When I stopped looking for the perfect sweet spot, and mostly waiting for my dough to be well fermented, my bread started becoming consistently great.
Overfermented bread tastes infinitely better than underfermented loaves. From what I’ve seen, a lot of sourdough influenced regularly show off underfermented pale loaves, don’t follow suit!
Visit bakeries whenever you get the chance and find your favorites. When I started visiting bakeries regularly I was able to find exceptional bread and learn my favorite qualities in sourdough. Not all bakeries make great bread. My favorites so far have been Fairbanks Bread, Hi Gluten, and Starter Bread in Portland, OR, Bench Bakehouse in Vancouver, BC, and Table X Bread in SLC. I’m always eager to try more.
Experiment with grains and find your favorite formulas. There are so many possibilities in just wheat alone, and so much flavor potential,
Learn bakers percentages asap. Once you have a good feel for bakers percentages and how different ingredients affect your dough, you’ll lose the need to rely on recipes and can start making your own.
Read bread books. They are mostly written by some of the best bakers in the world, and offer a ton of insight into making great bread at home. Books I love: Tartine Bread 1 and 3, and the Bread Book all by Chad Robertson. Richard Hart Bread by the man himself. Pan y Dulce by Bryan Ford. Existential Bread by Jim Franks.
Talk with other bakers! We’re all nerds and love to talk Sourdough.
by Zentij
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What’s your oven set up??
Forgot to add a recipe, so I’ll add one for my black sesame loaf:
350g high extraction bread flour
300g high gluten bread flour
250g semolina flour
100g spelt flour
30g wheat germ
100g toasted black sesame seeds
25g salt
800g water (save 50g for bassinage)
200g levain
I start by mixing the flours and wheat germ with 750g water for a 2-4 hour autolyse. During autolyse, I toast the sesame seeds and immediately soak them in 50g water. This lets the sesame seeds moisturize from the bassinage water rather than taking from spots in the dough.
After autolyse, mix the bassinage water and sesame seeds with your levain. Spread salt on the dough and add levain. Dimple everything in and squeeze and fold the dough gently until everything is combined. Be sure not to be too rough so you don’t tear any gluten networks made by the autolyse. I also like to do a little bit of rubaud mixing to make a nice rounded dough.
Let rest for 30 minutes.
3 sets of stretch and folds with 30 minute breaks in between. After another 30 minutes rest, do 1-2 sets of coil folds 30 minutes apart.
Bulk ferment until signs of good fermentation. I look for slightly puffy, jiggly, non-sticky dough. For me in my kitchen it takes 7 hours from when I mix in my levain. It may and will likely be different for you.
Pre shape, rest for 15-20 minutes. Shape, place in banneton and let rest another 30 minutes if the dough doesn’t feel too fermented.
Cold proof for 12 hours or more
Preheat combo cooker for 45 minutes at 500f on the lower third rack
Bake at 450f for 20 minutes with the lid on, and 25 minutes with the lid off. I add a cookie sheet on the bottom rack with 18 minutes left with the lid off to prevent scorching the bottom.
Second this whole post. Whats your ig?
Thanks for this post!