Donna

April 29, 2020 at 10:40am

Hi Martin, LOVE and a BIG Thank You for your video's of Martin Bakes at Home. I have a couple of questions regarding this sourdough bread recipe (I used your version - but followed the rest of Maura's instructions). First off, after 15 days I made my own sourdough starter YAY!!! Monday night I made my mix in a bowl, put the entire bowl in a plastic bag and let it rest on my counter overnight (12 hrs). On Tuesday morning (around 7am) I divided my dough, weighed out 900g each, did my pre-shape and let it rest 10 min. After the 10 min, I did my final shape and stretching (as best I could as this was my very first time baking sourdough) following along with your video instructions. I didn't have a banneton so I used a glass bowl (9" round) lined with a floured tea towel. I placed the dough, seam side up, in the bowl, placed the bowl back into the plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator for another 8-12 hrs. By around 4pm same day, I got the oven turned on for about an hour to heat up. When I took the dough out of the refrigerator, it had not risen as yours had in the video. I left the dough out at room temp covered with a towel for about an hour - still no rise but saw some large bubbles. I decided to go ahead with the bake and honestly, it looked beautiful when it came out, but heavy, and sure enough when we cut into the bread, it was pretty dense, but still delicious. What do you think caused this? After watching your video (many times lol) I'm guessing it could have been my starter either being not active enough or maybe even needing more than a 100g of starter if it was a bit sluggish OR problem was in stretching the dough in the final shape to get it nice and tight. I know you mentioned in the video that some people have claimed that they didn't get the bread to open with the right amount of energy because of a lack of tension in the final shape. Also, I understand from your video that the 8-12 hour refrigeration doesn't necessarily help the dough rise as much as giving it flavor. So my question is also, where does the actual rise take place in the first 12 hour rest on the counter? Okay, so I know it's a long comment/question but I really want to get better at this and I have starter now YAY!! I appreciate your help.

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