Hi! I am a first time sourdough loaf maker. I went to a bread making class today and they provided us with a starter and taught us how to make the dough. Here’s the process from start to gummy loaf:
-King Arthur starter (28g) fed with equal weights of flour and warm water. Mixed until slightly thick
– in a separate bowl, mix 1/3 cup starter, 4 cups flour, and just under 2 cups water until shaggy dough forms.
– let sit 15 mins, then perform first stretch + fold.
**class was only an hour long so we stopped here. We were told to stretch and fold a second time once we got home. It took me about 40 minutes to get home, then I stretched and folded and placed my dough into a lightly floured glass bowl with a damp towel over it**
– let proof for about 2 hours in the oven on bread proof setting (95 degrees F)
– put dough into fridge for an hour while oven and cast iron dutch oven preheat to 500. Then, shaped, scored, and placed dough into preheated Dutch + baked in oven for 25 mins covered
– removed cover and continued baking at 450 for 10 mins
– immediately removed loaf and placed on wire rack to cool
**additional info: we were told that this loaf likely would not bake up well. Ideally you would not be traveling with your dough and starter during this process. My dough did not rise during the proofing period, so I knew this loaf was not going to bake up well.
We went home with a starter and were told to let it sit on the counter for about an hour before placing it in the fridge. We went home with instructions on how to feed it (1:1:2 starter:water:flour once every 1-2 weeks) and the load recipe, as well as a couple of other recipes from King Arthur. My starter has not budged at all :/ I’m not sure if it should’ve, but I don’t even see any bubbles so I’m concerned it has already died.**
Would greatly appreciate any pointers you all could provide. I’ve been wanting to make sourdough for years and would love to make beautiful loaves!
by Aggravating_Can3788
25 Comments
Wow they stitch you guys up big time. You should search on the thread on how to feed your starter cos what you’ve been told isn’t right for a starter you want to use daily.
That loaf is definitely underbaked
How long did you wait between the time you fed your starter to the time you added it to your flour and water mixture?
Maybe I’m missing something but that timing seems crazy low for that mix. You would need many hours of combined bulk ferment/proof time for that mix. I suspect your dough would hardly have started to rise. Travelling with the dough wouldn’t affect this materially.
I do a two stage starter->levain->bread dough approach, where the fermented levain is around 25-30%of the final bread dough weight, at dough consistency – not batter (your starter is likely less than 10% of the final weight and I assume 100% hydration batter. I bulk ferment about 3 hours and, if not retarding, my proof is typically 5-6 hours at room temperature.
So you have far fewer bugs and yet far shorter times than me. If I followed your recipe I reckon I would get pretty much the same result. Did the person seem knowledgable? Did you maybe misunderstand the instructions?
What the hell 😭 they set you up for failure! Proof time way too short, you should ideally be measuring ingredients with a food scale, they TOLD YOU it wouldn’t bake well?? Wild. Yeah search this sub and look at the posts where the bread looks good, everyone has to post their process which has helped me a lot in the past!
Did you pay money for that class? Did they use volume measurements? No scale?
Oh wow. Well if this starter works out eventually, it’s worth the price of class but the instructions should be discarded
LOL. That place fleeced you.
There’s so much wrong with the information and recipe they gave you that it’s only worth salvaging the starter 😅
Please, disregard most of what you learned, spend some time on r/sourdough, and check out some YouTube videos for technique. You got this!
This is what I’ve been doing, not sure if it’s right or wrong but it’s been working. I’m kinda surprised at the 1/3 cup starter, 4cups flour and under 2 cups water though. I’ve been skipping the oil, figured I only used a tiny bit anyway and there seems to be no difference. I hope you’re able to get it going for next time!!
https://preview.redd.it/krdodztj3oug1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=333ffb221d54142c0f5bd2ecbab652e2d2a9f620
The proof temp is too high and too short on time. You can’t rush these things! Ideally it should be refrigerated for at least 12 hours before baking. Use a scale to measure and you’ll get there 😉
No salt? Did you have printed instructions? And that needed to proof longer.
Take 3 g of your starter, mix with 10g of filtered water, 15g flour and repeat this process for a week. Nurse that starter to bring it back.
You’re getting wrong info about your starter
Check out the Sourdough Journey website. Lots of videos that fully explain the process. Should take several hours to bulk ferment and then be left overnight in the fridge.
Oh wow….I’m sad this was your first experience with sourdough. The instructor did you dirty, especially with the bulk fermentation process. There is a lot of wonderful info in these replies, so ignore what you learned in class and pretend it never happened. Good luck with your next loaves cuz they can only get better!!
that class is a scam or run by someone who doesn’t know how to make a loaf either! sorry about that. i’m sure you’ll get insights here from redditors but if you have any questions feel free to ask
Throw some butter on that and call it a day!
I hope that class didn’t cost much… 😬
The standard oven proofing temperature of 95f is way too hot for sourdough. 95f isn’t instantly lethal to wild yeast, but it’s very close to the lethal temp of 100f. Ideal proofing temp for sourdough is 77-80f.
That class seems like a scam
A bread making class was only an hour long and they just stopped at the bulk fermentation? Id say you were set up to fail. Proving for a couple hours is probably fine at room temperature but not in the refrigerator. Cold will slow down the proving process. As others have said, read a few example threads in this sub and use that as a rough guideline. Or a cookbook too. It sounds like you have the basics, so feed the starter for a few days and then give it another go. Report back here with pics when you need help this is a great subreddit!!!
As with any new skill, it’ll take some practice and few bad, wonky or gummy loaves. Don’t get discouraged and odds are even if it looks a little weird, it’s probably still edible and can taste great.
Your starter wasn’t active, normally people will use peak active starter, I think you can do it how you mentioned, but you’ll need a lot of time. Go by how it looks and feels, but you’d probably need more like an 8 hour proof rather than just 2.
So.
I’m not sure about the flour weights / measurements….
But overall you were missing time.
You could in theory take cold unfed starter and make bread – it will just take longer. (And no not a typical thing)
The times he gave you would potentially have worked if you had used commercial yeast.
With sourdough you’ve got these basic steps:
1) Starter – feed it, let it double
2) Mix up dough – let rest a bit
3) stretch and folds – seems like people do 3 or 4 sets maybe 30 minutes or an hour apart?
4) let dough double between and in general (this is in around 80f temp
5) Cold proof in fridge overnight…
6) final shaping and bake.
Dough can take 8-12hrs for steps 2-4
Cold proof also – 8-12hrs
I think some of these can be sped up or skipped – but with sourdough it takes time to ferment. Also I was told the longer the ferment the better the flavor of the bread becomes.
I do gf sourdough which has its own “rules” and doesn’t really always double or do what it should – but this teacher did you a great disservice by having you bake this bread so quickly…..it had 0 times to develop yeast / air
Girl, lol. This ain’t right.
Go to king Arthur.com. They great info on how to feed and maintain your starter.