Hi Everyone. I’m Benny, I’ve dabbled in baking for some time but only started to work on pastry over the past year and then bread over the past several months. A couple of weeks ago I decided I would try baking sourdough bread and to start I wanted to make my own sourdough starter.
Using the pineapple juice method I made two starters, one starting with whole wheat and the other starting with whole dark rye. I now have two active starters, interestingly the rye started out really fast with loads of activity right from the first day and never smelling odd. The whole wheat was much slower to start and had an off phase. The rye was younger so I decided to use my whole wheat starter for my first loaf.
I followed the beginner sourdough recipe from the Fresh Loaf and I’m pretty happy with my first loaf. I always panic once I get the dough out of the banetton so in my panic I didn’t brush any of the rice flour off and I had used a ton of rice flour because I was so worried about the dough sticking to the banetton. I didn’t need to be worried in the end as the dough came out without a hitch. I was so excited about using my Breadtopia lame for the first time I forgot to brush the rice flour off. I should probably have scored a bit more deeply and with a more acute angle to get an actual ear.
Anyhow, I’d be happy to hear your suggestions for my future bakes.
I think that is a gorgeous first bake! If you like taste and crumb I’m not sure what to say for suggestion . If you mean recipe suggestion … I’d suggest the no Knead Sourdough on this site and wait a bit for the Rye, although if you’ve made yeasted Rye you are probably used to handling the wet, sticky rye doughs and I love the Artisan Rye Recipe on this site.
Hi Liz thanks for the nice comments on my bake.
I haven’t made yeasted rye before and I’m still not quite used to working with high hydration dough which was one of the reasons I starter with the beginner sourdough recipe.
I’ll have to have a look at the no knead sourdough recipe here I actually hadn’t thought of that, so thanks again.
That no knead recipe has video about handling dough and variations for different flours. Worth exploring and practicing with. The Artisan Sourdough Rye recipe has great video as well. From your post and your first success, I think you are a person who reads and follows direction and I think that is important as you start and are learning about what the dough feels like and how things work.
So … my other recommendation is this post! As you make breads and work with dough, more and more of this post will make sense.
Referred in this post are the “Easy bake” recipes on this site. Even if you don’t make those, the videos are worth watching for seeing options.
But mainly, Have fun and enjoy the process and your bread!!
That is a good looking first loaf! I think my first ever loaf turned out more like a giant hockey puck… some lesson about not paying attention to weights of ingredients… Welcome to the wonderful world of sourdough and high hydration doughs. No real suggestions from me, other than there are some great youtube videos out there, especially for high hydration rye doughs.
Hi Raydee, the lame is definitely sharper than a kitchen knife. The blade of the lame is a straight razor and as such is super sharp and thin. I used to use a serrated kitchen knife but finally invested in the Breadtopia lame and it was worth it. It is so much easier to score the dough now than it was before.
. If you mean recipe suggestion … I’d suggest the no Knead Sourdough on this site and wait a bit for the Rye, although if you’ve made yeasted Rye you are probably used to handling the wet, sticky rye doughs and I love the Artisan Rye Recipe on this site.
Welcome to the wonderful world of sourdough and high hydration doughs. No real suggestions from me, other than there are some great youtube videos out there, especially for high hydration rye doughs.