sourdough bread — 2026-02-22
trying to use sourdug for the first time but i think he's not ready. 95g starter 496g king arthur AP flour 350g water
i accidentally added all water at the beginning. i think this means the salt wont incorporate so well but we'll see
i mixed at first on stir speed. i plan to do 2 or 4 for the kneads. during the kneads i swapped between 2 or 4 by vibes 1 salt - done 2 - done. mostly 4 for 1 minute. should be at 4 for longer 3 - done. half 4 half 2. starting to pull away more, but still a bit melty 4 - done. half 2 and 4 again
bulk fermentation - after 1h30m, a little rise but no real visible bubbles. one spot (~1 inch has peeled away from the side but the rest is not. i don't have a good place to slightly warm the dough sadly
he never rose much after 30 more minutes
when doing the pre-shaping, i was supposed to shape it into a "tight ball" but this is what I got
not sure what's up. maybe over hydrated or not beat hard enough or too low protein
okay i looked it up. i should only use speed 2 when kneading and i should do it for a longer time. like 4-5 minutes. also i should have added the water more slowly
after shaping and doing the folds, he was still wet and sticky. but it wasn't too bad tbh
cooked for 25 minutes covered then 25 minutes uncovered. he looked like this and has a surface temp of 207f
i put him in for another 10 minutes and he then had a surface temp of 221. that was actually too hot by the recipe and he didn't look much different
takeaways
- i should switch some/mostly/all bread flour - proof for longer since my apartment is cold - knead at speed 2 and knead for longer - why do i cover this at first in the oven? - i left the oven at 450 but i think our oven runs cold. in the future just leave it maxed out - i gotta make sourdug stronger