Grew up in a Bakers family, my Dad owned small country bakeries, he made doughs by hand and baked the bread in wood-fired brick "Scotch" ovens. I Began a Bakers Apprenticeship in 1964. Left the industry in 1980 after selling my bakery. Have always enjoyed making bread at home and became interested in Sourdough Baking about 2000. Read books and had so many failures, before visiting a Sourdough Bakery in The Margaret River in 2004. The German Baker invited me in to see what I could learn, so I joined him at 4 the next morning. The dough was so slack and nothing seemed to make sense, they didn't hand work the dough the way I was taught. Back to the books, then searching online. I had some help from a mate in Melbourn who is a home Sourdough Baker and began finally to see some improvement about 10 years ago. I began to go off on a tangent, not sticking to the Hydration or Inoculation as per the recipes I continually came across online. In the bakery we used a "Combined Temperature" to determine the temperature of the water used in the doughs, so I thought I'll try this. Immediate improvement, fermentation slowed and were almost manageable. I dropped inoculation to 7.5% when baking during humid mid-summer days, further improvement. Bulk Fermenting in an Esky with an ice brick, then using my Wine Fridge for Bulk Fermentation. Finally, I was able to retard fermentation and extend the time to better suit my timetable and increase sourness. I watched your video two days ago, and kept repeating "Yes". Boy, do I wish I had been able to watch this 10 years ago. Baking Sourdough in QLD Summers is a whole new ball game, no wonder so many give up after attempting to bake Sourdough using the recipes and methods used by cool/cold climate Sourdough Bakers. Thank You! your video will be so helpful to many QLD Sourdough Bakers. I am sharing the link.

Thank you! Just what I need to know.

Thank you for sharing these videos! I love whole grain for the nutrition and the flavor. Also there’s something very empowering to know you can take very basic ingredients and bake beautiful yummy loaves❤

Elly, I have learned to be a consistent sourdough bread baker from you primarily. I just need one clarification. I was under the impression that cold fermentation increases the sour taste. I do not particular care for very sour tasting bread so it is very important that I get this right. I have been erring to the side of quicker, warm fermentation and avoiding any proofing in the refrigerator. Thank you for all you do, and God bless you and your husband!

I've come around to accepting the flatter loaves you get with wet mixes because I really like the extra moist crumb. It's a bit hit and miss but I've also found that if I put extra work in to build the gluten I can still get a taller loaf with a well developed ear even at 105% hydration.

Thank you for such a great detailed video. I live in townsville so you’d appreciate how much humidity and heat we have all year round. Today you answered a lot of my questions. 🍞👍🏻🌴

Hi Elly, Thank you for another informative video, it was so helpful to me! I am starting a new, whole wheat sourdough starter (again), and it is summertime here in Arizona. Our kitchen can go from 70°F (22C) in the morning to 85°F (29) by the afternoon/evening. Simply following the time guidelines alone, my starter was already smelling foul before it was time for the first discard! The bacteria was definitely outpacing the yeast, as evidenced by the odor and the rainbow sheen on the surface bubbles After watching your video this morning, I am starting again with cold water and keeping an eye on that starter a few times a day. I love the cooler tip too, for days I have to be away from home for long stretches at a time. I have been watching your videos for years, and you are my go-to when I want to bake 100% whole grain sourdough. It still boggles my mind that there are not more people online doing this. Your methods are approachable and easy to do in real life. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, and for keeping it real! Blessings to you🙂

This is so helpful!!

I love your videos Elly. I tell you no matter how that bread looks my hubby would eat the whole thing without one gripe, it looked really yummy. Cant wait for your next video on sourdough. I threw my starter out a few years ago as life got in the way but am now ready to jump back on the sourdough train. Then your video popped up to watch so that gave me even more motivation. ❤❤❤

This information is so interesting! I’ve only been making sourdough for about a year now but every once in a while noticed that it was so much more sour than at other times. When I saw this I realized it was because sometimes I was feeding my starter with the very warm freshly ground flour right out of the mill plus using room temperature water. I’m definitely going to be experimenting with temperatures now. I live in south central US and our winters are very very mild and summers sweltering so I think the trick of the ice pack and the cooler is probably going to be my best bet this coming season. I’m so grateful for the information. You’re a sweetheart and I just wanted to say thank you very much!

Thanks for this, will follow your instructions to lessen the sourness, appreciate it very much.

Very much enjoyed watching a few of your videos today. I bake about a 20% wholemeal 80% bakers flour loaf with 75% hydration. I also always put a few finely chopped garlic cloves and parsley in the loaves and bake in a tin (cut down stainless mixing bowl ) I dont have a dutch oven but use the liner from a scrapped slow cooker inverted on a baking tray. My bread looks good and tastes yummy, but the crumb could be a lot better. Watching your videos makes me think I'm definitely over fermenting and over proofing. I'm at Port Stephens in NSW, warm climate. I'm definitely going to add your knowledge into my baking, thank you.

Thank you for this video. I have to say that I reduce a lot my hydration level in summer,time…not more than 60%otherwise my dough is unmanageable

So usful video, as I live in Greece and the summers lately have become hard with 40 degrees celsium. Thanks a lot, keep on the good work with us.

Your bread looks great! You just needed to bake it in a tin and it would have been perfect! 💖🌞🌵😷

thanks for the tips, i see now why i had to throw my first attempt out, im now going too check out your starter vid,

Thank you! Just what I needed!

I am getting into milling too. Thanks for the video. I am sure it tastes beautiful.

If you’d put it in the fridge when you got home it also may have kept its shape better. It hardens the outer part so it doesn’t spread as much. Suggestion

Have subscribed 😊 I'm on the Gold Coast and very new to sd, I made my 1st successful (compared to my other loaves!🤭) bread the other day and I think now I know why as I kept it mainly in the fridge. Excited to try another one now with your extra tips 🍞

Thanks

I'm trying to figure out the word ferment. My primary goal is to process the flour with sourdough to break down the flour and make it more digestible. Leaky gut and all that... So when you say ferment are you talking about making CO² or what I'm needing or is it all in the same? 💖🌞🌵😷

Hi Elly, Thank you so much for the great detailed video!! I am very much new to sourdough. Is it possible for you to put a video about the temperature of the starter and the dough during winter . During summer you said 22c is the correct temperature for the dough but what about winter.Thank you for providing us lots of of tips.

Thanks so much for your videos. Could you tell what mixer machine are u using in this video? Thanks!

I saw a YT video where the lady suggested to add bicarbonate in the dough to decrease the sourness of the final product, and providing extra lift at the same time. What do you think about this suggestion? I am very new to sourdough bread making and the experiences I had was a very sour bread… 😮

Hi Elly. I made a sourdough loaf today and first time ever I got tunnels. It’s summer here and very hot. It bulk fermented a few hours on the counter, then into the fridge for a few hours. Did everything the same, but maybe the dough was not warm enough all the way through after the fridge. It did final proof 75 minutes and was puffy. Been making SD for 10 years, never a loaf with tunnels. I don’t get it.

Do you ever cold bake this like the pan loaf?

Hi Elly: I am in Qld and am looking for hard red and hard white wheat to mill for bread making. I have no idea what the equivalence is in Oz to US varieties. Could you advise please ? Many thanks

The temp shown on your countertop device is the indoor temp or is it hooked up to an outdoor sensor? Seems like you should be more sweaty if that's the indoor temp haha.

How many grams of starter do you use?

That loaf is slightly underproofed