A small notebook about long fermentation, stubborn starters and what actually matters when you bake at home.
I started keeping these notes after throwing out my fourth failed loaf. Most of what I read online assumed a proofing box, a stand mixer and a stone oven. I had none of that — a cheap electric oven, a mixing bowl and a lot of patience. It turned out that was enough.
Why your starter smells like acetone on day three, and why that is fine.
An 80% dough is not a badge of honour. Start at 65% and stop fighting the flour.
The fridge does most of the work. A full night in there beats any shaping trick.
No steam injection, no boiling trays. A lid and twenty minutes will do.
Almost nothing. A digital scale, because volume measurements are useless for dough. A bench scraper, because your hands are not one. Everything else can wait until you have baked fifty loaves and know what annoys you.
Banneton baskets, lame blades with carbon handles, flour shipped from another country. They are pleasant, and they change nothing about the bread.