Just made my third boule. Pretty fun. Never going to buy store bought bread again!

Tartine is one of my fav books. Thats where I started.

Some things I've learned:

1. Flour quality matters.
2. Learn your oven.
3. Learn your environment/seasonal changes. It will change the dough.
4. Have fun. A meh loaf its never bad.

I put my sourdough in the oven with the light on since that is warmer than I usually keep my house.

For OP, have fun! If you join groups you will find that some people make it like organic chemistry. They will only use a certain bottled water, measure things out to the gram and so on. There is nothing wrong with that, but you don't need it to make good bread. And a lot of other stuff. I tried a couple of years ago and gave up it was so complicated and I didn't have the time. I made a starter again last fall and now haven't bought bread in months. I decided that if people could use it going across the plains with no refrigeration and not a lot of control of many things, I would try again. When I feed my starter, I eyeball it and use tap water. Instead of throwing away the discard, save it and use in recipes. Bread, biscuits, pancakes, scones, cookies and other things can all be made with the discard. I will also cheat and add a little yeast to my dough so I can do it in a day rather than two. Still has the sourdough taste, though not as strong. I use a kitchenaide mixer with a bread hook. You don't need a bannetton. You can cook in a loaf pan, a dutch oven, on a pizza stone or probably other ways I haven't tried. If you want to go a few days without doing anything to it, stick it in the fridge. I am not a sourdough purist, but I do make bread that is better than anything I can buy at the store. And probably healthier if you read the ingredients on the package at the store.

spud1910 said:

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I put my sourdough in the oven with the light on since that is warmer than I usually keep my house.

For OP, have fun! If you join groups you will find that some people make it like organic chemistry. They will only use a certain bottled water, measure things out to the gram and so on. There is nothing wrong with that, but you don't need it to make good bread. And a lot of other stuff. I tried a couple of years ago and gave up it was so complicated and I didn't have the time. I made a starter again last fall and now haven't bought bread in months. I decided that if people could use it going across the plains with no refrigeration and not a lot of control of many things, I would try again. When I feed my starter, I eyeball it and use tap water. Instead of throwing away the discard, save it and use in recipes. Bread, biscuits, pancakes, scones, cookies and other things can all be made with the discard. I will also cheat and add a little yeast to my dough so I can do it in a day rather than two. Still has the sourdough taste, though not as strong. I use a kitchenaide mixer with a bread hook. You don't need a bannetton. You can cook in a loaf pan, a dutch oven, on a pizza stone or probably other ways I haven't tried. If you want to go a few days without doing anything to it, stick it in the fridge. I am not a sourdough purist, but I do make bread that is better than anything I can buy at the store. And probably healthier if you read the ingredients on the package at the store.

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You're not making sourdough, you're making yeast bread with a preferment.

If you live in TX and need a warming source for your starter, then it's not active enough.

Feed it more often.
Discard all but a TBL spoon or 2. Feed. Repeat every 6-8hrs.

No need to put a starter in the oven or add any yeast

I don't make much sourdough, but I know that it's not worth buying a special starter from a specific region, because your local microbes will replace it over time.

The most difficult part for me to learn was how to fold/shape and get a loaf that didn't collapse before the oven spring. This channel has some really good videos that helped me a lot:

https://youtube.com/@fullproofbaking?si=ztAlTy0C7Gb4cyy2


My first book as The Bread Baker's Apprentice.
Current go-to is Flour Water Salt Yeast.

Yep, that's why I said it was cheating. When I have time I don't use yeast. And I just use the oven in the winter since I keep my heat set at 60.

Add shredded butter to the loaf to make it soft.

Then its a big biscuit.

But I see nothing wrong with that!