My starter is bleached, AP flour with (drinkable) tap water that is 3 weeks old. I fed her, let her peak. I eyeballed everything from here because all the different rules were getting to my head and I decided to just have fun with it. I have a lot of previous baking experience but not so much with bread.
Dumped a bunch of starter. Added about the same amount of water. Threw in flour until it was a nice sticky/shaggy consistency.
Did 3 stretch n folds half an hour apart and let proof covered in my oven with the light on because my apartment is freezing for about 5 hours.
Rolled into a ball, threw it in a tea towel lined noodle strainer witb the towel lightly floured.
Realized after 2 hours I forgot the salt, took back out and gently kneaded in some salt and threw in back in the fridge Covered wituba grocery bag for an additional 5 hours.
I used a stainless steel soup pot with lid, preheated in oven at 450. Plopped the dough on some parchment paper and placed in the preheated pot with a couple ice cubes and baked for 25 min lid on, 13 minutes lid off.
I had so much fun with it delicious soft center and chewy crunchy crust. Went great with dinner!
Feel free to critique my first loaf
by kteeart
8 Comments
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Truthfully, I think all that matters is that it tastes good to you.
Im so obsessed with trying to get my starter looking like all the professional baker examples I’ve seen that I’ve never made a loaf. You’ve inspired me to finally go for it lol
I’ve used tap water for months. Doesn’t matter
I think the “wituba grocery bag” is the key thing that made this work. If you hadn’t used that to neutralise the chemicals in the tap water it would have been a disaster.
Your technique needs to be properly documented so others can refine the exact timing, temperature, chemical interactions and genetic strain of your starter yeast.
I mean, sourdough is supposed to be ultra complex and precise, which is why nobody was making it in ancient Egypt or mediaeval Europe.
People were making bread with sourdough for centuries or millennia. Filtered water, precise scales and exact feed schedules might make things more consistent and add something to the crumb, but not necessary to get a good loaf of bread.
Soup pot with lid!! Why is this the first I’m hearing of baking in a soup pot, why do I have a special “bread oven” that’s just for bread? Amazing.
The best thing about sourdough is that there are really no rules