Yes, this is my very first sourdough bread.
RECIPE
| weight | ingredient | baker’s percentage |
| 250g | rye flour (12.8% protein) | 50% |
| 125g | wholemeal flour (10.6% protein) | 25% |
| 125g | baker’s flour (12.5% protein) | 25% |
| 375g | water | 75% |
| 100g | starter | 20% |
| 10g | salt | 2% |
Having been making sourdough at home for about a year, I can recognize some mistakes I have made on my first loaf.
First of all, the choice of flour
As we all know using flour that has higher protein content gives better results when it comes to bread. When protein absorbs liquid (water), it forms a web network called gluten. It makes the dough “stretchy” (elastic and extensible). A strong gluten network is the key to springy texture or what we say the chewy texture.
If you are not sure about the protein content, simply check the package. There is nutrition information and you can find out the percentage of protein in the flour.
Besides the protein content, the types of protein in flour are something you need to be aware of. Glutenin and gliadin are the two proteins that form gluten. From the recipe above, the protein content in rye flour is 12.8%. That’s quite high, right? Well, it does have a high content of protein; however, in rye flour, there is only gliadin and it can not form gluten by itself. It turns out that 50% of the flour can not form gluten. You could probably imagine the cross-cut of the bread already.
Here it is. The cross-cut of my very first loaf.
From the picture, there is a tight crumb (the small holes throughout the interior of the bread). It can be either underproofed or lack of gluten development. It also tasted dense and heavy, which can be attributed to the amount of rye flour I used.
I don’t mean not to use rye or whole meal flour at all. No doubt rye bread or whole meal bread are delicious and full of nutrition. However, I would strongly suggest using baker’s flour when first starting to make sourdough so you would get more confident with your dough and the whole process.
The second mistake I have made is not enough bulk fermentation
I had no idea how long should the bulk ferment last and all I was concerned about is my dough would be overproofed. As I have more experience with sourdough, I know it would still be alright if I left my dough longer than 5 hours on the bench (it was winter when I made my first sourdough). I totally understand that making sourdough for the first time is not easy and knowing whether the fermentation is done or not is even more difficult. There are many factors that affect fermentation. Temperature, hydration, salt, amount of starter, the activity of starter and more. All I can tell you about the fermentation is you have to continue practicing making bread so that you will be able to read your dough.
Another mistake is the bakeware I used
I was crazy about making pizza at home so I got a cheap pizza stone from a local kitchen supply. To bake pizza, my pizza stone does a good job but to bake bread, it seemed not hot enough. The bottom of my bread was barely cooked. After this, I changed to another baking tray (the roasting tray is the best as it is thicker and can distribute heat evenly) and the result was just amazing.
As a first-timer, I was happy with the result. To be honest, I would still like it even if it is raw in the middle. Looking back, I know I have progressed heaps and that’s what really matters.
