From star(er) to finish, my first attempt at making sourdough. As you can see, it didn't go...great. Paul Hollywood would be ashamed.
My love for sourdough bread knows no bounds, and I've always wanted to try to make my very own. After years of being too intimated and putting it off, I finally tried making my first sourdough starter about two weeks ago. The recipe called for a little flour, a little water, and a bit of yeast, followed by not touching it for 4 days. That was the easy part. The hard part was uncovering it after Day 4 and seeing that the solids and liquids had separated and it smelled like actual vomit. So, naturally, I chucked it and started over.
Attempt #2 was with Alton Brown's sourdough starter. He has never led me astray before, so why would he start now? This time, it was just equal parts water and flour, and a few days worth of patience. Simple, right? I checked on the starter on Day 3, and just like the recipe said, it had grown a crust. I peeled that back, and added more water and flour. I did this every day for a week, until today when I tried my hand at the actual bread-making.
The bread recipe seemed straightforward enough. And after many many years of reading and following recipes, I should know how to follow directions by now. The first thing that tripped me up was the sheer amount of waiting time it takes for sourdough bread to rise. Without added yeast, the minimum is 3 hours, and can be up to 12. Looking back, I should have waited the full 12.
I let it "rise" for about 6 hours before getting impatient. And hungry.
I continued with the rest of the directions, conveniently passing over phrases like "the dough should be doubled" "let it rest for two more hours" "it'll be soft to the touch". I popped that sucker in the oven and waited for the tiny elves who live in there to work their magic. Guess the elves were off today (federal holiday, and all.)
The loaf that emerged from the oven looked almost exactly (perhaps slightly darker) like the loaf that went in. Slicing into it revealed why: it was still pretty raw.
So, a couple lessons with this one. #1: patience. You've gotta wait for the dough to do it's thing. You can't rush it, because otherwise it just won't work. #2: directions. You've gotta follow them. Seriously. You have a bachelor's degree in English, reading should not be this hard. And #3: the first one always sucks. That's just the way it is. You think Mozart just started out amazing? Well, maybe that's a bad example...