(Part 2) Best products from r/Sourdough

I have a lot of bread books, and I will recommend Hamelman's Bread until I die. And then I will be cremated with it.

I've been baking bread professionally for 6 or 7 years and it is, by far, the book I reference the most. Accessible for beginners, but substantial enough for a professional. The levain (sourdough) section is wonderful and informative.

I rarely recommend Tartine for beginners. Chad's high hydration doughs can be really unforgiving for some and will quickly deter the less... determined. That being said, if you find yourself enjoying the pursuit, Chad Robertson is the king of artisan bread in the States, and that book does have a lot to offer. I do love it.

Also, I generally suggest avoiding Peter Reinhart when it comes to learning sourdough.

Not sure what she already has so this is just kind of a shot in the dark but here are some things that are nice to have:

• Banneton Basket for proofing the loaves.
  
  
• A lame for scoring.
  
  
• These square storage containers are great for mixing, pre-ferments, and folding dough in. The measurements help see how much the dough has grown as well.
  
  

Thank you, and great point!! I used to use rice flour during shaping but started to just use my regular flour ... I needed that reminder to return to rice flour.

And your point about gluten presence, I did look up a bit more about testing and found there are different gluten breakdown methods/by products and different antibodies/methods of testing for them:

some "test kits recognize several fragments, including the toxic portion in addition to other, non-toxic fragments of the gliadin molecule, the G12 antibody hones in specifically on the toxic fragment, so that the most important fragment to the celiac patient is not diluted out"
(https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Test-Tests-Contamination-GlutenTox/dp/B00SZ0D1GC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8)


"There are three commonly used antibodies for gluten detection in food products: 401.21 (Skerritt), R5 (Mendez), and G12. Each of these antibodies has been rigorously tested in interlaboratory studies around the world. Although these are sometimes referred to as “methods,” each of these antibodies are tools found in commonly used test methods.
Skerritt is the oldest of these antibodies and recognizes both gliadin and glutenin components of gluten, providing the broadest view of gluten content. Tests using the Skerritt antibody are useful for testing processed foods for total gluten content when wheat allergies, gluten sensitivity, or Celiac disease is of concern.

R5 is a newer antibody capable of providing enhanced measurements of hydrolyzed gluten, which has been broken down into smaller molecules in products such as beer. This antibody specifically recognizes the gliadin component of gluten found in most wheats. Tests using the R5 antibody are useful for testing hydrolyzed or fermented products for the presence of gliadin that may be broken down.

G12 is the newest available antibody and specifically recognizes the portion of gliadin that can cause an immune response in patients with Celiac disease. Gluten-free products or wheat (and gluten) containing products lacking this specific component of gliadin may be less damaging to patients with Celiac disease. Tests using the G12 antibody are useful for analyzing foods when Celiac disease is the primary concern."
https://www.ezgluten.com/faqs.php

Thank you again for your comment!!

I use a glass jar that has a lockable top, except I remove the rubber grommet/seal.

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Hobbies-Clear-Glass-Locking/dp/B007PG0TBC

I found mine at a local super market for 7 bucks.

I was very successful with a King Arthur recipe for the starter:

So I start my starter (haha) with whole grain flour. Then I feed it white all purpose flour once a day for 3 days, keeping it in an area that's around 75 F (this happens to be my bedroom, try explaining that to girls/guys you bring home).

After the third day I start to feed it twice a day, so every 12 hours. Typically 7am (before work), and 7pm (after work).

For all feedings, I usually weigh out 150g of starter, and then I mix in 150g flour and 150g distilled water. I use the discard for crackers, waffles or whatever I'm hungry for. more often than not, I discard it :(

I do this continually for a week, and depending on the time of the year, this could take several weeks. But eventually you'll notice that it triples in size after 3-4 hours. This is a good indication that it's ready.

Here is my latest sourdough:

https://i.imgur.com/lbaDFlc.jpg

Also recommend the Super Peel I love mine! Great gift (for those that bake using stones etc. rather than Dutch Ovens)

Skim off the layer and scoop out a ~25g quantity into a new, clean container. Feed 50g each flour and water, and cover. I prefer plastic deli containers as the width to height ratio is good for mixing, and the lids are airtight while flexible enough to allow doming and pop off if you feed the starter too much or it's very active in the summer. Regular feeding will keep the "kahm yeast" (which is in fact a pellicle formed from one of any number of yeasts) at bay, as will keeping it covered.

