Some Sourdough Vocab.
Intimidation stood in the way of me discovering the joy of sourdough bread baking. I didn’t know the first thing about where to start, I didn’t have the right tools or supplies, and I didn’t understand the lingo. Luckily, I found myself living with someone in April 2020 who had home-baking experience, so I took the plunge. And my first loaf was a dense, tangy frisbee made of gray dough. It took a couple tries, and with the aid of several helpful YouTube videos, I was able to make my first loaf with a spongy interior and a crispy crust. This post is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to sourdough bread baking. Rather, I hope it will be a first stop for you on your bread journey. Maybe you, like me, will fall down the crevasse that is the sourdough YouTube rabbit hole. Or, maybe this will just help explain what’s going on in that magical crusty loaf you get every week at the farmer’s market.
Sourdough Starter
Where it all… starts. Simply put, a starter is a fermented mixture of flour and water. Its activity is maintained by regular feedings of fresh flour and water, and the bacteria it cultivates are what make sourdough so special. The primary bacteria found in a starter are wild yeasts (from the flour you use and the environment around you) and Lactic Bacteria. When properly fed, these bacteria will produce things like carbon dioxide and lactic acid that allow your bread to rise when baked and give it its characteristic “sour” taste. Bakers who bake bread daily will feed their starter every day (maybe even twice a day), while those who bake infrequently could feed it once a week and keep it in their fridge in between feedings. Creating a starter of your own is easy! But it does take a little patience. Depending on a host of factors, such as temperature, your starter could take up to two weeks to become active (like mine did). Don’t lose hope, though. Baking bread is a continuous lesson in trusting the process and it begins with caring for your starter.
Here is the guide I used to make my starter. I made it in 2020 and it’s still bubbling away today.
Levain
And from your starter is born the Levain! Also referred to as the “sponge” or “pre-ferment,” the levain is the middle stage between starter and bread dough. To make a levain, mix a small portion of starter with flour and water. This is then left to ferment before it is introduced to flour and water to make your dough. Sometimes it’s all mixed together right away, sometimes it’s added in stages (more on this in another post). The composition of the flour in your levain often reflects the flours used in the final dough, so if there are rye and wheat flours in the final dough, the levain might also have rye and wheat flours. The levain is mixed several hours before the final dough is mixed, which brings pre-fermented flavors to the dough (what makes sourdough sour!).
“Strengthening Dough”
How does one strengthen bread dough? What is there even to strengthen? You’ve probably heard of it: gluten. Before getting into bread baking, I typically heard “gluten” mentioned in conversations about food allergies or intolerances. But, there is a whole other side to this protein that helps give bread its structure and shape. Gluten is a protein that is activated in flour once it is introduced to water (or ingredients with water like milk and eggs). Once the gluten proteins activate, they begin to form networks with each other, lining up side by side. All of these protein networks help trap carbon dioxide, which is released when the dough is baked, creating tiny bubbles in the bread and giving each loaf its height. If gluten is not properly developed in a loaf, the bread will not rise enough when baked. These networks of proteins stiffen with more and more agitation. Maybe you’ve watched Paul Hollywood chastise a baker for over-mixing their cake batter and creating a tough, dense cake. That’s because of the gluten in flour! The same properties apply to bread. When mixing bread, it is important to mix thoroughly so 1) all ingredients are evenly incorporated and 2) that the gluten begins to activate. In many bread recipes, you may be asked to “fold” the bread. This generally means stretching the dough to its limits (without tearing it) and folding it back onto itself to build strength in the gluten networks. And this is what is meant when someone says they are “strengthening dough.” Certain ingredients that can be found in baked goods (fats like oils or butter) can inhibit gluten formation. And sometimes you want that! But generally, you do not want to inhibit gluten’s abilities in bread. Gluten gives bread its craveable chew and helps create light, airy loaves.
If you want to read more about gluten in bread and other baked goods, this piece by Rossi Anastopoulo is great and so thorough!
I had a blast doing the research to provide explanations on these common sourdough terms and phrases. I’ve heard it many times that the best way to truly learn something is to teach it to others, so I appreciated thinking about the sourdough baking process in this way. I hope you found this post helpful in your sourdough journey, wherever you may be! Here are the sources I consulted and used to fact-check:
The Science of Sourdough Starters by Tim Chin
What is a Levain and How is it Different from a Starter? by Maurizio Leo