Hey all! I'm brand new to sourdough. This weekend I attempted my first loaves. I used the Joshua Weissman recipe but had to sub bread flour for the ap flour since I only had that and wheat. I'm overall really happy with the taste! What could I do differently to improve next time? Is there a different recipe that I should try? Why do I have some huge air holes?
Thanks for the feedback!
by Coldbrewcoldheart
8 Comments
https://youtu.be/eod5cUxAHRM?si=QNBtnPlvES96JLiq
Nice loaf!
Nice crust and oven spring.
Good 1st effort! If you go back to my first loaf on my post it looked almost exactly like this! My Starter was not mature enough yet for me. That could be your issue as well.
Welcome to a fun and addictive new hobby!
Wow! Looks good! 😊
The large bubbles are because that’s underproofed. Next time you try making a loaf, bulk ferment until your dough jiggles when you shake it. Don’t use the times prescribed in the recipe you are using because those are written for the author’s starter activity level and the ambient temperature the author is proofing at.
look into making a Levian! i see it helps a lot with fermentation
Fantastic for a first go! Really beautiful loaves! The great news here is that it’s really clear from the crumb that it’s under proofed so you know exactly what you need to do next time – just leave it alone for longer!
Unless you live in a very hot place where dough will proof rapidly, you can probably give this at least another hour, maybe more. Figuring out when fermentation is done is the hardest part of sourdough so experiment. Personally I find it tastes a better when over proofed so I err on the side of that rather than under. Last autumn every loaf I made was under proofed as I was so scared of over proofing it, and now I let it go longer until it looks like other loaves have looked when they’re ready. Sorry I can’t give better advice! When I started I wrote detailed notes and took photos of how it looked in the measuring jug I used for BF, how it looked in the banneton before putting in the fridge etc, then a photo of the loaf and crumb (I used Notes on the phone for this). I also started noting the room and dough temp and timings
Then I could look back at the photos from the process when I got a good one and gradually learned what works in my house at various times of year (and what doesn’t!). I’m still not brilliant but my loaves taste good and look okay so that will do me!