Week 8 – Sourdough Bread

Experimenting with my starter

So, I joined a facebook page about sourdough baking called Sourdough Geeks, follow the QR code below to check it out.

It can be overwhelming because there is so much information on there, and SO many opinions (that sometimes vary) but in general I’m finding it to be an awesome resource. One of the best things is that if people are having issues with their bread, they’ll post a picture and their recipe and everyone comes to their aid to help out with suggestions and feedback.

However, this week when I went to make my usual loaf of sourdough bread (I decided to make two this week) I realized that I timed feeding my starter incorrectly. Ideally, you would follow a schedule such as:

7am – Feed Starter, leave out on counter all day

5pm – Make bread dough

9pm – Bulk fermentation is done, put in fridge overnight

8am – Bench rest bread, then shape and rest in bamboo dish, then bake

What I did wrong was I took my starter out of the fridge and fed it in the late afternoon (Ideally I should have just waited until later in the evening) and then I realized that I wouldn’t have the hands-on time needed for the bulk fermentation the next morning. So, I thought I would have to discard from the starter and try feeding it again the next night, but I saw on the facebook page an alternative. By chance, a post came up that stated that some people use their starter straight out of the fridge! They suggested making the water warm if you use cold/refrigerated starter, but thats it!

I tried it out. I put my fed starter in the fridge overnight until the next evening, and then I pulled it out and used it as I would normally (with the addition of warm instead of room temp water). I continued the process as normal, I did an overnight rise of my dough after the bulk fermentation. Today, I have two great loves of sourdough bread!

What About the Crumb?

My main concern was the crumb of my bread. Wait, what does the crumb mean? The crumb refers to the texture inside your bread. On the Sourdough Geeks facebook page there are tons of images of people struggling with their crumb. I suggest checking it out!

I was worried that since I used the cold starter the bread would not rise as normal, however, my loaves turned out great! The crumb was really nice, similar to the photo above, maybe a little less open. While this was great to learn, that you can use your starter cold straight from the fridge, I won’t default to using it that way. In a pinch though, or due to poor planning, it’s great to know it works!