Another baking success: Sourdough...ciabatta?

A while back, I mentioned that I had started a sourdough starter along with my attempts to brew ginger ale and bake a more straight-forward yeast bread. Fast forward one failed starter attempt over about 10 days later, and this morning, my first sourdough loaf was ready to go into the oven.

After my first starter attempt, from How to Cook Everything, failed to impress me, I did a little Google research and found a much more detailed explanation of sourdough with more thorough instructions. Unlike the HtCE method, this method didn't use yeast in the starter, only water and whole wheat flour. I let these two starters go side-by-side for a few days until the HtCE starter looked mostly dead and the new starter was starting to come to life.

After about a week, the starter finally began to thrive and would, as advertised, double itself shortly after a feeding. After a couple days of feeding it twice a day in this state, it appeared to be ready to bake with. Also, my new digital scale had just arrived in the mail, and I was excited to try it out.

Staying with the same website for a recipe (hey, his starter worked, so his bread recipes probably work, too! Also, there's value in consistency, since his recipes are based on using his starter), I went for a classic San Francisco-style sourdough. However, something may have gone awry during the mixing. The dough was pretty wet, and I had to work with it a good twenty minutes before seemed ready to use. And it was very messy.

I wasn't too worried, though, since some reading on bread-making suggested that some of the better types of bread are made with a wet, difficult-to-handle dough. In fact, I was originally tempted to make the ciabatta recipe on the website, but decided against it as too complicated for my first sourdough.

Why do I mention that? Well, after giving the dough some time to rest, I shaped it into a boule, and let it rise overnight. And this morning, it had risen...err, more horizontally than vertically. Was the wet dough too heavy to gain any height? I was a little worried, but was already realizing that I might have accidentally made a somewhat ciabatta-ish loaf, and decided to roll with it.

Well, it came out of the oven about an hour ago, and my verdict is: amazing. It's a little flat, but its horizontal rise did give it a light density, and as you can see to the right, there are some good air pockets throughout the loaf. And the sourdough flavor -- though I'm no connoisseur -- is delicious. The crust is a little crispy, but I expect it to get even better after a few hours exposed to the air. Best bread yet! And as long as I keep my starter alive and happy, there will be more to come.