First bread loaf with new starter
Nervously finished my first sourdough bake this morning. I’ve never made bread before nor had I ever made a sourdough starter so any advice is appreciated!
I used this recipe: https://cultured.guru/blog/dutch-oven-sourdough-bread-recipe-master-recipe/print/4469
My starter was 16 days old when I made the dough. I’m using whole wheat flour for the starter and bread flour for the bake so I’m not sure if that changes anything.
Yesterday morning, when it was time for me to feed my starter, I added 100 grams of it to 300 grams of water, 12 grams of salt and 500 grams of bread flour, mixed and then kneaded until it was as uniform as I could get it at the time. Rested it for 30 minutes, folded, left for 2 hours, did that for 3 folds (I just followed the recipe religiously). Then pre-shaped it, rested for one hour on the counter, shaped again, placed it in a floured banneton and set in the fridge for 12 hours, woke up this morning, preheated my oven with a cast iron Dutch oven inside, placed the dough inside on some parchment paper, baked at 450 degrees for 30 minutes with lid on and then 30 minutes with lid off. I probably should have taken out sooner on the second bake because the bottom got burnt a little, but I wanted to make sure it was cooked through.
It turned out way better than I expected for my first ever loaf! I think I didn’t get the hang of properly stretching and folding it until the third and final folding so I think that could be to blame for the weirdness of the bubbles, it tasted really good and sour (which is what I like) and it smelled amazing. It was very dense and heavy though, so I’m not sure if that was the folding or the youth of my starter or something else entirely. My house was kind of chilly so I may not have rested it long enough, I didn’t place it on any kind of heat source since the recipe didn’t call for it, definitely something to try for next time. I’m sure I did many things wrong here to get it this dense, so I’m just looking for advice on how to improve for the next loaf!
I’m mostly just happy that it rose and made a nice shape, I was fully expecting a hockey puck but was pleasantly surprised that something resembling bread came out of the oven!