Overall I'm pretty happy with my first sourdough loaf at first glance, although I do think I got too much color on the top.

Its still cooling, but I'll make a post with pictures of the crumb when it's done.

Thanks to Claire Saffitz, I would have definitely ruined it if I didn't watch/read her NYT guide at least 10 times in preparation.

great looking bread. looks cronchy

It does, I'm pretty happy with how the crust looks. Lots of little startchy bubbles.

Update, here's the crumb.

hows the flave

That's frankly stunning for a first loaf.

Good, its 20% rye, which brought tons of good flavor. Plus a subtle sour finish

Thank you. I was expecting a disaster, so I'm over the moon with the results.

Great job! My first is incoming in a few days. My starter is coming along!

I started mine back in August, and I've been so excited of finally get a chance to use it

I read that as "April" and was like wow that was a wait! 🤣 good thing I reread that.

i tried baking with rye, i found it very gluey in consistency

I didn't have that issue with mine. Slightly chewy, and very fluffy and soft.

are you adding enough water? I had the same issue with my first few rye loaves, added more water than I normally would with wheat flour and it drastically improved.

ok then, make me jelly

seriously, though: what's your secret?

Blind luck as far as I can tell.

I followed Claire Saffitz technique as closely as I possibly could. Although I switched to a 4/1 bread-flour/rye ratio(because I already had them). I think it was fortunate that on the day I was making the dough it was relatively warm in my apartment.

I did minorly fuck up at the very end, by cutting in too soon, so it slumped a little.

That looks freaking delicious!

Background stuff looks pretty modern for this to be the first ever loaf of sourdough. /s

(my god that crust looks amazing 🤤)