In February, I decided to get serious about making sourdough bread. I really had no idea what I was undertaking when I made that decision on a whim (as many of my “best” decisions are made). I’ve had sourdough starter since I was in college (let’s not do the math on how many years that is…) but have always kept it in the refrigerator and used it for pancakes and coffee cakes, but not for bread. What I’ve come to realize is that I treated my starter like discard rather than actual active starter. Active starter is a commitment, people!
During COVID, I bought the Tartine cookbook but didn’t do much more than dabble. I realize now I didn’t manage my starter correctly, so failure (or a lack of success?) was inevitable. But I did learn through that process that I needed to commit to starter and bread making to make the effort worthwhile. In February, I bought The Perfect Loaf. It’s a really detailed book that answers a lot of questions on the process and pitfalls of sourdough bread. Maurizio has a great website and provides a lot of info for free, but I love having a reference book – it’s how my brain works.
I’ve been trying to make good sourdough bread since late February or early March. And I haven’t managed it yet. I’ve made decent, passable bread. JG and the friends and family I’ve given bread to tell me it’s wonderful. But my perfectionist nature is striving for more. For better. For amazing.
Part of this process is to develop a strong starter. I’ve been working on this since February and I think I have finally accomplished it. However, my starter behaves differently than a lot of what I’ve read. It is typically slower than it maybe “should” be. A lot of what is out there about bread at higher altitude (7,500’ here) is that it rises faster because of the lack of air pressure – often before the gluten strands have developed sufficient strength. But I haven’t really found this to be true for me. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure out when my dough has bulk fermented long enough and when it’s proofed enough. But typically, it takes a bit longer than the recipe suggests. I say “suggests” because one of the biggest hurdles in sourdough bread is realizing that timelines in any recipe are just suggestions and you have to learn to read your dough. And as far as I’ve found, there’s not an end-all-be-all resource for this. If you have one, I’d be eternally grateful if you’d pass it along. Anyway, it could be that things take longer because my kitchen is cool, but I bought one of those warming mats for bread making. It helps a lot, but hasn’t given me consistent rise-times yet.
I’ve made a bunch of different basic recipes – the Basic Country Loaf from Tartine, Simple Sourdough and My Best Sourdough from The Perfect Loaf, a recipe from Amore Fermentum on Instagram, and most recently a Classic Light Wholemeal Sourdough from Marie Lester of The English Pantry. I believe the “best” one so far is the one from Marie Lester. Is that because it’s a better recipe? Likely not. It could be that the recipe uses bread flour and the higher protein flour works better at my altitude. It could be that my starter is stronger. Or maybe most likely that I’m just getting better at making sourdough bread.
Whatever the explanation, the lesson I’m learning from the sourdough bread process is that there’s a learning curve and it takes patience and perseverance to perfect anything. Sort of like riding a horse or knitting… oy! Life lesson.
If you don’t do the sourdough thing, my very favorite bread recipe is the New York Times Bread recipe modified slightly and found on A Stack of Dishes. This recipe is amazing and pretty foolproof.
What sourdough tips and resources do you have for me? I appreciate any guidance you can provide because I feel like I need some help. Or more help than I’ve found online so far.
Stephanie
