Last week I had a blob of chapati dough start to ferment on me, so I grasped the opportunity to try my hand at making sourdough bread roughly in accordance with:

Good Food

White sourdough

Master the art of how to make sourdough bread with our step-by-step recipe. Learn how to create a starter, levain and the loaf itself with our expert tips.

I've just sampled my second loaf (bit of crust lightly spread with bacon drip) and can definitely declare it to be edible.

Few questions:

The recipe I'm using seems to involve an awful lot of faffing about. Is this all absolutely necessary?

I've already upped the baking time from 35 to 45 minutes (at gas mark Nigeria). The crust isn't burning, but it is well crisp, and yet the heart of it is still definitely on the moist and claggy side. Is this how it is supposed to be?

The starter is very lively in my kitchen conditions, so rather than throw half of it away as instructed (wasteful), I'm using 200 g of starter as the levain. Is this a mortal sin?

The dough is a lot wetter than I'm used to. Is this normal?

I'm using approximately half quantities as I'm not exactly feeding the village here. Though it does seem to keep a lot better than my 'normal' 1 lb loaf.

2 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Last week I had a blob of chapati dough start to ferment on me, so I grasped the opportunity to try my hand at making sourdough bread roughly in accordance with:

Good Food

White sourdough

Master the art of how to make sourdough bread with our step-by-step recipe. Learn how to create a starter, levain and the loaf itself with our expert tips.

I've just sampled my second loaf (bit of crust lightly spread with bacon drip) and can definitely declare it to be edible.

Few questions:

The recipe I'm using seems to involve an awful lot of faffing about. Is this all absolutely necessary?

I've already upped the baking time from 35 to 45 minutes (at gas mark Nigeria). The crust isn't burning, but it is well crisp, and yet the heart of it is still definitely on the moist and claggy side. Is this how it is supposed to be?

The starter is very lively in my kitchen conditions, so rather than throw half of it away as instructed (wasteful), I'm using 200 g of starter as the levain. Is this a mortal sin?

The dough is a lot wetter than I'm used to. Is this normal?

I'm using approximately half quantities as I'm not exactly feeding the village here. Though it does seem to keep a lot better than my 'normal' 1 lb loaf.

I never mastered sough dough bread but I love to buy it from those who are good at it.

As for the dough being wetter in your recipe,I often make it that way (ie ordinary bread and not sough dough) as I think it encourages large bubbles which I like.

2 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Last week I had a blob of chapati dough start to ferment on me, so I grasped the opportunity to try my hand at making sourdough bread roughly in accordance with: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/white-sourdough I've just sampled my second loaf (bit of crust lightly spread with bacon drip) and can definitely declare it to be edible.

Few questions:

The recipe I'm using seems to involve an awful lot of faffing about. Is this all absolutely necessary?

I've already upped the baking time from 35 to 45 minutes (at gas mark Nigeria). The crust isn't burning, but it is well crisp, and yet the heart of it is still definitely on the moist and claggy side. Is this how it is supposed to be?

The starter is very lively in my kitchen conditions, so rather than throw half of it away as instructed (wasteful), I'm using 200 g of starter as the levain. Is this a mortal sin?

The dough is a lot wetter than I'm used to. Is this normal?

I'm using approximately half quantities as I'm not exactly feeding the village here. Though it does seem to keep a lot better than my 'normal' 1 lb loaf.

If the interior of the loaf is not being fully cooked by the time the exterior is sifficiently crisp try various methods to improve the heat flow to the interior.

1) Smaller loaves.

2) Long loaves of smaller cross section.

3) Perhaps you are just adding too much water. I like to start with a dough slightly too dry and add a little extra moisture when forming it into dollops to go into the baking vessels by dipping the dollop in a small amount of water. This can be repeated as necessary.

3 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Last week I had a blob of chapati dough start to ferment on me, so I grasped the opportunity to try my hand at making sourdough bread roughly in accordance with:

Good Food

White sourdough

Master the art of how to make sourdough bread with our step-by-step recipe. Learn how to create a starter, levain and the loaf itself with our expert tips.

I've just sampled my second loaf (bit of crust lightly spread with bacon drip) and can definitely declare it to be edible.

Few questions:

The recipe I'm using seems to involve an awful lot of faffing about. Is this all absolutely necessary?

I've already upped the baking time from 35 to 45 minutes (at gas mark Nigeria). The crust isn't burning, but it is well crisp, and yet the heart of it is still definitely on the moist and claggy side. Is this how it is supposed to be?

The starter is very lively in my kitchen conditions, so rather than throw half of it away as instructed (wasteful), I'm using 200 g of starter as the levain. Is this a mortal sin?

The dough is a lot wetter than I'm used to. Is this normal?

I'm using approximately half quantities as I'm not exactly feeding the village here. Though it does seem to keep a lot better than my 'normal' 1 lb loaf.

Lt. Pigeon would be proud.

1 hour ago, geordief said:

I never mastered sough dough bread but I love to buy it from those who are good at it.

As for the dough being wetter in your recipe,I often make it that way (ie ordinary bread and not sough dough) as I think it encourages large bubbles which I like.

Makes sense.

When I work out the ratios, my standard (Delia) loaf actually calls for a higher water content (43.7% as against 42.8% for the sourdough). The latter just feels a lot wetter which suggests it's something to do with the fermentation process.

1 hour ago, studiot said:

If the interior of the loaf is not being fully cooked by the time the exterior is sifficiently crisp try various methods to improve the heat flow to the interior.

I've been baking it in a loaf tin rather the recommended casserole dish, and I'm not even sure my oven will do gas mk 9.

Probably, need to experiment and risk the odd burnt offering.

What does "at gas mark Nigeria" mean? Not important, but once the universal translator fails it's hard to bring back online.

40 minutes ago, TheVat said:

What does "at gas mark Nigeria" mean?

It's lit and the knob is at maximum.

Maybe 200^o C ish(?). No fan.

Thanks. Posted that and then a minute later I'm thinking, oh wait that's a metaphor. Like me saying, "oven set at Mojave in July." (We Yanks don't use "gas mark" in common parlance) Now I am fetching strawberries from the freezer, set at Ice Station Zebra....

8 hours ago, TheVat said:

Thanks. Posted that and then a minute later I'm thinking, oh wait that's a metaphor. Like me saying, "oven set at Mojave in July." (We Yanks don't use "gas mark" in common parlance) Now I am fetching strawberries from the freezer, set at Ice Station Zebra....

ST:TNG Darmok (S5E2)