First Time!

Sourdough is my favorite bread but I’ve never tried making it because I was always too intimidated by having to cultivate the starter. Someone at work offered me some after having that conversation so I thought, why not? I’d baked French loaves and rolls to varying success before, but pulling up a recipe and seeing how long the process was for sourdough was scary. I felt like I had to at least give it an effort though since I was gifted starter. It took 3 days of (haphazard, as the first two days I didn’t have a kitchen scale) feeding to get the refrigerated starter to liven up, and I definitely thought I killed the starter before it finally began to expand last night. I started it last night, following the below recipe exactly, with 9 hours of bulk fermentation at about 74 degrees and second rise in the fridge for 8 hours. I was expecting this to be a huge flop (I literally had to run out to buy a cast iron during the second rise because of being woefully underprepared) but am so pleased with the result. My husband and I just ate almost half of it in one go!

Any suggestions or tips for future bakes? I’m no Paul Hollywood and don’t really know what to look for in the details (like the air bubble pattern or the crumb) other than knowing I like the taste and texture.