Hi! In this video you will see how I achieved an open crumb sourdough bread with a nice ear even without using a digital food scale, a banneton, or dutch oven. This is also a no-knead recipe. Please turn on the captions to learn more details.
Like many of you, I initially just wanted to be able to make good sourdough bread. It took me a while to have my own digital food scale so I spent a solid month experimenting (more like converting grams to cup measurements, LOL!) on the sourdough bread recipes I see here in YouTube.
I finally got the stability in terms of taste and texture by mixing 1 cup water, 1.5 tsp salt, 1.5 heaping tablespoon of low hydration starter, and 2.5 cups of flour. I was able to establish a method that works for me and my warm, tropical environment. From here on, all my breads would rise beautifully (unless I insisted on using a sluggish starter!!! And this still happens when I get impatient! lol) BUT, I was never able to achieve an open crumb and an ear.
My first sourdough bread that got the open crumb and good ear happened after I used a digital food scale. I showed it in my very first video. It was a pleasant surprise. And yet, I was always, ALWAYS curious if I could still make an open crumb sourdough bread happen even if I won't use the food scale.
And friends....it happened! It's possible! I hope this will inspire you to try. ^_^
STEP BY STEP PROCESS (Note, I'm not using a digital food scale here):
1. Make off-shoot starter (levain). From your main starter (that is prolly too acidic now), get a teaspoon, put in another container and feed it there with around 2 heaping tablespoons of bread flour and 2 tablespoons of water. Make sure that the consistency is NOT runny. We want a low hydration starter (or levain). Observe this levain. If it doubles in height in 3-4 hours, your starter is active. It can double in 2 hours only if it's exceptionally hot.
2. Once the starter (levain) peaks, we now mix all ingredients as shown in the video:
1 cup water, 1.5 tsp salt, 1.5 heaping table spoon of starter, 2.5 cups bread flour.
3. Scrunch up the dough with your hand, mix it well for about 2 minutes.
4. Put in fridge, covered, (NOT freezer) to autolyse for at least 1 hour.
5. Take out of the fridge. Stretch and fold onto itself. And shape into a nice tight ball. This step takes about 5 mins max.
6. Place back in the fridge, covered, and let rest for as long as you want. LOL. mine reached 5 hours.
7. Take out of the fridge. Stretch and fold again and shape into a nice tight ball again.
8. Let it bulk ferment (rest at room temp) for around 3 hours. Mine reached 4 hours because it was a cold and rainy evening.
9. Do the final shaping and place in a final proofing container like a banneton. I don't have one.
10. Put in the fridge, covered. Let rest for as long as you want. LOL. Mine reached almost 6 hours.
If you have the time to bake now:
11. Preheat oven until it reaches at least 450 degrees Fahrenheit or 230 degrees Celsius. The metal oven tray that comes with the oven must be preheated as well. Place it in the middle part of the oven.
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DUTCH OVEN, YOU WILL PROVIDE STEAM. You can follow what I did.
12. Boil water.
13. Meanwhile, take bread out of the fridge and prepare for scoring.
14. Once bread is scored, put the boiling water in an oven safe bowl.
15. Place both bread and bowl inside the oven, on top of the preheated oven tray.
16. Let bake for 15 minutes. Then, remove the bowl. If your gas oven burns the bottoms of your breads, you can place old aluminum trays on the lower rack to cut off direct heat. Lower heat but not lower than 400F.
17. Let it cook until you get the color of the bread that you want, at least for 20 minutes more.
My bread here looks pale. I was afraid to burn the bottom. I didn't know yet that I could just place aluminum trays to prevent burnt bottoms. But, the bread was edible and yummy too. Just not as brown as I wanted it to be.
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Drop your questions in the comments so I can answer you the best I can.
If you have time, please watch my other videos:
Making Sourdough Starter from Scratch Using Bread Flour:
[ Ссылка ]
10 norms you can break about the sourdough starter esp. if you live in a hot country:
[ Ссылка ]
The BASIC things you need in making Sourdough bread:
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My First successful sourdough starter:
[ Ссылка ]
My attempts at making sourdough bread:
First attempt:
[ Ссылка ]
Second attempt:
[ Ссылка ]
Third attempt:
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God bless you!
