I’ve recently been into sourdough baking. I used serious eats to get my starter going and have been cooking largely from ‘The Bread Bakers Apprentice’ and ‘Crust and Crumb’. I also made a great recipe from http://www.mydailysourdoughbread.com and have learned a lot reading the site. I’m looking for more resources - especially of the free online sources. Thanks!
I like looking at this one for learning and inspirations. It’s bilingual (German/English). Just as with cookery books, I don’t follow recipes, or really cook from them.
Note that she uses types of flour which might not be available where you are.
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Try theperfectloaf.com. He does a great job of thoroughly explaining every facet of sourdough baking. Really good guy. Also the fresh loaf, while not exclusively sourdough baking has lots of valuable information.
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Thank you for these suggestions! I find it really useful to hear different perspectives from bakers who are very precise, to the very lenient. I tend to fall in the middle. I made sourdough cinnamon rolls from the Perfect Loaf and they were excellent!
I hope you’ve had joy and success. I didn’t write earlier because I think sourdough doesn’t really require much advice, provided you’re careful as you appear to be. My mantra in this area is that it’s all about time–a dormant starter needs a half-week of waking sometimes, and when a finally risen dough is ready to bake is something to be tested rather than prescripted (if you can poke a dough and the indentation remains fixed, it’s probably ready).
IMO, thefreshloaf.com is a great resource for any type of baking. There is a dedicated forum area for sourdough/levain, which sees regular activity. Pizzamaking.com is another good site - obviously the focus there is on pizza crust rather than bread, but they also have an area dedicated to levain and a lot of the advice you’ll find there applies broadly to dough in general, not just pizza crust.
@BadaBing - thanks for your encouragement. I’m really surprised at how much better my bread has become with sourdough. I think part of it is the acquisition of a KA mixer. The longer rising time is also probably a boon. And I love that the more acidic dough keeps better - I’ve been baking about once a week.
@biondanonima - thanks for the site recommendations, I had not discovered pizzamaking.com on my own.
Generally, I alternate between versions of a levained multi-grain bread and following the formula for rye, but changing the type of flour for the rye (light or dark rye, spelt, etc.). Some are better than others, but no complete fails except for an overly salted pizza crust.
Great to hear you’re getting results you like.
I have noticed but never understood that finished (baked) sourdough loaves do not stale as quickly as commercial loaves. Also, even with the no-knead apporach, which is not strictly sourdough but does use minimal yeast and a long fermentation time before the dough is put to it’s second/final rise, that type also seems in no rush to stale.
Something must happen in a dough when it can ferment. (Now that I think of it, fermentation in general–as with, say, pickles–is a preservative action.)
I don’t remember where I read this, but somebody, somewhere claims that the more acidic dough doesn’t stale as quickly.
