Hi,
So I baked some sourdough this weekend with my starter. The dough was very slack and did not really hold its shape during bulk fermantation and got kind of out of control. I did a shorter rise on the kichen counter. The bread turned out pretty good, although it just didn't taste very sour. A work in progress. I did make pancakes with my discard and they were wonderful!
What recipe did you follow? Taste can be toggled so keep working at it!
Enjoy your first loaf.
Hi, I used Mother Earth news rustic sourdough, which might have been from King Arthur. the loaf is in a banner on, and I used a lodge cast iron Dutch oven with lid to bake. I'm wondering if rising longer in fridge would help?
I used to think that all the rising was done pre baking. Now I've learned that most of rising happens in the oven - Oven Spring. You can do one of two things. Either final proof at room temperature to just under doubled. There are various ways of "testing" the dough to know when it's done but it is one, if not "the", most difficult part of baking bread. Or after shaping you could put it in the fridge overnight, or 8-10 hours, and it's a bit of a fail safe method. It also improves on flavour.
At least you know your starter works well. Bet it still tastes really good though
massive over proofing! We need to save that photo so when others ask if their bread is over proofed we can say - does it look like this! Punching that baby down and letting it reproof would cause a slightly tight loaf as opposed to one falling down drunk. It should ahve tasted great and a little sour though - I mean it is sourdough....
Lots of people, me included, like to do our final rise overnight in the fridge. Two advantages, doesn't over rise and holds its shape better if you take it right out of the fridge and into the oven.