-Social distancing is causing many of us
to pick up some new hobbies.
Baking bread, sourdough in particular,
seems to be how some house dwellers are keeping busy.
Some novice bakers are even learning
to make sourdough starter from scratch.
A starter is a natural yeast made with water,
flour, and a little bit of patience.
It replaces conventional yeast in your loaf-to-be.
-I think the interest was probably there all along
but people just didn't really have the time
or the attention to kind of get into it.
Now that most folks are sequestered into their homes,
they have all this time on their hands
and they want to do something productive with it.
-People are curious, people want to know.
-It is intriguing.
I think it's a little mystery to figure out.
-We spoke to three professional bakers
about how to make your life easier
as you embark on your bread adventure.
Assuming your starter is ready to go,
here are some easy tips from the pros.
-If you're struggling with the recipe and getting enough rise,
you can always cheat and add a tiny bit of yeast,
just a tiny bit of commercial yeast.
You can cut back on the water a little bit.
You can mess with the recipe a tiny bit to try
and get it to fit what works for you.
-People won't make something
because they don't have all of the ingredients
in their cupboard or in their pantry.
Screw that.
Bake and be happy with the results
that you're able to create without having to go outside.
There are so many things that you can sub for one another.
YouTube is your best friend.
You can't go to a physical class right now to learn
from a chef or an instructor.
And if something didn't go right
or if your bread smells like feet,
there's probably a YouTube video about it.
There's a lot of talented individuals around the world
that have encountered your very problem.
-You don't really need a fancy wooden proofing basket,
although they're nice and they add nice,
little ridges to your bread.
I use just a little metal bowl and a nice kitchen cloth
inside with a good dusting of flour
to help your bread not stick to that cloth.
Sourdough bread baking, you really need high heat
and very-well insulated ovens as moisture
is a very key element in the leavening of your bread
once it's in the oven.
This Dutch oven here kind of controls both of those for you.
As you pre-heat your oven,
have your Dutch oven inside of the oven.
It gets screaming hot and then as you bake the bread,
the lid goes on top of the oven, forming a sealed environment
where you can have that high head
and that high moisture as well.
-Say it's 65 degrees in your house,
you're gonna use slightly warmer water
than you would on a warm summer day.
So on a warm summer day, you're gonna use ice water
to mix versus on a winter day
you're gonna use water that's gonna be, like,
maybe 80, 85 degrees.
If you live in an environment that's really dry,
the dough's going to form a skin.
You use a spray bottle and spray water on it while it's rising.
-Every person's house,
every person's area is a little different.
Like, if you live on the bottom of a hill
your starter is gonna react differently
as if you lived on top of a mountain.
-Don't get discouraged.
Your first and probably your first 15 loaves of bread
are not gonna be what you expected.
But they're still gonna be delicious.
-I always say it takes 150 loaves to get it correct.
-Every single professional chef sucked.
Period. -Try.
Keep trying and keep trying and keep trying.
-If you keep trying and you don't beat yourself up about it,
you're gonna get really good by the time that you look back.
-It's so simple. It's flour, water, and salt.
And yet it's so complex and so challenging.
And it's a new science project every day.