This is loaf 12 or so, and I think I finally made a loaf worth sharing! This is my best loaf by far and I achieved by increasing the starter from 100g to 150g and by adding a little extra flour to compensate for the hydration in the starter.
Here is my recipe:
150 g starter
350 g water
520 g KA Bread Flour
11 g salt
Mix starter and water (at 85F) together before adding flour. Added salt after 30 mins during first s&f.
Did 2 more s&fs every 30 minutes (I meant to do 4 total but forgot to set a timer the last one and decided to leave it alone.)
BF for 6 hrs, did pre shape and waited 20 mins before final shaping. (Shaping has been my downfall since the beginning of my sourdough journey, but pre-shaping has helped somewhat)
CF for 36ish hours.
Preheated oven with Dutch oven inside for 1hr at 500F
Lowered temp to 450F, baked with lid on for 20 mins and lid off for 18 mins.
Honestly every loaf I’ve made has been really good (fresh bread is always delicious even if it’s not “perfect”) but this one is admittedly next level.
Excited to try this with inclusions soon!
by somasmarti
6 Comments
Good job 👏
Looking great! Congratulations. You mentioned having to compensate for your starter hydration by adding flour. Does this mean your starter is higher than the typical 100% hydration?
Looks great! And you are right, sometimes people come here looking for feedback, and we are quick to point out ways for them to get better, but we sometimes overlook that it is still an accomplishment, and tastes better and is more nutritious than most any store-bought bread. This is definitively an endeavor that takes practice and patience, but when you accomplish your goals in a reproducible way, it sure is rewarding, and when you don’t, you still have a delicious learning experience. Congrats on your loaf!
That looks really nice! I just started my sourdough journey and my downfall has been bulk fermentation and maybe using too stiff of a starter? I’m on my 7th loaf in three days. My fourth is cold proofing and started three this morning. I’ve adjusted my starter last night (made it looser) and decided not to kneed for 10 minutes right after mixing the ingredients together, only doing the s&f or coil folds for these next three loafs. Fingers crossed.
I’m a beginner too. I can’t seem to get it to slice easily from end to end to make sandwiches. Any ideas
Indeed