My starter my sourdough

Rose sent me a video to an Irish baker on making sourdough starter and sourdough bread.  The Irish are not just great drinkers, they are great bakers!  I had watched another video of another fellow making sourdough starter in the summer and I could not get the starter to rise past the first 24hrs.  His video also made me feel like it was too much effort for a loaf of bread.  So I gave up on that until just recently when Kieran made his poolish starter bread.   And that bread was pretty good, it just wasn't true sourdough bread, it didn't have that specific flavour.  I like all bread, but sourdough doesn't use yeast from a jar, it's starter you make from flour and water.  Simple as that.

But after watching this Irish baker I thought I might as well try it again.  If it doesn't work then I'll get starter from a friend and then try with that.  But I really wanted to make my own sourdough starter and bread.  

So I started it at the cottage.  And let it grow.  A scale is critical.  You cannot make your own sourdough without a scale.  It's just how it is.  I bought this scale back in the summer.  When my sourdough starter failed to get to where I expected.  I still used the scale, but I weighed bike parts with it.  That's a carbon set back seat post I got for my bike.  It's crazy-ass light!

So come xmas we made Kieran's bread and used it.  And now we love his bread.  It's actually a baguette bread recipe.  Poolish starter bread has a baguette flavour to it.  The crust is amazing using the dutch oven.  We got that down pat now.  20mins covered + 30mins uncovered at 450 deg F.  I did the same for this sourdough bread.  It was basically what the Irish baker said to do too.

Now we finally have made a true sourdough bread from scratch.  Made my own starter for past 7 days.  I had to split the starter into multiple containers as it was bubbling up like lava from Mt Pinotubo.  I just baked a loaf and it has been cooling now for an hour.  We'll see how it turns out.  I'm happy it rose, even in the fridge!

I went down to cut a piece and see how the inside consistency was and crust.  As it was proofing I could smell the sour notes from raw dough that are indicative of sourdough breads.  But Tresa beat me to it and cut the end piece buttering it.  She said this was really good!  And that always is a good sign.  She is biased though, but she would be honest if it wasn't good.   I tried it and I have to say,  I was very pleased.  It was delicious.  It didn't have the exact flavour, but there was a hint, and as my starter ages it'll ferment a bit more and the sour notes will become more evident.  The texture was good, the crust was great!   I'm getting closer to the Blackbird Bakery standard of sourdough bread that we have been buying for years now.  

I've learned bit by bit the things to look for in bread.  The crust, which is dependent on humidity and time and temperature.  And the holes in the bread when you slice it, which is a result of the gluten, and kneading and proofing process.  And then the flavour, which is dependent on your ingredients (starter, water, flour and salt and whatever else you want to toss in).

This particular bread was made with an intermediate starter.  It was from Day 4.  And when you are making starter you have to discard portions of it.  Because if you do not it dies, it requires much more food (flour and water) to keep it going, it feels like a bit of a waste but that's the reason for discarding.  At least my understanding of it.  You basically reduce the starter back down to 200g after the first few days.  And re-add that in equal parts water and flour.  I did proof it over 2 days.  Adding in flour until I got the structure I needed to get it to not end up like a brick.  Sourdough bread also rises much slower than yeast bread.  That where the patience comes into play. You will need to let it rise for 3 hours after working it.  Even overnight in the fridge is okay for sourdough.

Props to this Irish guy, he really made things simple and his delivery was just so easy going and down to earth.  From making the starter to proofing and really making it feel like anyone can do it.  He didn't have a proofing box or anything fancy schmancy to baking.  The other vid was like a chemistry experiment and felt like factory work.  And it doesn't have to be.  After making bread now for over a year, it's not that hard and the results are dependent on your ingredients and some patience.

During these last 20 months of pandemic, it's forced us all to slow down and get back to life the way it used to be, simpler and less complicated.  Do you really need same day delivery?  How much binge watching can you do?  Do you really need more stuff?

It was certainly a remarable little journey to get to this point and sharing the results along the way, friends sharing their knowledge and giving me feedback and Kieran doing it with me.  Learning how to make bread, and then building upon that to learn how to do it like it was done for last 5000 yrs.  It is a cool feeling.

I wanted to make bread, and so I made bread.