SourDom's blog

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.

Sourdough experiment #3 170606 Hydration

BackgroundThere is often talk on the forum about the hydration of doughs, and the advantages and disadvantages of higher or lower hydration.Read more...

Sourdough experiment #4 250606 To knead or not to knead

BackgroundRead more...

Ciabatta

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 bei...

A new formula and a new schedule

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 Starte...

Beginners' blog - sourdough timetables

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 t...

Beginners' blog - Slash and burn (hopefully not)

What you will need:Read more...

Beginners' blog - shaping

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. What you will need:Read more...

Beginners' blog - Proving

What you will need:Read more...

Beginners' blog - a starter, from scratch

Contents:What you will need Background Recipe Troubleshooting Looking after your starter Glossary References What you will need:Read more...

Sourdough experiments #1: Starter hydration

(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...