Do nerds or hackers bake sourdough regularly? | Hacker News Reader

Do nerds or hackers bake sourdough regularly?

4 pointsbasileafe12 comments

I enjoyed a thread about how hacker and nerdy cooks [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8356489]. For me as developer and designer, cooking and baking it is therapeutic.

Here I shot and edited a short video about Feeding a sourdough starter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlxmP3n4SQs

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I tried going the sourdough route a couple years ago with limited success (about 25%). I have definitely learned more since then by just doing pre-ferments--primarily a poolish(high water % preferment mixed with a small amount of yeast and let sit for 14-ish hours, before adding additional yeast, salt, water, flour).

If anyone wants sour bread that peaks a few days after baking, but not the full levain/sourdough feeding regiment, I would definitely recommend trying a poolish (or biga). In getting the poolish down, I feel like I'm in a better position to retry sourdough, now that I understand what all the steps are for, and to treat time as an ingredient.

When you get in to it, one of your main problems will be always having a loaf of tasty bread on your counter. That combined with working remotely makes it easy to gain a few pounds.

Another recommendation with the poolish, is to use a 2 loaf recipe (say 1000g flour), then make focaccia's with the 2nd. Focaccia is extremely simple and makes for a great gift or something to show up to a dinner party with.

I have been baking Sourdough goods such as bread, focaccia, scones, doughnuts, pizza, baguette, pancake, and more for over 5 years [www.urbancottage.net] and haven't tried poolish not biga. I know you would need to add yeast to the mix. I tried other recipes with yeast and it is good. I would need it to give the dough a lift not more.

My get to a recipe for bread, focaccia, and pizza is 800g white wheat, 200g whole wheat, 800g water, 20g salt, 200g starter. Mix, rest, and turn over once every 30 minutes. Cold fermentation for 6-20 hours. I have taught many people this simple and easy receipt.

Bread baking is like magic to me, more than cooking. It requires patient and appreciate the process of simple elements.

I'm working on an online course where I attack people's issues, not mine. I will explain it, and offer solutions based on science and common sense. Give them confident to bake with any flour at any temperature (+30º / -10º). Show them different ways to bake with pure starter or with a little of dried yeast, and why.

1- Would anyone be interesting to join? 2- What would you like to see this course covers or explains? 3- What issues/fears/troubles/mistakes you do/face while baking sourdough bread.

Thanks :)

I made a sourdough starter for the first time recently. It's really hard to find a short guide on e.g. what ingredients to use, what amounts to use, what to do about discarding, how often to feed.

Worked fine for me first time. I feed the starter every 1 to 3 days (it's not important), throw in 1/3 of a cup of water and 1/3 of a cup of flour each time then mix (just by eye, don't bother measuring, white or brown flour is fine, cold or warm water is fine), don't discard anything (no need to waste it, or collect it in another container). When the container starts getting full I either make bread or pancakes.

It's probably from being a developer, but I was frustrated by the number of guides I had to read to settle on the above because a lot are dauntingly complex.

Some guides will say feed once, twice or three times a day, some will say to only use a specific kind of flour at first then change, some say measuring by weight is vital, some say discarding each feed is important to keep the ratios exact etc.

I just went with the simplest advice for each variable and it worked (along with several friends who followed their own method) so my feelings are many guides that say "you need to do this for it to work" aren't based on fact and yeast isn't delicate at all to cultivate (makes sense given it survives freezing, not being fed a while, sitting idle in bags of flour for months, being saturated in water, high room temperatures).

In terms of verifying sourdough advice scientifically, it would be super cheap to do with minimal equipment so it bothers me there isn't a definitive easy guide by now to dispel common myths. The one about how you're cultivating yeast from the air is a myth as far as I know (the yeast is coming from the flour) but you hear it everywhere still.

Maybe I just got lucky first time or the method is non-optimal, but I'm happy that I've cultivated laid-back yeast that isn't picky about how it's fed.

A lot also depends on your climate, bulk fermentation is hugely variable on temperature and humidity. Now that our flat is warm and humid, I can easily overferment if I leave the dough standing during the day.

I’ve found that feeding 2x a week is really the sweet spot for starter. As for recipes, I recommend you kneed in the bowl and use the following

60g 100% hydration starter fed 18-24 hrs before 300g water 450g all purpose Costco flour or equivalent

Mix it up in a bowl till it’s not clumpy and let it sit 30min or so (15-120 min seems to work)

Add 12g salt and mix it in by folding the dough over in the bowl till it forms a ball Wait 10-30 min or so Repeat folding 2-3 times when convenient Shape into ball, let rise for a couple hours then shove it in the fridge top self overnight covered

In the morning take it out, fold it cold just enough to make a loaf shape transfer to banetonne, cover.

Preheat over to max and put in crock pot to preheat.

Wait 1-2 hrs

Transfer flowered cutting board. Score and transfer to crockpot

Bake 20 min covered @500 reduce temp to 425 20 uncovered

Eat

Yep, I bake sourdough bread a few times per week using something similar to this method:

https://www.culturedfoodlife.com/recipe/overnight-sourdough-...

Basically just bulk ferment from night until morning.

I bake in a loaf pan and keep a tray on the oven bottom with enough boiling water to provide steam for the first 15 minutes or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlxmP3n4SQs

I’d just ask a local artisanal bakery to give you some of their starter, which they often are happy to do. Starting my own was quite disappointing so far, many bakeries cultivate theirs for generations so I think they usually have developed a better microfauna.

You should be able to get a starter going without too many issues. Some tips:

- Use bottled water

- Use organic rye flour to feed the starter

- Be patient :)

I would love to get into this, but I am a total noob at this with minimal experience of any kind of baking (tried making white bread once with water, instant yeast and white flour).

Is there an easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorial for a total noob on this?

I thought about it but it’s a bit too involved for me. I prefer to make soda bread, flat bread or traditional loaf. I’m not cheffy at all btw, just corona bordem

I bake about once per week, mostly because the bread I bake is better than anything I can buy in the area (subjectivity might apply...).

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