My first-ever attempt at sourdough bread.

Eric was the master baker in the house. Now that he’s not here, I need to learn to bake my own bread. Because I’m not going to be living on store-bought bread only.

For him it was a hobby; for me the process is not that interesting, and technical mastery is irrelevant. So I’m choosing the easy, low-effort route. For today: a no-knead sourdough bread.

First learning point: put the dough to rise in a warmer place. I had it in the kitchen at first, because that is where one bakes, but the dough wouldn’t rise. Moved it to the living room, under the heat pump, and things started happening.

Second learning point: even though the dough looks all gluey, you don’t actually need that much flour when handling it.

Third learning point: do not try to puff up the loaves before putting them in the oven. Even though the book says you can. They’ll just lose their form entirely and you end up with very misshapen loaves.

Fourth learning point: bake the loaves lower in the oven, or lower temperature compared to what the recipe says. These would have benefited from a bit more time in the oven, but the edges were nearly starting to burn.

Despite all of the above, the loaves rose, the texture was only a little bit doughy, and the taste was good.