I have two beautiful loaves of this sourdough bread doing their last 2-4 hour rise before a few quick slashes and into the oven. I haven't made sourdough in YEARS, but the feel, the look and so forth of this bread appears to be fantastic. I'm not sure if it's YOUR sourdough starter, your bread flour, dumb luck or some mystic combination of the three, but I can already tell this is a winner. One thing I noted - the instructions here on the website and those on the back of the starter instruction sheet differ. Some of the rise/rest times are different, the instruction sheet doesn't include spritzing or brushing the loaves with water just before slashing & baking, and so forth. When I sat down and fired up the computer, I thought I'd perhaps goofed. I know it will all come out in the end, but getting the instruction sheet and website in sync as much as possible would, I'm sure, be helpful for other bakers. In looking at some of the reviews here on the website and the recipe here, it appears some things have changed - the recipe above says bake to an internal temperature of 190, but a 2/12/2013 post says their recipe says 210 degrees...and the baker is only able to get it to 205. Another post says 190 degrees minimum. This will be the first time I've baked bread to a certain internal temperature - in the past it's been time and look. Again - I'm sure it's all going to work out fine in the end. Mike, sourdough is SO flexible that it can become confusing. Let me check with our customer service team about the "starter instruction sheet" - I'm not sure what that is or what it says, but I'll find out. As for the 2/12 review, my impression was the writer was citing a different recipe, not the one here in this blog. I like to bake any dense, whole-grain loaves to a higher temperature, but sourdough is usually light-textured enough that I keep it between "at least 190°F" (as the recipe says) and 200°F. I'm betting your bread is going to come out just fine... welcome back to sourdough baking! PJH

• Reply