Made my first loaf yesterday and today. Came out really really good and im very happy but it was so labour intensive I wonder if there is anything I can save some time on? Also if anyone sees anything to improve (crumb or score or anything) tips and feedback are welcome and appreciated!
So heres my recipe:
Levain:
35g rye starter (cold from fridge)
70g brown flour (german ruchmehl)
70g warm water
Mixed that to a levain and let that go for probably about 6 hours.
Autolyze:
410g brown flour
590g half-white flour
780g water
Made Autolyze about 1hr before Levain was ready, let them rest together.
Once they were ready, I combined Levain with Autolyze and 20g of Salt, mixed together and did slap and folds until it came together.
Put it back in the bowl let rest for 15 minutes and did more slap and fold, repeated that process twice then repeated another 3 times with 30 minutes intervals in between.
After the 6 total slap and folds I let the bulk ferment continue for about another 1,5hours then halved dough, pre shaped and let rest for 30. Then I did the proper shape, put them in bowls and cold proofed overnight for about 12h.
Next morning preheated the oven to 230°C, preheated dutch oven for an hour, took dough out of fridge, scored it, added 2 ice cubes to dutch oven and baked for 25 min covered and 25-30min uncovered.
Let rest for 2 hours (until room temp) before devouring.
Texture was very nice, could have been a tad bit more sour flavour-wise (in my opinion) but was already sour and had nice flavour from the brown flour.
by zh_Lad
34 Comments
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Firstly, sourdough is a labor of love.
If you want to make it less labor intensive, lower the hydration and skip all the work.
I’ve been experimenting with low hydration which will have inherent dough strength, eliminating all the stretches and folds. Basically I want to mix before I go to bed and shape when I wake up.
Start Autolyse when I’m making dinner. Mix a 62% hydration dough together before I go to bed. Let it bulk ferment while I’m sleeping. In the morning wake up, shape, toss in fridge for cold ferment.
I’m not quite there yet but I think I’m onto something
That’s a good loaf. Keep going. As you get more experienced, you’ll only do as much gluten development as needed and no more.
Nice looking loaves! I started straight out of the sourdough gate with Elaine Boddy’s technique….no autolyse/fermentolyse, and I bake from a cold start. The only difference is I always do an overnight cold proof because we like a more complex flavor profile. (She usually does 2-3ish hours.) Sourdough is always going to be time intensive, but it doesn’t have to be labor intensive. Happy baking!
As mentioned before, sourdough/bread is labour intensive. But that’s why you can take all the credit for yourself, be proud of yourself and why we all take part in this … how may members are in this group 😉 ?
Ways to lessen labor based on your current procedure:
1) 4 sets of stretch & folds every 30minutes. No need to do some, wait 15, then do more then wait 30min.
2) When you split the dough in half, no need to “pre-shape” and rest 30min before shaping. Just shape the dough and let it rest in the bannetons.
Can you make the levain in the evening then combine the levain with the dough fist thing in the morning?
There’s a reason sourdough is grouped in with the “slow food” group. 😉 It is absolutely a labor of love. You can use a higher percentage of starter to help things happen somewhat faster (faster being a relative term here).
Time is one on the main ingredients.
If you look at active time, probably pretty low. I bake two loaves each week and I figure it’s probably 30 or 40 minutes of actual active work
First of all, this crumb from those ingredients as a first timer is an amazing result.
Not sure about the ratio of half-white flour but brown (whole wheat) needs more work for sure. The bran makes it harder for the gluten network to form so you need to build more dough strength by hand.
[There are a couple techniques](https://www.the-sourdough-framework.com/Troubleshooting.html#iwant-more-tang-in-my-bread) to achieve a more sour result.
I find that the first time I try a new recipe, it always seems to take longer than it feels like it should. If you stay with more or less the same recipe, you’ll become more familiar and comfortable with it. Shortcuts will almost suggest themselves . . .
ETA: Let’s say “efficiencies” instead of shortcuts. Ain’t none in sourdough.
It gets easier once you have done it a few times and figure out how you want to fit it around your schedule.
There are recipes with less touch points (and some that are more intensive too).
Easiest is mix levain in the morning (or use unrefreshed starter from fridge). At 6pm Mix all ingredients together at once, using 10% or less starter. 2 hours of stretch and folds every 20-30 minutes. Bulk ferment overnight. Shape in the morning and put in fridge until you want to bake it.
Even easier is Ben Starr’s recipe for lazy people, but I don’t care for the salt level and how the bread turns out personally.
I mainly use the Grant Bakes Good Sourdough recipe (mix it all together at once) and manipulate the starter amount, flour and inclusions for the loaf I want to make. It works out well for me.
