I decided to create a sourdough bread after many years of putting off the endeavor.
I followed the instructions from Andrew Whitley's book (DO/Sourdough), making a rye starter. I believe that I followed everything to the letter, and the starter looks fine. I then tried to make a sourdough bread with a recipe in the book. To cut a long story short it turned out as a brick and wasn't even baked well.
I'm now making a second attempt with the same starter. According to the book I have to make a "production sourdough" and then a "soaker" before I mix the two for the final dough. My production sourdough (which is part of the rye starter plus whole wheat flour, some bread flour and water) after two hours looks like in the photos. The top part appears to be somewhat dry and the bottom has some holes. According to the book I have to wait at least four hours for this process. In my first attempt at this stage it was pretty wet. I don't understand why now it's as I described above.
The final dough in my first attempt was very wet. I calculated afterwards that it was at 78% hydration.
So, I would like your advice on the production dough. How long should I wait for it to be ready (other than four hours?), and what might it look like or feel like at the end? Now it's wet and dense and reminds me of mud. Is it because of the rye flour?
EDIT: The recipe is using a wheat sourdough starter (for which four hours are needed for the production starter to be made).
With rye flour in the dough, it's different than with wheat.
Rye flour contains pentosans, which are responsible for the stickiness. Also it has very poor gluten quality, so naturally rye breads are quite dense.
From the picture it looks done soon, but can you please give us the recipe and process so we can understand the situation better?
The rye starter was made over four days using wholemeal rye flour and water at a ratio of 1:2 for the first three days and 1:1 on the fourth day.
Roughly, the recipe consists of the following main steps.
The production sourdough consists of the starter (150g/5oz), 100g/3.5oz wholewheat flour and the same with white flour and 120 ml/4oz water. Please note that the recipe actually mentions wheat starter.
Then there is a soaker again using the two types of flour, plus salt this time. The soaker is left to stand for about half an hour. Then it's mixed with the production sourdough, shaped and left to prove for five hours before baking.
or cover the surface with plastic wrap and give it at least another hour to ferment. When it has peaked in activity there will be bubbles trying to rise and poke holes in the surface and the starter will bloat and get softer as it ferments. It should also give off some great aromas.
How warm is it? Look for a spot at least 26°C.
I use a plastic wrap for the starter. The room temperature is at nearly 30 degrees C.
I now notice about 4-5 tiny holes on the surface (four and a half hours after making the production sourdough). The bottom of the bowl also seems to have more holes than before. The smell coming from the starter is rather pleasant.
I'll give it more time to ferment as suggested and I will come back with my findings.
This is what the production sourdough starter looks like five and a half hours after I began. No bubbles developed on the surface but the picture looks better from the sides and the bottom of the bowl. I'm going to use it at this stage as I should perhaps avoid overdoing it. The actual color is darker than what is shown on the photo.
I already started making the soaker and I'll knead it in a little while before mixing it with the production sourdough starter.
The production starter was good enough to prove the dough and I baked a small loaf in a tin.
Lessons learnt:
Be patient (OK being patient is actually mentioned in the book, but I didn't pay enough attention to it).
Do not follow the instructions to the letter, but use your judgment. At the second attempt I reduced the water for the soaker quite a bit. That I believe helped in not having a too wet to handle dough. The production starter was quite wet anyway and the final dough was pretty wet.
I shall need to get the oven temperature right. The temperature according to the recipe in the book is probably too high.
I did fail on two points. I didn't score the final dough and the loaf split at the side. However, to me it's a sign of success because it showed that the final dough had indeed risen after proving. Next time I'll get this point right.
The other problem is that the crumb is a bit dense.
proofed longer before baking. Loaf splitting on the side can often be a sign of underproofing. Scoring directs expansion during the oven spring. Good you are paying attention to the dough and not the clock. 30°C! Warm! What's the recipe oven temp? Gas or electric oven?
I pressed the dough with a finger and it seemed to not bounce back. I feared that I may have overproofed it. According to the book I should have expected to proof it for another half to one and half hours. So, I made a mistake here, because I'm not experienced enough in knowing by sight (or feel) when dough is proofed right.
The recipe oven temperature is 230°C for 10 minutes and then to be reduced by 20 to 30 degrees for the rest of the baking time (suggested 40 to 50 minutes for a 1Kg loaf. Mine was 750g). Again, I feared that I may burn the loaf and I reduced it to 180°C. Too low it appears. The oven is electric.
sound right although I have to admit I've often stuck in the loaf at 220°C. Opening the door lets out a lot of eat. If the oven recovers quickly the turn it down sooner to 200°- 210°C.
Dough feel will vary depending on the shaping. I too want a little spring when I touch the loaf. I often wet both hands and feel the whole loaf if I can. Not pressing deeply just sort of pushing the loaf from one hand to the other to feel the reaction time. If there isnt any action felt, whoops, reshape and try again but keep a sharp eye on the loaf as it will rise faster than the previous proof.c
Thank you for the advice. It's very useful.
Having sliced the loaf I discovered another mistake. The production starter was not fully incorporated in the soaker. The loaf looked a bit like a marble cake! I had noticed that the soaker was very elastic and would not stretch easily. By contrast the starter was very soft, almost like mud. This difference in texture caused the two parts not to be fully integrated. Perhaps this process isn't the right one, at least for me.
I wonder if I should have skipped the soaker part and mixed the production starter with the rest of the flour. That I'm sure would have avoided the problem that I describe above.