Sourdough—Demystified

When I first jumped into the sourdough game, I found myself a bit overwhelmed with the lingo of the bread-baking club.  Today, I’m going to explain some of the commonly used terms and what they mean.  Hopefully, this post will demystify some of the sourdough jargon and leave you feeling more confident in your own sourdough journey.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.  Any purchases made through these links may result in commission payment to me, but this will not affect the price you are charged.

Starter: The sourdough starter actually “starts” the bread baking process.  It is a living thing (almost like a pet!), a colony of wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria that feed on flour.  Yeasts, like other fungi, thrive in a warm, moist environment with lots of carbs (sugars) to feed on.  Therefore, to feed your starter, you’ll need to give it equal parts water and flour (measured by weight) to provide nutrition for the yeast. 

When the starter is “happy,” it should produce large bubbles and smell vaguely of yeast bread.  When it’s “hungry,” it smells sourer and may produce a layer of liquid called “hooch;” this liquid smells like nail polish remover. 

Starters thrive on kitchen countertops, but the yeast will work through the nutrients in the flour much faster at room temperature—meaning you’ll have to feed it more often, usually daily.  Therefore, I keep mine in the fridge so I only need to feed it weekly.

Hooch: As previously stated, this is the layer of liquid that starter produces when it is hungry.  It smell like nail polish remover.  Sometimes it’s clear; sometimes it’s dark.  You can pour it off or mix it back into the starter (I mix mine back in).

Feeding: When you feed your starter, you are supposed to discard half (or more!) of it and then feed it equal parts water and flour.  Actually, the amount of flour and water should equal the amount of starter remaining.  So, you’re feeding ratio should be 1:1:1—one part starter to one part water to one part flour (again, by weight).  When you feed your starter, make sure that it never rises above the halfway point of your jar; once it’s fed, it will double in size, and the last thing you want is overflowing starter to slime up your kitchen countertop or fridge.

Discard: The portion of the starter that you pour off before feeding the rest is called the discard.  Some people actually discard it.  While this may seem wasteful, keeping it and continuing to feed it will multiply your starter until you have more than you know what to do with (seriously—starter multiplies like bunny rabbits).

Personally, I prefer to feed the discard and use it in my baking.  All sorts of recipes are available online for baking with discard (without feeding it first).  I’ve also frozen some of my discard/extra starter as a backup stash in case anything should happen to the starter in my fridge.  Some people like to dehydrate their discard/extra starter as another backup or for use in low-moisture recipes.  The possibilities are endless.

Levain: This is a fancy name for the fed starter you set aside to use in your recipes.  By the time you use it, it should be bubbly and active (“happy”).  Typically, I refer to the levain as “active starter” in the recipes I post. 

Autolyze: The autolyze (or “autolyse,” for folks across the pond) process simply means that you mix the basic dough (flour, starter, and water) before adding additional ingredients, particularly salt.  Salt slows the fermentation process, allowing it to proceed at a pace that balances the work of the yeast with the time required to develop a great flavor.  Allowing the dough to autolyze before adding the salt can give the fermentation process a head start and increase the overall strength of the dough.

Stretch-and-fold: Sourdough, like many other breads, requires working the dough to develop the gluten structure that allows it to rise.  However, it also takes a long time to rise, and the air bubbles that lift it up are hard-earned.  Rather than kneading it and losing those bubbles, stretches and folds every 30 minutes or so protect the integrity of the dough while also developing the gluten.  Basically, you pick up one side of the dough, stretch it upward (without tearing it!), and fold it back toward the center of the dough; turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat, until all sides of the dough have been stretched and folded.  Most recipes call for a series of stretches and folds repeated every 30 minutes to an hour before the dough bulk ferments.

Bulk ferment: The bulk ferment, also known as the first rise, is the initial fermentation that takes place before the dough is shaped.  For sourdough, this one is usually done at room temperature and may last anywhere from 3-8 hours.

Proofing: After the bulk ferment, sourdough is usually shaped and allowed to proof.  This proofing, also known as the second rise, is usually done in the fridge.  This slows the process enough to finish developing the gluten structure while also developing that lovely tangy flavor that sourdough is known for.

Banneton: Proofing bannetons are special baskets, often lined with a linen cloth, used for the proofing process.  Some people craft their own.  In my experience, a plain mixing bowl works fine.  However, a dear friend gifted me a wonderful Shori Bake proofing set, and I absolutely love it!  Every baker is different, so do what works for you and for your family’s budget.

Scoring: When you bake sourdough, the moisture inside the dough generates a lot of steam, which needs a place to escape.  Scoring, or marking the top/sides of the dough with cuts, provides a place for the steam to do this.  If you don’t score your bread, the steam will find other ways out, generally through ugly cracks that run along the sides.  Just be forewarned—as soon as you score the bread, it will start to deflate.  Therefore, scoring is the last step before you toss your bread into the oven.

Baking tip—Dutch oven: Because sourdough requires high humidity when it bakes, most recipes call for the use of a Dutch oven.  If you don’t have one, however, you can fill a shallow baking dish with water and place it in the oven while it preheats; this generates steam to mimic the environment of a Dutch oven.  You can also foil your loaf to trap in moisture.  These aren’t perfect solutions, but they get the job done.

Most recipes call for the bread to be covered/steamed for the first half of the bake.  During the second half of the bake, the Dutch oven cover is removed.  Whether you use a Dutch oven or not, just be mindful of when and how the steam/covering is used in the baking process for that particular recipe.

Baking tip—food scale: Another piece of equipment that most recipes call for is a kitchen food scale (I got one very similar to this).  When I initially started baking sourdough, I didn’t think measuring weight exactly was a big deal (and maybe it’s not).  However, when I finally invested in a food scale and started measuring my ingredients more carefully… boy, did my breads improve!  You don’t have to buy the fanciest scale out there; a basic one will do.  But it’s worth the few dollars you’ll spend (and will save you plenty of frustration, especially as you get started on your sourdough journey). 

__________

Hopefully, this demystifies some of the sourdough terminology for you.  As you may have noticed in my commentary throughout this post, I’ve found sourdough to be very forgiving, and its flexibility means that baking routines can be adapted to any lifestyle or budget.  For the busy suburbanite, this can be reassuring. 

What do you think?  Are the any other terms I should have included?  Let me know in the comments!