Loafs come out like this for white or multi grain-seed loaves. Basic, not show pieces but I am just making them for me and my kids’ households.
https://preview.redd.it/47xq07oi7ruf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4690858fa5e86a4fb276d79f14e3f7850db8d0ad
Your recipe is a version of the Tartine recipe that was made justly famous when Chad Robertson published it in 2010.
There are other less labor intensive loaves. Are they as good, though? Arguably not.
Use a machine to mix/knead like all the pros
For a less labor-intensive artisan-style bread, have a look at [the New York Times’ famous No-Knead Bread recipe.](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread?unlocked_article_code=1.s08.7Y6y.fD3QAEcDFTUv&smid=share-url) They use a tiny amount of yeast as a leaven for the 12- to 18-hour bulk fermentation, but you can of course substitute 10% or so sourdough starter. It’s a fun, simple process, and it really is *a lot* less effort. In my experience you wont get an enormous rise if that’s important.
BTW, that’s an awesome first loaf!
sourdough will always be very time consuming, it really is a 2 day commitment. I don’t do the autolyze method, but have never tried it so not sure how much it changes the dough. you could try feeding your starter on a larger ratio the night before you wanna make your dough. currently you’re doing 1:2:2, you could try 1:5:5 for the levain, which would take longer to double (allowing you to sleep overnight and wake up to an already doubled active starter in the morning) less work in the morning. After mixing my dough I like to do slap and folds and kneeding for about 10-15 minutes, then rest an hour. Then I start stretch and folds/coil folds q30m x4. a little less time consuming than the 6 you have for your recipe. Depending on the temperature of my house that gives me around 3-4 more hours of free time to do anything I need to do. If I’m making a plain loaf I preshape like you did, if it has fillings, I skip preshaping and just go for the regular shaping.
You can make it in a stand mixer! (People in this sub don’t like that though) if you do some searching you’ll find success.
The efficient way is to find a local baker. Beyond that, sourdough is not an “efficient” bread 😅
Wow. I bet it tasted awesome
For a more sour flavor, you can extend the cold proof time. I find 48 hours works nicely; I’ve tried longer but the *oven spring* becomes disappointing.
Yeast bread is less intensive. There are no shortcuts with sourdough.
Lovely loaf but lots of work! I just want to eat my sourdough bread! So what I’m doing is using my bread machine. First way is a simple sandwich loaf wherein the bread is made entirely by machine. The second way is to use the machine to make the dough. But then, I cold proof for 32 hours in fridge after making a boule and then baking in oven. I’ve had pretty good results with minimal labor either way.
stand mixer is the way to go
I feel you! It’s so time consuming! Just made my first loaf today and ready to crash out.
I make two loaves at once. Cut both loaves in half, freeze 3/4 and eat 1/2 fresh. Then pull out a half a loaf at a time.
Foodbod sourdough master recipe saved me! I have been baking the way she does in her recipe and it’s so easyyy!! [the recipe](https://foodbodsourdough.com/the-process/)
She also has a youtube channel, and an elaborate video explaining her master recipe.
Yall I’ve also found that you CAN bake with a starter thats is hungry, honestly my fermentation tome was shorter when I used hungry started and I was astonished! Felt like I’ve been lied to my whole life 🤣🤣 if that shaves some time and effort off for you try that
That is a BEAUTIFUL first loaf. I’ve been at it for over a year, and still have been able to achieve an ear like that!
This is the single most useful bit of advice I ever got:
Keep everything else about your recipe and process the same, and make only 1 change at a time.
That way you know exactly what effect that change had on your product.
Not only does it avoid failures that you don’t know how or why they happened but it helps you to learn and develop a good instinct for how changes will effect your product.
It’s hard to resist the urge to try new recipes and ideas and changes as soon as you hear about them but it has a big payoff in terms of knowledge and instincts.
Your loaves look lovely, and you should be very proud of the results!
Well yeah you can just mix the dough and that’s it. You can just skip the Levain
The whole experience is the journey. I wouldn’t want it to be any faster. For me, the ritual has therapeutic value 😀
When someone’s first loaf is better than your 76th attempt
I sometimes replace half the starter with half a packet of active dry yeast. Bloom it in your warm water for 10 mins before you add your starter, then continue with your recipe. I tape up the packet and freeze it for later. The only thing you have to change after that is your times, since it rises a lot faster, obviously. For example – mix, rest 30 minutes, stretch and fold, rest 30, stretch and fold, rest on counter for an hour or 2 until 50% rise, shape and place in fridge to finish rise, bake as usual. Whole process takes about 5ish hours i would say. It doesnt have a super strong sour flavor because of the commercial yeast and less fermentation time, but it’s delicious just the same.