Hi folks! I’m a novice baker who somehow convinced herself a few months ago that making sourdough can’t be thaaaat hard (famous last words). After nursing my very stubborn starter for a couple of months, I was ecstatic when it finally passed the float test last night. I hadn’t fed it for at least 12 hours, it was totally flat and kind of runny, but it had so many bubbles! And it floated! So my dumb ass thought, “Why the hell not? Let’s go for it!”
I used this recipe by the Clever Carrot (https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/). I threw together the dough, gave it a few hours in the oven with only the light on, then put it back on the counter over night. When it barely rose at all by morning, I thought it was too cold—back in the oven (light only) for a few more hours. Still little to no rise. By that point, I’d done some Googling and I was pretty certain that my starter was prepubescent, not even a smidgen matured. Too late by then! I figured I’d just go through with it and at the very least produce edible bread.
The result was as pictured: basically a giant hockey puck, with a dense exoskeleton and a slightly gummy center (lmao). I couldn’t stop laughing! It doesn’t taste terrible, but as I told my partner, it’s kind of like a La Croix version of sourdough: like sourdough was in the room with this loaf when it was made, but it’s definitely not here now lol! But hey, it’s only up from here, right?
by bunthedestroyer
17 Comments
There’s no bad bread, some are just better than others. Enjoy them all
Truthfully, this isn’t too bad. I bet it still tastes pretty good too 🙂 it’s all up from here!
Lmao La Croix of Sourdough. Like someone just shouted “SOURDOUGH” at it while it baked.
If your starter has been going for months, it’s probably not prepubescent. You just didn’t feed it before you used it. So you essentially used discard in place of active starter at its peak. There are recipes for discard loaves out there, if you want. You just can’t sub it in in a regular loaf recipe. If that makes sense.
It only gets better from here, keep trying!
I have used that recipe many times! I definitely recommend doing the optional stretch and folds to strengthen the gluten. Also the float test isn’t always accurate so mark and watch your starter. I was able to cook with my starter after like 2-3 weeks of starting it. Usually when it’s runny, it needs to be fed again. You’ll learn from every loaf you make!
Yours is bubblier than my first loaf was! I don’t think I was even able to fully cut into it, it was like cement. Keep it up, I used Clever Carrot’s recipe too and eventually my starter made beautiful loaves!
looks waaaay better than my first loaf!! 🙏🏽
Honestly way better than my first foray
Mine looks like that lol. Im good with it tho
Looks better than my first
I’m curious, why are so many people pulling the bread out before it’s baked and nicely brown? All of us have seen what bread is supposed to look like no?
I bet it tasted nice! That’s the main thing. And I expect you learnt a few things to try next time.
https://preview.redd.it/hfscqz03r1ke1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa149d601cb59bb2059f85485e1c2e7119018f02
Better than mine
I’m sure it tasted great anyways. That’s what matters
I’m about to start my sourdough journey and I’m sure mine will be worst.
I’d also love to smash a piece of that bread
If you just start out, try to use a tiny amount of dried yeast. In my native language, Germany, we say “Schisserhefe” . It is yeast when you are scared that your sourdough is not that ready yet. When I started to bake with sourdough, I always used <0.5g yeast. Your dough will likely behave the same as with very active sourdough. But the bread will turn out much better and you can learn a lot.
I finally got one of those clear cylinder food containers like a restaurant would have. That was clutch in knowing exactly when the bulk ferment had actually doubled in size. I was underproofing before that.