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Welcome to SourDom's beginners blog, the tutorials are:

How to make your own starter.
How to use short kneads to handle moist doughs and bake a loaf with a yeast-based preferment.
The subtleties of proving a loaf using a ‘biga’.
How to shape a loaf using a hybrid recipe.
The final crucial steps and putting it all together to bake a 100% sourdough loaf.

Ciabatta

by SourDom — 2006, November 25 - 21:13

This weekend I have tried another version of the a l’ancienne formula to make Ciabatta.

Starter - as before

Dough

  • 200g starter
  • 425g water
  • 340g white flour
  • 160g 00 white flour
  • 10g salt
  • 3g malt

I mixed as before, and the next evening folded at hourly intervals for 4 hours.

Then the dough was divided in two and roughly folded before being placed in two floured teatowels.  read more »

A new formula and a new schedule

by SourDom — 2006, November 24 - 21:04

have been playing around with two different things - Peter Reinhart’s pain a l’ancienne, and some of the techniques discussed in the Jim Lahey recipe in the New York Times.

This is the result ‘Pain au levain a l’ancienne’, a sourdough version of the Reinhart recipe at 80% hydration with almost no kneading.

Day 1 evening
Starter 10g (22%)
Water 25g (56%)
Flour 45g (100%)

Day 2 morning
Starter 60g (60%) (a little less than all of the above, so you can put some aside)
Water 60g (60%)
Flour 100g (100%)  read more »

Beginners' blog - sourdough timetables

by SourDom — 2006, September 17 - 20:55

One of the things that puts people off baking at home is the amount of time that it seems to take. Everyone loves the smell of freshly baked bread, and the idea of baking your own loaves, but the time involved can seem overwhelming. That is the attraction of bread machines and ‘quick loaves’ I suspect, but the danger is that the disappointment that frequently ensues from the resulting loaves puts people off altogether.  read more »

Beginners' blog - shaping

by SourDom — 2006, July 23 - 15:00

Note: yeast is used in this tutorial to create a practice dough as it is assumed that you do not have an active sourdough yet. Sourdough bread does not contain commercial yeast.


ShapingWhat you will need:  read more »

Beginners' blog - Proving

by SourDom — 2006, July 8 - 15:00

Turning step 1What you will need:  read more »

Beginners' blog - a starter, from scratch

by SourDom — 2006, June 30 - 22:27

Day 8 StarterContents:

  • What you will need
  • Background
  • Recipe
  • Troubleshooting
  • Looking after your starter
  • Glossary
  • References


What you will need:  read more »

Sourdough experiments #1: Starter hydration

by SourDom — 2006, June 11 - 21:22

(This was first posted in the ‘home sourdough’ section of the forum on 3rd June.)

This is the first in what I hope will turn out to be a series of experiments with a basic recipe. (Apart from anything else I am going to use this to work towards better sourdough baguettes).  read more »

Setting off…

by SourDom — 2006, June 10 - 15:00

“The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone
And I must follow if I can
Pursuing it with weary feet
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet
And whither then I cannot say”

JRR Tolkien ‘The Lord of the Rings’

This is a first feeble attempt at a blog, so forgive any idiosyncrasies, or inconsistencies in what follows.
The blog follows on from my ramblings on the sourdough australia forum  read more »

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