water.
Edit to add:
If you make sure that the water isn’t so hot it hurts, then once mixed with cold flour and cold starter it should level out to a nice temp.
This loaf looks beautiful!
I live in a pretty cold climate. I sometimes put my starter in the oven with the light on and boil some hot water and put it next to the starter
i turn my oven on for literally like 30 secs to 1 min and then turn it off and keep the light on, then ferment my dough in there. helps a bit, shortens my fermentation time.
i also use 90F degree water when autolysing. my dough ends up fermenting at about 72-75F
Looks very good. You can increase a very little the water content and push further the fermentation – that should help with gaminess . But it’s a very good loaf as it is. Also it should be less gummy tomorrow.
Looks perfect
BeeeYoooTifuLL!!
The only advice you need, is make me one!!!
This looks perfect
I use this same recipe, and my bread never looks like that. I think it looks great!
When my kitchen is excessively cold, I place the starter or the dough on a heating pad and it works well.
I put my dough in the oven with the oven light on. Just the heat from the bulb is enough to raise the temperature to around 30 ^C, which is actually a little too hot.