re: Making Artisanal Bread

What’s that in weight? I’ve been sticking to using grams per the books.

I weigh when making dough, but an approx volume measurement is close enough for feeling a starter. I’m usually too lazy to break out the scale for a single dose of flour.

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Hopefully i'll be able to make a sourdough loaf in a couple weeks.

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Why are you waiting a couple of weeks? If the starter is reliably doubling in 4-6 hrs, you can use it. There is ZERO advantage to waiting any longer. It's sufficiently lively to make bread. Get to it.

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Because i don't have time to make bread this weekend or next.

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Ah, you only THINK you don't have time to make bread. You do. If you are 1)at home for 2-3 hours, and 2)have a refrigerator, you can make bread.
--feed starter in AM before you leave, feed in PM before you go to bed.
--next AM, mix levain. Let it sit out at room temp all day.
--that evening, mix the dough. Follow the Forkish recipe, or a Tartine style....IOW, take the levain you mixed, dissolved in water, add flour...let autolyse 20 mins, add salt/extra water, and mix w/your hands. Mix again in 30 mins; do another 2-3 stretch and folds. Note that the time required is not continuous...you can be doing other things over the 3-4 hr period. Before you go to sleep, divide and shape the dough, put into floured-towel lined bowls, cover, and put in fridge.
--next AM, preheat oven, pull dough out of fridge, and bake. Or leave dough in fridge until afternoon, and bake after work.

The beauty of high-hydration sourdough is that it requires very little active time--just a few bursts of stuff to do here and there. Your fridge can be used to manipulate the schedule according to your convenience.

So 3 feedings in a row, i've had signs of strong fermentation. The rise is 3 to 4 times the original size. The sort of sour smell i was getting before i had a rise, is more "bready" with a tiny hint of acidity. I think i'll continue feeding twice a day through the weekend, then put in the fridge sunday night, then feed once/week. Then, in 2 weeks, i'll take the starter out on a wednesday, and begin double feeding again to wake the starter up in hopes of baking that weekend. Or, i'll reduce my hydration and just feed once/day, which is more maneagable than twice/day.

I'll try the float test this sunday as well, and see how i do.

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You can feed it once a day 50g each of flour and water. A starter is a pretty durable once you get it going.

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Good, because feeding it 100g flour every feeding, twice a day, has dwindled my flour supply.

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Good, because feeding it 100g flour every feeding, twice a day, has dwindled my flour supply.

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Congrats on now buying 10 lbs of flour every time you go to the store now.

Ive been making sourdough for a few years now and I'm hooked, but 2 questions:

1. How can I make a baguette or batard with a good crispy crust without using my Dutch oven? I don't want to do the "add water to the preheated pan and mist the loaf" thing. That's too messy. All I do is make round breads that fit in the Dutch oven. I would like to make something long like a French baguette with a good crust but that won’t fit in the Dutch oven.

2. How can I make my sourdough more acidic or tangy or sour? I know the bacteria are regional and once you move a starter from San Francisco for example the local bacteria will take over. It sure would be nice to make sourdough that tastes like San Francisco sourdough but that apparently is impossible.

Trying to make my first sourdough loaf today.

If I can get Imgur to work I'll post some pics, but it hasn't been working for me lately.