Here is my second attempt at sourdough. Still pretty happy with the results, in particular the crumb. The bread is also getting more "sour". I do have some questions though. The loaf on the bottom was proofed in an oval/oblong shaped banneton. The cut/score on this loaf "bloomed" (or whatever the right term is) well, whereas the other loaf didn't do much of anything with the scores/cuts (it was proofed in a round banneton). I suspect it had more to do with how deep the scores were, but I'm not entirely sure. I haven't had much luck with getting good "ears" when baking baguettes either. Any tips or insights on what controls good expansion/blooming/ear formation when scoring bread?
The other question has to do with storing sourdough starter in the fridge. Here is the procedure I've been following.
- The night before preparing the dough I take out the starter from the fridge
- The next morning, I discard all but around 100g of starter, I then feed it 100g of flour and 100g of water
- After a few hours, the starter has doubled in size, I then take take 200g or so of starter for my recipe
- I feed the starter another 100g of water and 100g of water and put it back in the fridge
Does this sound like the right procedure? I've seen somewhat conflicting information on how to handle a starter kept in the fridge. For example, https://www.ilovecooking.ie/features/sourdough-bread-masterclass-with-patrick-ryan/ says
- Take the starter out of the fridge the day before you plan to bake. This will allow the starter to come to room temperature. The night before you plan to bake, refresh/feed your starter as per the instructions above. Leave the sourdough starter at room temperature overnight. The next morning the starter should be active and full of bubbles and ready to bake with.
- Take what you need to make your dough. Feed the remaining starter and return it to the fridge.
Other sites say to do more or less what I'm doing, though most are a little unclear or ambiguous on this specific step. As far as I can tell, my starter is healthy and active when I use it. However, there is some "waste" in discarding some of the starter before I use it. I understand there are recipes for using the "discard", I'm curious if that is the only thing "discard" is good for.
This should be a good thread for several to weigh in on. In general your loaf looks good. The crumb is not uniform, however, and the denser portion in the lower half and holes in the upper half lead me to believe that it may have overproofed (and collapsed on the lower portion). That crumb could also be a result of some shaping (note the large hole on the left that was not eliminated prior to shaping).
One thing that will help all of us answer questions about your bread is to know as much of the details as possible regarding the steps (for example, the ingredients, how long they were mixed, was there an autolyse, what did you do during bulk fermentation, what was the dough like when you ended the bulk fermentation, did you pre-shape and bench rest, what did the dough feel like when shaping, how long did you proof the dough, during any portion of the process was the dough in the refrigerator, how did you ascertain that the proofing was complete, what temperature did you bake and for how long, use a baking stone or Dutch oven, what was the internal temperature of the loaf when you took it out of the oven).
Starters are remarkably flexible and resilient. As long as your starter is active and showing some vigor, it is good to go. From the looks of your crumb, your starter is fine, and what you are doing to store it is fine too. (I tend not to have too much excess starter, so I will leave it to others to comment on potential uses for extra starter.)
Thanks for posting. Happy baking.
some answers to your questions
i proofed the dough in the fridge overnight, took it out at around 6am, put it in the oven around 9:30am.
can't really describe what the dough was like after bulk fermentation (i presume before i baked it). i did make an indentation on it and observed the dough sprung back, but the indentation was still visible.
i did not pre-shape and bench rest, i skipped that step. after the last stretch and fold, i simply shaped it and put it in the proofing basket.
i did not do anything to ascertain the proofing was complete.
these loaves were baked in an oven that is not mine (church), the church oven is known to be somewhat inaccurate in its temperature. i set it to 550, i'm certain it was below that temperature, it might have baked at around 400c. it baked for around 40 minutes. i had a pan in there while preheating and put some water in the pan for steam once the loaves went in. no dutch oven.
i did not record the internal temperature when i took it out of the oven.
I have never understood the advice to take the starter out of the fridge some time before you first feed it. I feed roughly 1:2:2 (for a total of 50-75g) in a clean glass jar and I am certain that the thermal capacity of the jar and the water mean that waiting for the starter to warm up is both a waste of time and an opportunity for any food left in the starter to get eaten up.
Agreed!
Either wait for it to warm up and then feed or feed and allow it the time it needs to mature.
But if you feed straight away by the time you've added fresh flour, water and stirred then you've warmed up the starter. And you can use warm water too.
I never wait and never have any issues.
I bake several times a week. My own method is to put the left over starter into the fridge without feeding it. Then I pull it out the fridge about 4-5 hours before I plan to start my dough and I feed it immediately on taking it out of the fridge (and I use warm water). It takes about 4-5 hours in a warm spot (about 85F) to become very active.
If I forget and let the starter go way past peak, then I will feed it a little before putting back in the fridge - but when I'm on schedule and it has just barely reached it's peak, I simply take the unused amount and put back in the fridge unfed.
I never throw away starter - haha.
Now if, for some reason, I didn't bake for two or three weeks and the starter had been sitting, unfed, in the fridge all that time .... then I'd probably need to feed my starter 2-3 times over a day or two to get it perked up again.