Since March, I, along with just about every one else, have been grounded from work and fun travel but being immune compromised, I am in full hermit mode. Being the type A, extrovert that I am, everyone thought that I would have a melt down by week 4, since I haven’t stayed still for more than 4 weeks in my adult life. Even during the worst of my illness, in a wheelchair, I went on a cruise, took my IVs to the beach and went to an NFL game.
To my, and everyone’s, surprise, I have been extremely content at home! I always have lots of lists (type A) of anything and everything, and so since February I have taken out and completed the “wish I had time to do X in the house” and then started on the “if I was stuck at home with lots of time” list. The list had a wide range of things to do, from organize and label my storage boxes to researching more about new lyme treatments to a lengthy list of baked goods I’ve always wanted to try making.
It turns out, I am not the only one with a learn to bake wish list, and social media has been buzzing about sourdough. Being gluten, corn and egg free as well as using only natural sweeteners, bread bought at the store is extremely hard to find! So with lots of time at home, I decided to try and why not start with the most difficult bread out there, sourdough? The bread itself isn’t necessarily any harder than another type of bread, but there is also the sourdough starter to make, which is a process all on its own, before even attempting the bread.
I use the GFJules Sourdough and Starter Recipe with some tweaks. Jules gives many options throughout the recipe so I figured I would share my choices and what I have tweaked along the way.
Sourdough starter:
So I began the starter process deciding on what type of yeast to use. I am always a bit hesitant about yeast because I can react to it in certain foods. I do not have a dairy issue, so I decided to use yogurt for my yeast starter. If I am going to have yeast, as least it is partially from good bacteria. The recipe states to start with 1 cup water and 1 cup flour but I decided to do a 1/4 cup of each to begin since I wasn’t sure how fast I would blow through my bag of flour. The recipe says to use the GF Jules flour mix. Unfortunately being corn free, the only GF Jule mix I can use is the bread mix (which I do use in making the bread) so I have been using Namaste Perfect Flour Blend.
I had several trial and errors with the starter. While the recipe states over 70 degrees and in a warmer part of the house, I didn’t take that seriously enough. Our house is usually around 74 degrees, so I thought it would be just fine, turns out I was very wrong. We have granite counter tops, which are colder than the air and 70 degrees is the absolute coldest, so 74 was just too close. I spent almost 3 weeks on the starter, it would start and then stop and then start again and then stop again every couple of days and I couldn’t figure it out. I actually brought it with us to the beach house to try in a different air! It turns out, I wasn’t feeding it enough (both proportionally and frequency). The GF Jules recipe says you don’t have to throw out half of the starter each time, but honestly, I haven’t found a way to keep it alive without splitting it. I have been trying to give away starter each week vs throwing it out, but I have to split it or the feeding and growing doesn’t work. I ended up trying to “kickstart” it several times with honey and more yogurt. I mentioned we brought it to the beach house, well when we were leaving, I had given up and just put about a cup worth in a mason jar, fed it as I had been and put the lid on, placed it in a paper bag and in the backseat of the car. We live in Texas, so even with the AC on, the backseat gets hot and wouldn’t you know, the starter overflowed the mason jar on the 4 hour drive home! Since then I have fed and grown my starter in mason jars, with cheesecloth other it on a bench outside.
Couple tips I learned along the way:
- Glass: Make sure you can see in to whatever you are using to feed/grow your starter. I was using stainless steel bowls at first, thinking that the “bubbles” would show like water boiling – crazy assumption I now know. Glass bowls or mason jars – even if you need to remove from jars to bowl to feed and then place back into the jar – it makes a huge difference of seeing the action.
- Warmth: Make sure the starter is being fed/growing in the warmest place you have (without of course actually baking it :))
- Cheesecloth: I used towels, covers and then used cheesecloth and there is a very big difference for the starter. GF Jules says the starter likes fresh air, which I now believe!
Once I had the starter complete, almost a month later, it was time to attempt my first actual loaf. GF Jules talks about the Pullman Pan and the artisan style. Since I didn’t have a Pullman Pan, I figured I would try the artisan style, and besides it looks so pretty! I mistakenly thought all GF Jules mixes had cornstarch in them, so made my first two loaves with Namaste Perfect Flour Blend and all of the additional ingredients in the GF Jules Sourdough Recipe. Being egg free and only using natural sugar substitutes, my first loaf I used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer and always use organic coconut sugar. It came out looking great tasting, a little less sour then ideal, but pretty happy for my first time! I started making a list of results I wanted to tweak in order to attain: I wanted more height (to use for grilled cheese mainly), remove the doughy stripe on the bottom and get a more sour taste.
Attempt # 2 I ordered a Pullman Pan, since I wanted height I felt the structure would help it grow up instead of out. I changed the bubbly liquid from club soda to Topo Chicco since it is supposed to be the most bubbly sparkling water. I was still using the Namaste Perfect Flour Blend but ordered the GF Jules Bread Mix for attempt #3. I also got some tips from Jules (thank you!) on temperature of the oven and she suggested that I might not have a calibrated oven – and she was right! I bought an in oven thermometer and my oven not only is consistently off by 7-12 degrees but it also doesn’t keep a consistent temperature, ranging 8-15 degrees at any moment from what is set for an overall range of 15 – 27 degrees which is a HUGE issue for bread!
While I do think the Pullman was a good idea, I bought the 2lb pan instead of the 1 lb pan, which I didn’t realize until after loaf 4…so the link I have added is the pan I have on the way to my house now 🙂
Attempt # 3 I continued using the Pullman pan (the wrong size) but I decided it needed to rise more, so I used the alternative rise instructions from GF Jules, since I wasn’t using egg, and I left it covered in the turned off oven overnight, about 12 hours total. I also changed the egg replacer to the Ener-G Egg Replacer. Based on my findings of my oven temperature ranges, I baked the bread at a slightly higher temp (375 degrees) and for an additional 45 minutes. I also used an instant read thermometer to make sure the internal temp was 205 degrees, like the recipe says. Attempt 3 had more bubbles/air and a much more sour taste but then had an even more exaggerated dense line at the bottom and was still too damp. I did learn with attempt 3 how to make croutons with all of the extra bread which has been delicious and I highly recommend!
Attempt # 4 actually looks, tastes and has the texture of bread!! I added an additional 1/4 cup of starter and decreased by the same 1/4 cup of bubbly water trying to dry the bread out a bit while also giving it more rise. In addition, I changed out the egg replacer mix with aquafaba to give more structure to the bread. Aquafaba is chickpea soaked water – if you haven’t heard of it look it up! Its the closest texture to eggs and egg whites that I have ever seen – you can actually whip it into meringue! I extended the rise to 26 hours which initially I thought was great because it rose so much before baking. The loaf actually rose higher before baking and then sunk which several bakers have told me can be a sign of exhausting the yeast, rising too much before and not having enough rise left during baking. I also increased the temperature to 425 for 80 minutes and decreased to 375 for an additional 40 minutes. I also allowed the bread to cool for over 3 hours before cutting into it.
Attempt #5 won’t be next week, because I am taking a break from sourdough and trying sandwich bread, but the next sourdough loaf I am going to stick with the aquafaba and changed starter to bubbly water ratio, change the pan to use the correct size, allow the dough to rise for only 8 hours overnight and keep the temperatures high.
I am much better at cooking than I am baking! In cooking, it is a dash of this and a sprinkle of that, which I am good at but baking requires measurement and exact science, which I am not so good at in the kitchen but I keep trying!
Check out and follow my Instagram to see more of my dough adventures!
