What tools do you use?
(None of these are paid ads or endorsements, it's just what I use & like)
Bench scrapers: Campbell’s Dough Knife for sure & literally any cheap plastic scrapers I can find when all mine crack or get lost
Baking: cordierite baking stone + different sizes of steam-table pan depending on load size to cover the loaves
Dough tubs: Carlisle bus tubs for 10+ kg. Otherwise: any plastic bin rated food grade and dishwasher safe (check your local government's website for how to read the numbers & symbols on plastics)
Scale: Oxo
Lames: Wire Monkey Shop UFO & Scandibake disposable. But also like, it's a razor-holder, so at the end of the day, pick what you think will be most comfortable in your hand.
Razor blades: derby
What flours do you use?
I love Cairnspring Mills flours. The Trailblazer & T-85 Expresso are awesome, and especially if you're in Washington State I highly recommend their stuff. It's good.
I also love Central Milling High Mountain or Electra Light high protein flour, T85 or T70 wheat flour, and Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur whole wheat flours.
What even is a sourdough starter?
It's a bacteria culture that grows when you mix flour and water together, then let it sit and feed on natural yeasts in the air & environment. There are a bajillion resources out there if you want to make one (like this one, this, here, or this)
Starter vs. levain ...?
Technically a starter is your 'main' bacteria culture, and a levain is a secondary one you make from a little bit of your first one. Like in a separate container. Yes, then you have 2. Why: if you know how much you'll need, you can make a levain of that size and use it all. If you want to make (for instance) 100% rye bread including the starter, you can make a rye levain and not have to convert your entire starter culture to a rye culture and then back again if you don't want to use it that way. Stuff like that. No overthinking this one.
How do I feed/care for my starter?
A whole lot of people will tell you exactly how to care for your starter and what you're doing all wrong and it'll allllllllll be different. DON'T IGNORE THEM because it's likely great information, but know that you're looking for what works best for you --
The truth is what keeps your starter alive and healthy is what you should do. Does it grow when you feed it? Does it smell cool and funky and not bad? Does it make your dough happen? If yeah, then you're doing it right.
But if you need somewhere to start: feed it 1 part starter : 1 part flour : 1 part water, every night before you go to bed, and start tweaking the process from there.
All the GOOD photos (like the one above) on this website are by Bàby Claypool!
I often get asked if I have anything for sale or if there's a way to send me money for putting together my videos & recipes - -
If that's you: thank you, that's really nice! All my info is free. Please take that money you were prepared to send to me, even if it's only $1, and donate it to one of the following:
•ACLU
•National Network of Abortion Funds
THE BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG QUESTIONS:
“how do I get my bread to rise/spring in the oven,” and “how do I get my bread to look like all this bread I see on Instagram?”
These are both valid questions and they both translate to:
“how do I make consistently good bread?”
Which is, ultimately, a fair question! So here's how I think about it:
The answer is the same as it would be to that question about... anything. How do you learn the guitar? Practice. How do you learn to skateboard? Practice. How do you know you’re getting better? You mess up a bunch until you can identify why you fell, and how to not next time. Like that old dude Beckett said you “...fail again. fail better”. Pretty smart if you're down with it.
So how do you shortcut learning a process that takes people years/decades/a lifetime to master? The only way I know is: fit more practice into your life than a standard hobby generally calls for. If you can do that in a healthy way, that could work possibly...
Making one loaf a week and not learning fast enough? Make 20 loaves a week. You’ll miss stuff your friends are doing and probably end up throwing money away, but you’ll be putting yourself in a situation where you’re forced to learn because if you don’t there are consequences.
Does that remind you of when you had to read a book in school and you knew it was an amazing book but you couldn't enjoy it because you HAD to read it? So why go that route? Go at your pace and pay attention to your process.
There is no one way to make good bread and anyone who claims their method as written will work for everyone everywhere is probably selling something. It's flour, water, and salt. Not saying everyone needs to be giving away all their knowledge for free, but we're all just trying to make bread here - -
There is no one key factor. There is no secret. There are ingredients and steps to the process. If the process isn't working, there's a variable that's causing it not to. Identifying that variable and correcting for it is the solution.
The best bakers the world over and all their cookbooks will all tell you that their formulas and notes are starting places for you, and you’ll have to make changes to succeed with your ingredients in your environment (and they’re all WAY smarter than me about this). Believe them!