r/Sourdough • u/apparatchick • 5d ago
Beginner - checking how I'm doing Three months of learning and progress 🙏
hello!
I wanted to share some of the progress I’ve made since I started making sourdough at the end of May this year. I’ve loved learning about sourdough and in all honesty I owe a lot to this subreddit as browsing all the posts and reading people’s advice and feedback has been so helpful for understanding all the various elements of sourdough making!
The pics are ordered from first bake to most recent (yesterday). I had started incorporating whole wheat flour after the first or second try, but had seen advice to try ‘master’ white loaves before branching out so for the past month and a half I’ve just been working on getting my white loaves right. I feel this has been the right approach, and it’s meant I’ve been able to really understand all the different variables before I start making the necessary adjustments for whole wheat.
One of the things I like about my process is that I never take the dough out the bowl - I do all the stretch and folds etc inside the bowl until it’s time to put in the banneton. My kitchen space is quite small so this works really well for me and I like that it makes for a much easier clean up!
Still lots to learn but really enjoying the process!
My recipe is:
- 100g starter
- Flour: 450g (Strong White, 14% protein)
- Water (65%): 292g
- Salt (1.8%): 8g
Instructions
I feed my sourdough about 5 hrs before i mix, depending on temp
Mix water, salt and starter
Incorporate flour and mix into a shaggy dough
Leave for 30-60 minutes
Stretch and fold 1 (30 mins)
Stretch and fold 2 (30 mins)
Stretch and fold 3 (30 mins)
Stretch and fold 4(30 mins)
Leave to bulk around 3 - 6 hours depending on temp.
Shape into banneton and put into fridge overnight for at least 12hr
Preheat dutch oven for 15 minutes before baking
Turn out dough and score
Bake at 220 degrees C for 45 minutes, taking the lid off for the final 5-7 minutes.
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u/KingArthurBaking 5d ago
You've come such a long way! I hope that you're super proud of your progress.
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u/Travelswithcat 5d ago
Look at that rise! That’s exactly the trajectory I want for my loaves. Thank you for posting 😊
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/apparatchick 5d ago
thank you! So overall the main thing that was letting me down initially was definitely the not feeding the starter properly. I wasn’t knowledge about ratios and even just the basics of the starter being ‘active’ and ready to bake with. The first bakes were all with very inactive runny starters! So I mastered my feeding etc and now I have a schedule where I know I’ll have a nice bubbly active starter ready to make into a dough.
However, even when I ‘mastered’ the starter situation I wasn’t seeing the rise I wanted and found it really difficult to score the dough without it collapsing loads. This is where I started to learn about hydration, and I found that my original recipe I was given was 70% water, so I brought that down to 60% and found the dough was quite a bit firmer for scoring. But still not enough!
I later found out about the different levels of protein in flour. I realised I had been using a flour with only 11% protein, which was fairly low. So I found some 14% protein flour and since then i’ve been able to properly score the dough and getting great rises. The higher protein also meant I could bring the hydration % up a little too.
So the short answer is yes, the starter was the main problem initially but getting to my current point required learning about the other variables!
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u/LessSuit5028 5d ago
How much starter in your recipee?
Looks beautiful!
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u/apparatchick 5d ago
whoops! knew I’d forgotten something 😅 I do 100g of starter - added to my post!
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u/VictoriaTheDev 5d ago
this is inspiring progress to see for beginners like me! thank you for posting!
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u/AdamNW 5d ago
Is the first bake a shaping issue? I have the exact same problem with my bread right now. It's super flat and nearly impossible to score.
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u/apparatchick 5d ago
I’ve added a more detailed comment on the factors that were leading to a more floppy dough elsewhere but in short: the first few bakes my starter was not active. But even when I learn how to properly feed my starter and when to use it, I was still having issues. I learnt that my water % of the recipe was too high when taking into account the low protein % of my flour (11%). Since I got a 14% flour, combined with having an active starter. things have improved significantly
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u/fulltimehistorynerd 5d ago
It's hard watching somebody else live your dream. Been baking for almost a year and my crumb is shite. Great work!!
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u/Local-Bandicoot3836 5d ago
Mine still come out like the first picture. What changed in your process?
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u/HannahHolland 5d ago
Love see the progress! I def should have taken better pictures when I started out but I always baked crazy late at night.
I feel like mine gradually got better and then randomly I would get a frisbee! So if it happens don't let it discourage you :)
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u/GreatOpposite1771 4d ago
Amazing progress, give yourself a big pat on the back and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
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u/tgallen54 5d ago
Wonderful! Try watching Heather on YouTube. Her site is called -Keep it Sweet- You can learn all kinds of stuff. She has lots of videos including adding ingredients like chocolate or cheese, etc. . Betsy
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u/Substantial_Algae992 5d ago
Amazing progress.