Sourdough Bread Adventures

Sourdough Bread Adventures

I created an awesome starter using the fruit yeast water from the last post and now I'm swimming in starters, as I hate to waste anything. 🤣 I gave some away and have made some breads to experiment. It has been such a fun process! If you've been hesitant to try making your own sourdough bread for fear of all the steps or how long it takes, I recommend you just jump right in! The best teacher is experience and then you can tailor your bread making to your schedule and environment. 

Watching starter and dough rise has been such a rewarding experience and knowing that you didn't even have to use commercial yeast, is even more rewarding. To think I can create leavened bread with some water, flour and some fruit yeast is one of the coolest things in my book. Darn, I'm such a geek. 

Here are some bread recipes I've been experimenting with. They are not that great looking, but I'm hoping to improve as I go along! And if you have any tips/tricks, I would love to know! 

Basic Sourdough Bread

Recipe from Kitty Tait (Awesome Bread Baker!). This is a great intro into sourdough. So simple and straight forward! Thank you Kitty! 🙏

Ingredients:

300 mL (300 grams) of warm water

2 tablespoons sourdough starter (35 grams)

380 grams white bread flour

20 grams whole wheat flour

8 grams of sea salt

1 teaspoon water (5 grams)

Instructions:

• Mix the 300 grams of water, starter, and flour into a shaggy dough and leave for 30 minutes to rest
• Add the salt and extra 5 grams of water
• Squish altogether and pinch all the sides into the middle and then fold over itself. Leave to ferment 6-8 hours.
• Tip out onto a floured surface. Pinch all the sides into the center and then roll over into a ball. Dust the top with a bit of flour and then place seam side up into a banneton. 
• Proof for two hours at room temperature or leave in the fridge overnight to proof.
• Preheat oven and Dutch oven to 450 degrees F.
• Lay bread seam side down onto some parchment paper, score the bread, and lay into the Dutch oven.
• Squirt with a little bit of water and cover.
• Bake covered for 30 minutes and then remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.
• Let cool completely and then enjoy!

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Another Basic Sourdough 

A little bit more flavorful and oh so good. Baker's percentage and hydration amounts inspired by Natasha's_Baking. Check out the video with the recipe in the description! I used whole wheat flour as opposed to durum wheat. And I increased the amount of total flour in the recipe.

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100% Whole Wheat Maple Sourdough

I used the "Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread" recipe from the book The Perfect Loaf by Maurizio Leo (a bible of sorts for the sourdough geek, plus he has an awesome website!). I replaced the honey with maple syrup and used almond/coconut milk for the milk. This was my first time using a tangzhong (a flour/liguid roux cooked on the stove that is added to the dough to extend shelf life and contributes to a softer bread). It made such a soft loaf. 

I need to keep trying this recipe since I had a hard time with it, as it is a higher hydration dough; I also ended up with a bit of a gummy texture (although, this is my fault as I am still learning how to create that perfect loaf!). I will keep trying this one and tweak it to my liking! I totally recommend his book and website, by the way!

That's all for now! Hoping to get better at this and I would love to hear if you have started a sourdough journey or if you have any tips and tricks for us! Thanks for your time!