In Search of the Perfect Bread

My journey to a perfect loaf of “country” sourdough bread is one of many twists, turns, setbacks and occassional triumphs. And yes, I realize I might be a bit late to the sourdough game, but that’s just how I do things sometimes. I don’t always have to be an early adopter.

Although, being an early adopter to making sourdough would likely mean I’d have to be a time traveller too (seeing as sourdough became popular in the US around 1850), so I think I’m good starting when I started. Anyway, let’s talk bread.

For my first foray into sourdough bread at home I made the tiny mistake of seeking out one of the major authorities on the subeject: Chad Robertson. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Robertson and his Tartine Bakery, let’s just say he’s considered to be one of the greatest sourdough bread makers alive today.

Naturally, I wanted my bread to be as good as possible so I thought “Why not read the book and use the recipe of the greatest bread maker around?” It’s so simple. What could possibly go wrong?

Long story short: I am not Chad Robertson. Longer story longer: my first attempts at making sourdough bread at home were, putting it kindly, not great.

They weren’t a total disaster to the point of the loaves being inedible. You could still eat them. They just weren’t very nice to look at and…