Sourdough Mini Loaf- Recipe - Crafty Gemini (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good sourdough bread? ›

Sourdough bread can be really light if you know how to play with your ratios. When I want a really fluffy, light loaf with a thin crust I work 300g starter to each kilogram of flour and 500g water (less or more depending on the kind of bread I'm making). A teaspoon of sugar helps.

It might be cold dough. One of the most common mistakes is having a dough temperature that's too low for the starter to feed on all the flour in the dough, resulting in a crumb that's dense, with fewer openings. "Starter is happiest and most active at around 75 degrees.

So don't leave your dough in a warm oven, on a radiator or in sunlight. It will likely be too warm and will dry out your dough too. Instead, find a cosy spot, with no drafts, for your dough to rise. And, if your sourdough starter is struggling to get going, consider finding it a warmer spot too.

Rye Flour

Compared to wholemeal flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means that rye flour produces slack, sticky and dense doughs.

Cold Ferment: Cold fermenting your dough for longer periods of time can produce even more flavor as the dough ferments in the refrigerator at low temperatures. The longer your dough stays in the refrigerator, the more sour it has a chance to become.

Avoid Using Too Much Flour On Your Dough Surface

Try to minimise the amount of rice flour you use and brush off the excess before baking. If you are rubbing your dough with flour before baking to accentuate your scored designs, this too can dehydrate your crust, causing it to be tougher and more chewy.

Baking soda or bicarbonate of soda can be used in sourdough bread to create a less sour loaf. Added after bulk fermentation, but before shaping, it can help to create a lighter, more fluffy loaf of sourdough.

Underproofed bread dough is simply dough that has not had enough total fermentation time: the time from where your preferment (such as a sourdough starter or levain) is added to the dough until baking.

Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside. Trying reducing the temperature you're baking at and bake for a bit longer. Experiment until you find the sweet spot, and take notes along the way.

Why does my sourdough loaf feel so heavy? ›

If your sourdough feels heavy when you take it out of the oven, it's a good indication that it hasn't lost enough water weight. This will result in a gummy, wet crumb inside, often with a strip of unbaked dough towards the bottom. The under lying cause of this heaviness is actually under fermentation.

Place the loaves in a warm place to proof for as little as one hour in an oven with a proof setting or a cooler with a few inches of hot water in the bottom of it. Your proof-box should be between 75° and 85°F (24° and 29°C). They should rise and feel airier, but not be completely inflated.

You can cold ferment or cold proof your sourdough overnight because the cold temperature of the fridge stops the dough from over fermenting. If you were to leave your shaped dough on the counter overnight, you'd wake up to a soupy mess (unless it was freezing in your home).

Yes, sourdough bread will rise in the fridge, but it won't rise as quickly as bread that contains commercial baker's yeast. While yeasted breads tend to over proof if left in the fridge overnight, you can usually leave sourdough bread in the fridge for up to 24 hours without the risk of it over proofing.

Because of the organic acids produced by the Lactobacillus bacteria, sourdough has a lower pH than standard bread. This not only gives it a desirable “sour” flavor and longer shelf-life, but also makes the bread kinder to your gut (Marti, et al., 2015; Siepmann, et al., 2018).

There are two main acids produced in a sourdough culture: lactic acid and acetic acid. Acetic acid, or vinegar, is the acid that gives sourdough much of its tang. Giving acetic acid-producing organisms optimal conditions to thrive and multiply will produce a more tangy finished product.

Over the years, I've found keeping the mixture warm at around 80°F (26°C), and high hydration (100% water to flour in baker's percentages) helps get things started. In addition, while not mandatory, using certain flour also helps increase the chances a starter will take hold quickly (see below).

To proof them, let them sit, covered, at room temperature for up to 3–4 hours, or let them proof for a little while at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for 12–15 hours. Or you can speed the process by using a proof box, warm cooler, or slightly warm oven to speed things up.