October 8, 2023 - 8:14pm
Hi from Northern Cali
I've lurked for a while and thought I'd check in and say hi .
I'm a novice baker and I'd like to improve my sourdough. I began my attempts late 2019 and kept going through shutdown. I had fair results, yet when bread became available again I was frustrated not being able to bake as well as I could buy from Costco.
With the weather cooling off, Its time to give it another try.
Cheers !
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I've never tasted bread from Cosco, but it would be a surprise if you couldn't soon bake more pleasing breads yourself. Of course it depends on what kind of bread you want to end up with.
The general prescription for a fine loaf is that time is your friend, especially the time taken for the bulk ferment stage. This is true whether you use instant yeast or sourdough. Also, "sourdough" bread would better be called "naturally leavened" since it is frequently not actually sour.
TomP
I believe this is the sourdough my Costco sells. It's decent, I like the amount of "sour" flavor it has and I think it's a decent "bar" to try and do better than.
I guess the picture didn't come through, and I'm not sure how to edit a post.I think it is Alfaro's Santa Cruz Sourdough.edit: I added the photo to the previous post. For some reason edit wasn't showing on mobile.
I know that bread very well! Actually, it was a favorite once. I hope you just start experimenting and you’ll narrow down to the features you like. A pleasing bread with white flour has a bit of sugar, oil and dry yeast. Let us know if you need a recipe!