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Sourdough is bread leavened not by packaged commercial yeast but by a wild, living culture of yeast and bacteria that lives in flour and water. This culture, called a sourdough sta...
A sourdough starter is a living culture that requires regular attention. To keep it healthy, you mix fresh flour and water into the starter on a regular schedule in a process calle...
The single most important variable in a sourdough recipe is hydration, which is the ratio of water to flour by weight expressed as a percentage. A standard loaf is built around six...
Wheat flour contains two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, that combine with water to form gluten, the elastic network responsible for trapping gas and giving bread its structure. Gl...
After bulk fermentation, the dough goes through a series of steps to prepare it for the oven. It is first divided or given a loose preliminary shape called a preshape, then left fo...
The first minutes in the oven are the most dramatic part of the bread's life. The loaf experiences oven spring, a rapid final rise driven by the expansion of trapped gases as the d...
Every baker encounters problems, and learning to read the bread is part of the craft. A flat loaf is usually under-fermented, poorly shaped, or made with a weak starter. A gummy in...