Sourdough can be tricky…
It can be something you spend AGES Googling, researching and reading about. See, the internet is incredible because it’s infinite, but the problem is that it’s infinite; you’ll never get to the end. You might read a sourdough article or recipe from one person and watch a video from another and they could be completely different. You won’t ever find out how EVERYBODY makes their sourdough because you never could, but you’ll get plenty enough information to leave you completely confused and might even then stop looking. You might decide that with all this conflicting advice and information that it’s all just too confusing and probably too difficult anyway so maybe you’re taking on too much here, maybe this isn’t for you, after all, it’s WAY too complicated.
It can all be too much sometimes and it’s ok to feel that way because that’s not the nature of sourdough, that’s the nature of the internet, I promise. Once you log out and start mixing flour with water then waiting for a bit, you’ll realise that making your own epic sourdough loaf is probably easier than it sounds.
Sourdough is SUCH a flexible process, it’s so forgiving once you understand the aim of the game and the principles at play. Everybody has their own way of making sourdough, and their way is always the best way even if it’s surprisingly different to the next persons equally good (if not BETTER) way and the reason why it is like that is because it really DOESN’T MATTER most of the time whether you autolyse or not (I don’t) or coil fold (I don’t do that either) or laminate (couldn’t care less). If your aim here is a nice puffed up loaf that’s all natural and works for you and tastes delicious then it’s within your grasp without any of these complicated things.
Start simple, and stay simple if you want!
Enjoy learning PRINCIPLES and make your own best way.
Here, I’ve put together a few of what I think are my most helpful videos on the topic that will help you to understand sourdough. With that, you’ll know why you are doing what you are doing in the first place which I believe to be the most useful thing.
An understanding of the principles of sourdough leads to an understanding of the process which in turn leads to incredible sourdough bread every time, not some of the time. Stop Googling, stop comparing, stop gathering resources. Start understanding sourdough…
This month it’s Sourdough September; a month to celebrate Sourdough Bread with the Real Bread Campaign. For more infromation click here.
See ALL of my Sourdough Videos here…
My Go-To Sourdough Recipe