This post will be updated as I remember stuff.
Mandatory viewing and recommended links
Starter
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Starter contains yeast and acetic acid bacteria/lactic acid bacteria. The bacteria create the sourdough taste - acetic acid is more fruity, lactic acid is more sour. Yeast mostly just creates gas. Lactic acid bacteria can be favored by a liquid starter and acetic acid (and yeast) are favored in a stiff starter.
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Bacteria is more prolific and resistant than yeast. Bacteria will work longer at lower temperatures than yeast - cold proofing will build flavor without much rise.
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Starters exist on a scale of “stiff” to “liquid.” This is controlled by the ratio of flour to water and the absorption rate of your flour. Using 1:1 ratio of water and whole wheat flour will be much stiffer than all purpose/bread flour as whole wheat absorbs more water.
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Whole wheat flour is more nutritious than white flours so is considered to create a better biome than white flour by some people. Starters that contain whole wheat may smell more intense than white flours which will smell more pleasant. You can also do mixes of half white flour, half whole wheat flour. ALL flour must be unbleached.
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The speed at which your starter peaks depends on temperature, feed ratio and existing activity (or lack of.) Some people store their starters in the fridge and feed weekly. Some people save the “discard” in a separate jar and use it to make a recipe which requires less yeast activity or which can tolerate higher levels of acid (old starter becomes progressively more acidic.)
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Larger feedings relative to the amount of starter you have will actually take longer to rise as the starter bacteria/yeast are more diluted. If your starter seemingly is not doing anything after 12 hours, I recommend mixing it well, using 24g with 50g water and 50g flour. Give it as long as it needs, it should rise. This is actually my daily feed recipe as well, and I bake often enough that I do not have much discard.
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Starter activity is very important for your dough/bread. If your starter has not been fed in two days do not expect it to produce good bread. The best range of time when to use your starter is when it has doubled but is not extremely acidic. If it becomes extremely acidic and liquidy, it is probably overfermented which won’t contribute to your bread’s success.
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If you’re making a starter from scratch, allow at least a week or two for it to become established and acidic. The acidity is good to prevent molds and unhealthy bacteria from growing.
Dough
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The process is: mix ingredients, stretch and fold a few times to build gluten, then “bulk ferment” for some amount of hours, then shape, then “proof.” Gluten will develop on its own, chemically, but it is better if you knead/stretch and fold the dough. You can be rough at this stage because there is no air in the dough yet. Shaping refers to, obviously, shaping the dough, but it also serves the purpose of pulling the dough’s skin taut. Because the skin on top will be thinner, the dough will be encouraged to expand and break through upward instead of on the sides (you also need to score the top for this expansion to occur.
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Generally, the less you touch the tough during bulk ferment and in shaping the better. Of course, touching to shape is necessary, so be confident with it and don’t despair if you make mistakes.
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Probably, your first 10 sourdoughs will not be great. You have to accept this. If you become discouraged, I recommend you bake some sourdough item that does not have to look perfect or have a perfect crumb to be enjoyable, like bagels.
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I prefer to mix my starter in the recipe’s water before adding flour, salt and anything else.
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It’s hard to add more water to dough which is well developed. It can be done, but requires much kneading.
Scoring and Cooking
- Scoring pattern will depend on what shape you use. Use boule scores for boules and different scores for longer doughs like batards and baguettes.