Hello all, these are my first 3 loaves, I thought that they didn’t turn out great and was discouraged a bit from making more, but now I’m thinking of going back at it again and since now I know of this forum where there are people who are good at it, it would be great to know your thoughts and if any of these photos could be indicative of where I went right or wrong.
Please excuse the bad laming work, I don’t have a lame and first loaf was made in a normal ceramic cooking pot not a dutch oven
I think, from the crumb perspective, your first loaf was the best. You could be a bit more adventurous when it comes to the ferment. All three loaves are pretty good.
Hi @Abe, thank you! About the first loaf, I wonder if baking it in a ceramic pot with a baking sheet used as a lid on top had anything to do with the better crust? Maybe I didn’t know how to use the dutch oven the right way. And could you please elaborate on how I can be adventurous with the fermentation? Like should I leave it ferment for longer when I see it hasn’t risen all that much? Thanks
Hello @Fermentada, I think it was bread flour. I don’t know if by holes in the crumb you mean the very bad laming work? I did it with a knife and I did it badly obviously! I don’t know if it should’ve been deeper even? I used this recipe for all three loaves, the same page has a link on how to make a starter and that’s where I started from.
When I include a weaker gluten flour, sometimes areas open up like this during baking.
Since you used bread flour, this was likely flour or air introduced during shaping. Not a problem; I was just trying to be a detective
Timings in recipes are a guideline. The rule is “watch the dough, not the clock”. If you have waitied the recommended time and your dough seems slower than in the recipe then wait longer. Baking sheet as a lid won’t have the same effect. I would have thought resting the dough on a baking tray and inverting the ceramic pot would be better as a substitute for a dutch oven.
If your loaves came out perfectly the first time you would be deprived of the excitement you will undoubtedly feel when they eventually do! Keep at it. Make the same recipe until you are able to feel and see how the dough is responding. And as Abe has told you, watch the dough not the clock. If your kitchen is on the cold side, both your starter and dough fermentation can take much longer than expected.
Come back and show us your progress soon. In the meantime, you enjoy those homemade loaves! They have a lovely color.
@Abe Oh yeah, I read somewhere that I could do it that way and that’s how I did it after I got the dutch oven I think (because the lid works as baking dish as well) Maybe I should pay more attention to how each placement affects the result. And I will definitely try to pay more attention to the dough from now on. Thanks a lot for the tips
@oaklandpat Thanks a lot for the encouragement! Those were actually the first three loaves I ever made about 5 or 6 months ago. I got a bit discouraged and traveled for a long time after that. I will get back at it real soon though and would love to post the results here.
Hello, I just made my 4th and most special loaf so far. I say it’s special because initially and based on the recipe I always follow I was supposed to make it with bread flour, and I was pretty sure I had some lying around at home but only after I mixed the starter and water did I find out I actually didn’t have any! That was at 12 am so no store was open either. The recipe specifically says not to substitute with AP flour so I had to follow a different recipe that incorporated way less starter and more water. I had to add more water but thought there is some coming from that extra starter I had used so I had to account for that and hoped for the best. I thought it would turn out bad but was actually surprised this seemed to be my best loaf so far in terms of bubbles and texture of the dough. I enjoyed making it a lot and that’s what’s amazing to me about sourdough, the experience is so essential and is so rewarding! So I’m super sorry for rambling on but I did say I would share my new loaf with you! So here it is =) Any feedback would be greatly welcomed.
This loaf looks beautiful! Congrats!! And you’ve discovered an important aspect of bread baking – that ingredients can be shifted around.
I have a sourdough naan recipe I make with 275 grams sourdough starter and 200 grams AP flour – only I actually rarely make it with those numbers. Sometimes I have only 50g starter and I want to use some whole wheat flour, so I shift around the ingredients to still end up with the same size dough and eight flatbreads.
and I’m thankful for your reply 
