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Tips & Tricks

  • The silicone bowls are collapsible, food grade and easy to clean. 
  • Silicone bowls and accessories are dishwasher safe.
  • Wood handled tools should be hand washed to reduce risk of wear and tear.
  • While proofing with your silicone bowl, make sure the bowl is generously coated with flour to help reduce sticking. Any excess flour can be brushed off after baking. 
  • When cleaning your starter jars, use cold water. Gluten responds to heat and binds, which can clog pipes.
  • You can bake in silicone but it is preferred to bake with a Dutch Oven or stoneware. Some even open bake.
  • Using a kitchen scale will help your baking success.
  • Proofing baskets

    One boule (round) and one batard (oval). Used to help shape and rise the dough. With out it, the dough can lose its structure. The dough can proof on the counter if you plan to bake same day or overnight in the fridge.

  • Dough scrapers

    Stainless steal and plastic. Can be used to shape, divide, turn the dough or help it get unstuck without tearing.

  • Glass jar

    600ml glass starter jar and lid. An important environment for your starter to grow! Glass is nonreactive and wont react to the acidity of the starter. The metal lid may be worn tightly if kept in the fridge between feeding.

  • Jar accessories

    A cloth cover: while feeding, allows for gasses to form and escape and protects from any debris.
    Feeding tracker: allows to track volume growth and day of last feed.
    Thermometer sticker: place on your jar. temperature can affect your starter and dough. Ideal fermentation occurs around 76 degrees F, but can happen outside of that.

  • Silicone accessories

    Spatula: the long handle helps get to the bottom of the jar and stir. Allows for easy mixing and easy to clean.
    Brush: allows to brush off any excess flour or can be used for egg washes or applying liquids to any bake!

  • Wood handled accessories

    Danish whisk: this classic bread making tool helps easily incorporate ingredients and is easier to clean than traditional whisks. Useful for thick doughs and other batters
    Bread lame: and replaceable blades. Used to score bread before baking, allowing for the release of gasses from the rapid fermentation process while baking. Use your lame to truly make your bread into a work of art!

Your sourdough starter

If you are unable to obtain an established starter from a friend, family, online or farmers market, you can always build your own! It may take some dedication but having a well developed starter is an important step in your sourdough journey. There are many resources online for creating your starter but all it really takes is a little flour, water and love.

Ready to Bake?

There are plenty of recipes people follow when baking their loaves but if you are looking for somewhere to start, these steps have guided us in our sourdough journey.

THE NIGHT BEFORE
Build your Levain:
100g water at room temperature
25g sourdough starter
100g all purpose flour
In a mixing bowl or glass jar, mix your ingredients with the WildSkyCo Spatula. It should be thick like pancake batter. Put the lid on or cover and leave on counter overnight, around 8-12 hours.

THE NEXT MORNING
You may attempt a float test, some use this method to see if they are ready to bake. Take a small piece of your Levain and place it in some water. If it floats, it is ready for use! If it sinks, it may need more time to ferment. When ready, gather your mixing bowl and ingredients.
310g warm water
200g Levain
450g flour (all purpose or bread flour, or even mixing in some whole wheat!)
12g salt
Mix with your WildSkyCo Danish whisk. This should become a shaggy and sticky mixture.

Next we bulk ferment! Cover your dough with tea towel or lid and leave for at least 30mins. Leaving your bowl in a warm place, like an oven with only the light on, can help this process. During this phase we want to help strength build our dough by doing stretch and folds. This involves folding in each side and corners of our dough ball approximately 3-4x. Leave in a ball shape in your mixing bowl, cover and let sit again for another 30 minutes. Repeat folding and fermenting process another 2x. 

After your bulk ferment, generously flour your WildSkyCo silicone proofing basket. Flour the top of your dough ball and flip it out onto a floured surface. We want to do another stretch and fold sequence, bringing the dough over and across to the opposite edges 3-4x. Place dough with seam up in silicone banneton and cover with tea towel at least 90 minutes in a warm space. 

Preheat your Dutch oven or preferred tool for 30-40 minutes before baking at 500 degrees. Before you flip your dough out, you may attempt a poke test to see if your dough is ready, it should spring back slowly. Flip dough, seam down, onto precut floured parchment paper and score with your WildSkyCo scoring tool. Carefully lower bread, using parchment paper edges, into preheated Dutch oven. Bake at 485 degrees with lid on for 13 minutes. Turn heat down to 465, take lid off and bake for 20 minutes. 

To test if your bread is done, you may do a “knock test” on the bottom of your loaf; it should sound hollow. Or use a thermometer, which should read 205-210F. I know you will be eager to taste your sourdough loaf but please allow it to sit at least an hour before cutting. 

Take into consideration your elevation for baking times. Please remember, sourdough baking should be fun and sometimes takes trial and error to figure out what work best for your loaf. If you live near the ocean or a high humidity location, you may need to reduce water or add more flour. 

Happy Baking!