Sourdough Tips

So here's the deal: I am nowhere near a sourdough expert, but I'm throwing in the towel after this last batch.  The first batch I made tasted great, but didn't look quite right.  This second batch turned out perfectly, so I'm going to call it a success.  Sourdough is not easy to make and takes quite a bit of time and energy.  Honestly, it was worth it because now I can say that I've done it, but I don't think it's worth the effort on a consistent basis.  Unless you're a professional baker, I just can't see all of the effort being worth it.  With that being said, I learned a lot about sourdough and bread baking in general with my second batch, so I'm going to share those tips with you to help you in your sourdough journey.  I'll also link the 2 recipes I used to make the second batch.

Sourdough Tips:

1. Let's start with the starter.  This is key to creating a great sourdough loaf.  My first learning here was that you need to make sure you're giving your starter enough oxygen.  With my first batch, I put a Tupperware lid gently on top (without closing it) of the Tupperware my starter was in.  While there was quite a bit of air inside the Tupperware, there wasn't enough oxygen getting inside the container.  With my second starter, I used a mason jar and placed the top about 1/2 way over the jar and saw a huge difference in the quality of the starter.  Rather than small bubbles and rise forming, I saw lots of large bubbles and the starter literally exploded out of the mason jar the last few days.  So my #1 tip is oxygen baby!  You need it, I need it, & your starter needs it.
2. Be patient.  My first go around, I did the float test with my starter and it didn't work.  I gave it another day and it still didn't work, so I just decided to go for it.  With my second starter, I waited until it passed the float test to bake and it definitely made a difference.  While the starter recipe I used said it should be ready to bake after 5 days, it took me 7 before it was actually ready.
3. When they say "shape the dough" it doesn't just mean turn it into a ball.  This is why my first dough turned out so flat - I was literally just like "okay, it's in a circular shape now."  The bread baking recipe I used has a video that I followed on how to shape the bread and it gave the dough so much more structure.  Hence why they didn't turn into a pancake.
4. Refrigerate your dough before scoring and baking.  I'd watched a few bread scoring videos before my first batch of sourdough and was so excited to use my new bread lame to make some bread art.  Well, the first batch of pancake sourdough loaves were a total bust because I was scoring room temperature dough that was just expanding as I cut into it.  By refrigerating the dough before you score it, you'll get much cleaner cuts and it will keep the dough shaped and structured.  You'll still need to move quickly if you're doing intricate bread scoring, but trust me, it will turn out much better if you refrigerate your dough first.

Look at that beautiful scoring!  The loaf was almost too pretty to eat.

I used a 75% red wheat flour and 25% bread flour mixture for these loaves which is why there are only small pockets and holes.  The more wheat flour you use, the more dense the bread will be.  With my first loaves, I used a 50/50 ratio and got larger wholes, but I wanted to use more wheat flour for these loaves.

Here's the recipe I used to make my sourdough starter & here's the one I used for the loaves.  Happy Baking!