Sourdough bread: Third time’s a charm!

In my breadmaking venture this pandemic, I came across a lot of articles about sourdough bread. I got curious and became more interested after watching a couple of videos of local celebrities (whose social media I follow) shared their own attempts at sourdough. And who wouldn’t be interested in baking this aesthetically appealing artisanal bread which many said is a healthier option? So I decided to give it a try despite that I hadn’t tasted any sourdough bread until after I baked my first loaf.

Culture No. 1 was my first sourdough starter which was made from unbleached organic whole wheat flour. It had a 1:1 flour-water ratio and was at 100% hydration level. It’s the usual recommendation for beginners.

As days went by, I got to love the fruity smell of my sourdough starter. I excitedly observed its activity (rise-and-fall time) but, along the way, got somehow concerned about it being runny. Thus, at some point, I tried to shift to a 50 % hydration level. Some articles advise on experimenting as achieving a healthy and mature starter takes effort, dedication, and willingness to take risks. So, I patiently waited for my starter to mature until it reached a month old (although the reference recipe I used said that it could already be used on the seventh day).

At last, at exactly 31-day old, I used my sourdough starter to bake my first loaf. I used a 9-inch round cake tin baking pan with aluminum foil as improvised cover because I didn’t have a cast iron Dutch oven.

Culture No. 2 was a three-week old sourdough starter made from a portion of Culture No. 1. I made daily feedings using a 1:1 flour-water ratio at 100% hydration level. Again, I became concerned about my starter being runny, thus reduced the hydration level to half. The starter also showed enough activity as observed by the rise-and-fall time.

And while waiting for my starter to mature, I bought two loaves of sourdough bread from a reputable store just to have a taste of a ‘perfect’ sourdough bread. While I ordered one white bread and one whole wheat bread, what were delivered were both white bread. Thus, I didn’t have a benchmark for a whole wheat sourdough bread.

On my second bake, I used a pre-heated Pyrex dish.

Having failed results in my first two bakes, I tried making a totally new sourdough starter and recipe.

Culture No. 3 was a two-week old starter made from unbleached all-purpose flour with 1:1 flour-water ratio at 100% hydration level. This time, the starter exhibited higher rate of activity in a relatively shorter period of time compared to the previous two starters. It had earlier rise-and-fall time, more bubbles, and better consistency – not runny at last!

I felt I would be able to come up with a better loaf this time. And finally, with a mix of excitement and anxiety, I baked my third loaf. I still didn’t have a cast iron Dutch oven, thus I used a pre-heated Pyrex dish again.

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I told myself that if the third try wouldn’t work, I would already give up on sourdough breadmaking. At least I tried and failed. But since my third bake was a ‘success’, I got the resolve to continue. It felt so good to finally make it!

In my 2-month sourdough breadmaking experience, I learned not just patience and dedication but also some practical lessons which include the following:

1. Culture No. 1 possibly wasn’t yet mature enough before I used it for baking. I am not sure if it had something to do with the type of flour I used. Nonetheless, I think the mistake was I did not discard a portion of the starter prior to each feeding. Thus, the resulting bread was very sour and had gummy crumb. I totally couldn’t eat it.
2. Culture No. 2 could possibly be immature still when I used it for baking because the bread still had gummy crumb. And despite discarding a portion of the starter prior to each feeding, the resulting bread still had a considerable level of acidity and was still not much of an improvement. The only consolation was that I was able to eat a bit of the bread this time.
3. Culture No. 3 matured in a shorter period of time. I religiously fed it and made sure that I discarded a portion before each feeding. Thus, when I baked my third loaf, the result was remarkably improved. It had open crumb, was fluffy, and with tolerable sourness (which is characteristic of sourdough bread). I was able to finish eating the loaf in two days!

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To sum it up, patience, dedication, regular discard, and finding the right recipe are key to sourdough breadmaking. And despite failing in the first and second time, I could say that third time’s a charm! 😀

And with a taste of sweet success, I excitedly baked my fourth and fifth loaves!

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The white sourdough bread was already good. Yum! But I couldn’t yet say the same for the whole wheat bread this time. 😀