I finally got into the sourdough trend three years later than everyone else, after getting sick of paying $9 for a loaf I actually like from the bakery. But I was weird, I don’t really like boules because I mainly use sourdough for toast and sandwiches and want loaves that provided similar size pieces that fit in my toaster. And every loaf-pan recipe I tried came out super-dense. Eventually, I figured out how to make a batard, and a recipe that didn’t come out super dense, and I have something I would be content toasting for breakfast every morning.
- Starter: I mostly followed the King Arthur Baking guide, although I modified it based on tips from the /r/sourdough wiki to include ~25% wheat flour to get it to actually rise. I could probably reduce the sizes to waste less flour, but right now I’m at the point where I don’t want to mess with something that works.
- Recipe: I mostly followed King Arthur’s Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread recipe, although I made some changes based on the high-altitude guide since my house is over 5000 ft elevation: add 1 tbsp flour, add 1 tbsp water, bake at 475°F for 35 minutes.
- Shaping: I followed the instructions for a batard from this video for Pain De Campagne, although I gave up on trying that recipe after multiple attempts that all had huge tunnels. It seems like something is wrong with how I was proofing it, although I don’t know enough to figure out how to fix it. And then I scored it cross-wise instead of length-wise, to try to get it to expand length-wise instead of expanding too wide to fit in my toaster.
And I think it turned out well! Crumb seemed nice, no big tunnels, it fit in my toaster and tasted great with apple butter!
It may not be the greatest loaf of bread in the history of the world, but I made it from scratch, and I like it.
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Beautiful loaf, inside and out! Lovely stuff.
I also like that style of scoring, think it makes for a most attractive loaf. If you ever end up making two loaves at once, do try out that score on the one loaf and an ‘ear’ score on the second loaf. You’ll get a different ‘lift’ and interior, and its just a fun thing to try out and see.
As a beginner, how would I do an ‘ear’ score?
Grant explains very well. About 6:45 in this video: https://youtu.be/VQ0hGGHvxhA
And worth adding that I couldn’t get ears for a long long time!
LOL, I was going to reply and then saw that you had already replied.
Good to see the old gang over here!
I just leveled up by like 125% bread power with this rabbit hole, ty
It’s beautiful! I make two different kinds of sourdough, usually. “THE sourdough” (as my kids call it), just 30% whole wheat, the rest bread flour, salt & starter nothing else, slow cold rise, baked hot hot first in closed cast iron dutch ovens then take off lid. If I make rye bread same process but with rye and caraway, usually also caramelized onion. I have not ever gotten a completely evenly fermented loaf this way but it’s outrageously delicious & great looking bread.
Sandwich bread I use the Pullman pan, no lid, shorter rise no refrigerator. Often sort of a shokupan loaf, or Pan de Mie, light white bread, sometimes a nice honey whole wheat or hearty brioche, occasionally a simple recipe like “THE sourdough” but more or all whole wheat. The Pullman pan seems to help a lot, these always rise very high and usually few to no big holes.
Looks great! I’ve been wanting to switch to making batards instead of boules but then I’d have to buy another loaf pan and set of bannetons. Perhaps I should just bite the bullet because I have the same complaints about boules that you do.
I had the same issue as you at first, buying a couple round bannetons because that’s what most of the guides were using only to find out I don’t really like boules. Then I got this oval banneton, which isn’t super expensive if you live in the US. And the price was worth it, since now I’m much happier with the bread I’m making. So I’d suggest you bite the bullet unless you’re really strapped for cash.
woah that looks incredible for a self-baked loaf of bread! Really nice!
Amazing!
My bread inspiration comes from this video: Vincent Makes Bread. I just adapted it to using a sourdough levain for leavening. The overnight proof really brings out the stretch, reduced the need to knead, and develops a nice sour flavor.