I use my bench blade ALL the time. I bake a lot of pies and tarts, really couldn't do without. I use it anytime I use the cutting board to cut more than a tiny amount - find it easier to scoop up the chopped things than with my knife. It's invaluable in dealing with the aftermath of baking, use it to scrape and scoop the extra flour and dough into the sink.

I didn't have one at first but really would not want to do without. It is one of those tools I have an odd affection for, enough that I admit I sharpened the edge, and use it enough I recently resharpened it (not knife edge sharp, wouldn't cut paper).

I finally realized I was being silly in not getting a bowl scraper. Same thing: why didn't I get one sooner?

Writing this makes me realize i should just go order the danish dough whisk I've been eyeing forever. Like for years.

A suggestion: Don't get this kind: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SSZ4Q4
Get a bench scraper with a solid handle, not one that is simply rolled over metal. I got that first and the rolled hollow one invariably collects crud in it or retains a few drops of water that get on my hands as I work with pastry dough. Eventually I got one with a solid plastic handle (that's the one I sharpened).

My starter is made of water and this flour: https://www.amazon.com/Conagra-Purpose-Hotel-Restaurant-Flour/dp/B0095FDIOQ

Bleached, Enriched, Bulk Flour. My breads use the same flour as well.

They didn't have whole wheat or any better flour at costco and, as you can see in my first attempt with the commercial yeast, I wanted to get going on making something to start up.

Do I need a better flour composition to get the lovely crumb structure?

Check out Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Bakers Apprentice" for the science and an in depth breakdown.

Check here for a shorter version.

Suffice to say that longer, cold fermentation favours the types of bacteria that break down starches and create more complex flavours (nutty, toasty to me). When you're only using three ingredients in a bread, it is your job to illicit as much flavour from those as possible.

Typical bread yeast is engineered to be fast acting, produce tons of carbon dioxide very quickly, and tends to not spit out much in the way of flavours. Hence the need for other ingredients like milk, butter, eggs, sugars, dough conditioners, etc. Great for a tangzhong milk bread, challah, or similar fluffy american white sandwich bread, but not so much for a complexly flavoured sourdough.

Both have their place in a bakers arsenal of flavour control.

Edit: A longer countertop rise would lead the bacteria & yeast to chew through all the available starches too quickly, resulting in a flatter loaf with a more liquid consistency before baking. This is really good if you're making focaccia or cibatta breads but your salt content needs to be much higher to offset and slow the fermentation down.

I use olive oil, but also use a silicone-coated pan which I highly recommend. Perfect size:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029JOC6I

Parchment paper is mostly just useful for moving the dough around once it's out of the banneton (or whatever else you let it rise in after shaping). You can also find pretty cheap dutch ovens online that'll be just as effective, such as this one — there's no need to get a fancy expensive one like Le Creuset.

Thanks! Well this person showed me the way to using an overnight rise in the fridge to get more flavor and make it easier to score. You can see my reply there that my top split every which way though.

This poster suggested this superstone loaf baker and 20% wheat with a 75% hydration and about 1kg.

And finally someone else suggested the Bake with Jack method and I used his method all of the way through except for using a dutch oven. One key thing I learned from him was to put the seam side down. I'd been using seam side up in the bake per the Forkish way which, as I mentioned, was making my loaves split randomly. Also, the added tighter folds he uses versus doing it in the tub lead to more structure.

Final recipe was:

• 200g of 50/50 whole rye flour starter
  
• 700g bread flour
  
• 200g wheat flour
  
• 620g water
  
• 16g salt

what size oblong banneton do you use? sounds like you make the same size loaf as me, (500g flour), and I'm terrible at guessing what size to get. I was thinking about this one which is 9.7 x 5.7

I use this one for my boule loaves and it's perfect. I love it.

thats awesome! I wanted to find a sourdough method for my vegan friends this is totally it! I personally used the Sunset Bread Book recipe

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Rose-Plastic-Dough-Scraper/dp/B002UFXUTG

They are good for pre-shaping wet dough as well as for helping to coax the dough out of your tub/bowl for your bench rest.