Sourdough Log, volume 1

Feb. 10, 2025

My only new years resolution of note for 2025 was to bake more bread. I’ve always been a baker, and I consider myself decent at baking bread, but I’ve never made sourdough so I decided to go with that. I know I’m a few years behind on this craze.

Starter

I made the initial starter the day after Christmas using 200 grams of whole wheat flour and 200 grams of water. Each subsequent day I discarded all but 75 grams and added in 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. I did this for 10 days, always at the same time every morning.

Since this was during the winter and the temperatures were below freezing, I had to keep the starter jar either in the microwave or the oven with the light on. This mostly kept the starter at around 64-66 F, a bit below what I would call room temperature, but I figured it would be good enough.

After day 7, I noticed the starter rising 4 hours after feeding, but not really doubling in size. At day 10, it doubled in size and stayed bubbly for longer periods of time. I took this as my cue to start baking.

Basic recipe

After hours of online research, I settled on a fairly simple recipe that I’ve followed for 7 loaves now.

• Ingredients
  • 225 grams starter
  • 500 grams flour
  • 18 grams kosher salt
  • 250 grams warm water
• Method
  • Mix in bowl by hand until it forms a rough, sticky ball.
  • Let rise for 1 hour.
  • Stretch and fold dough on four side. Do this 3 times.
  • Let rise for 1 hour.
  • 3 sets of stretch and fold.
  • Let rise for 1 hour.
  • 3 sets of stretch and fold.
  • Put in refrigerator overnight.
  • Turn the dough out on a floured surface and let sit for 30 minutes.
  • Put dough in pan.
  • Preheat oven to 450 F.
  • Cover pan and place in oven. Bake for 35 minutes.
  • Remove cover and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Attempt 1

My first loaf was ok, but I used 350 grams of water and it was way too wet. The dough was impossible to work with. It ended up being very dense and didn’t rise very much. The taste was good, maybe a bit too sour for some, and the crust was chewy. I’m hopeful for future loaves.

Attempt 2

I used 250 grams of water and the dough was perfect. Easy to fold and shape, no problems. This was the first loaf I put in the fridge overnight and it reduced the sour taste by probably half. My kids would actually eat the bread.

Attempt 3

I feel like at this point I’ve perfected my recpie. Or, at least I have a recipe down that’s easily repeatable and makes a decent loaf. This one didn’t quote rise as much as I would have liked but it was still good.

Attempt 4

This attempt was even better than the previous. It didn’t quite double in the rise, but it was a bit more airy. The crust was perfect. All of my kids liked it, so I think that gives it the seal of approval.

Attempt 5

This is the latest loaf. No difference in the recpie, but I did use a stand mixer instead of doing it by hand. I don’t think that make a difference, but it’s worth noting. I also didn’t refrigerate it overnight. The sour levels were up, but it wasn’t too overpowering.

Conclusion and changes

For being my first attempt at sourdough, I’m kind of surprised. For some reason, I thought the learning curve would be much higher, but at the end of the day making sourdough bread isn’t much different from ordinary bread. Obviously, I’m no professional baker, but it’s a good start and something I can only improve on.

For the next couple of months, I think I’m going to slightly increase the amount of starter and reduce the flour. I’m hoping that will help the dough double in size and make a less dense loaf. This will probably make the dough more sour, so I need to be careful or my kids won’t eat any and I’ll end up downing the whole thing myself.

Another thing I need to improve on is scoring the dough. I 3D printed a lame that uses double sided razors, but so far my technique has been awful. For the next six weeks, I’m going to concentrate on making a nice looking loaf as well as a good tasting one.