New Baker and help appreciated.

In which way? 

Sorry to hear your husband needed bypass surgery but i'd be curious to know why yeasted white bread is not good in order to know which other types of bread might be an improvement.

There are many foods and lifestyle choices which might lead to heart problems and I wouldn't think to blame it all on one particular food. One has to look at everything. 

For instance if your husband ate bad fats, got no exercise and just swapped out white yeasted bread, even though i'm no doctor, I wouldn't think it'd help much at all. 

On the other hand if your husband had healthy fats, ate lots of fruit and vegetables, got lots of exercise and had 2 to 3 slices of white bread a day then he'd be far better off. 

Now if he did all that and swapped out a seemingly "bad" bread for a healthier choice then even better. 

So what's in white bread that's so bad and is the cause of "all" the problems? 

I found this on gastric bypass which might explain why if it's because he got a sleeve: https://bariatricbits.com/problematic-foods-after-weight-loss-surgery/

But seriously, ask his doctor directly. Most doctors have a handout for after surgery diets. His doctor will be able to tell you the specifics that relate to his specific case.

Sourdough takes longer to rise than commercial yeast does, it's for the very patient.

Are you doing all rye or is there another flour in there? 100% rye is a whole different learning curve but is entirely learnable. Use the search feature/box for "100% rye" and see if the info that pops would be helpful. MiniOven is a person that has posted extensively on the subject, so look up her posts.

Meantime post both the recipe and info about your starter and how you made the dough. Pics are worth a LOT even if you think it is not picture-worthy. A crumb shot,esp, gives a lot of info. a very 

"Healthy" is sometimes a very hard word to define. Very well fermented bread using any flour and natural levain (sourdough starter) has been labeled as such but I still question what that means. It is supposedly more easily digestible but it still imparts calories no matter what flour is used. Does he need easy digestibility? Calories? Whole grains are "healthy" for some, in that they impart more fiber and if they are well fermented, can impart more micronutrients. Especially sprouted whole grains. So a "healthy" bread for him may be a totally different bread than a "healthy" bread for someone else. 

Keep posting questions and search the site. It is FILLED with just what you may be looking for and a lot of nice folks to help.

HI Mon not sure  i agree with us being "so far behind in Australia" what part of the lucky country do you reside in , im in Perth !  Was there any particular reason not eating white bread after bypass surgery given. 

I think the best thing you can do as a new baker is to stick to a bread that you like and strive to perfect  the recipe and your technique before moving on and trying another variety. Perhaps if you share your recipe and your method then suggestions for a tweak here and there might be forthcoming 

kind regards Derek

I don't see how white sourdough bread can be better than white yeasted bread. If you want healthy bread, go for organically grown wholemeal bread, yeasted or sourdough it's just a matter of taste.

You find recipes of wholemeal bread here in the forum. I personally eat home-baked wholemeal bread made with a bread machine. Making wholemeal bread is a bit more challenging than white bread. After the initial "bricks" I now obtain very good and even too fluffy loaves. The trick, I think, resides in flour hydration, gluten, and salt (not using salt is a mistake that can lead to bricks).

Never tried rye.

My recipe for 100% wholemeal wheat bread:

Ingredients:

750 grams wholemeal wheat flour, my one is W220

25 grams dried malt extract (non diastatic)

20 grams dried gluten

512 grams non-chlorinated water

40 grams dried sourdough with 30% yeast, or you can use 25 grams fresh yeast, or 8 grams dehydrated yeast

30 grams butter

8 grams salt (normal or sea salt, I don't use salt with iodine for bread, iodine works against fermentation)

Procedure:

Knead flour, gluten, water. Let the dough rest for 90 minutes (or 60, it's Summer down there); then knead again until you reach a good gluten net, adding a spoon water, or a spoon flour, to reach the correct consistency, correct means the dough doesn't stick to the bowl. Now add yeast (or dried sourdough) and dried malt extract; now knead again for several minutes so that the yeast is well and uniformly spread; now add the butter and the salt, and again knead for minutes so that the butter and the salt are uniformly spread in your dough. Again, adjust with flour or water if the dough is too wet or too hard.

Cover the dough and let it raise for 2 hours (or less if the room temperature is much above 20°C) or until "double in size";

"degas" the dough, by kneading it a little bit, cover again for other 2 hours;

again, "degas" the dough, by kneading it a little bit, and place it in the final container if you are going to bake it into a container. Make the "scores" (the cuts) on the top so that the bread doesn't break on the sides.

After another 90 minutes or so, put it in the oven without degassing. I personally put the bread in the cold oven and then turn the oven on, when I don't use a bread machine. I set my oven at around 190°C - 200°C, checking the temperature with an oven thermometer placed near the bread.

The bread is cooked when the inner is at 95°C, use a suitable probed thermometer for that.

If your bread doesn't rise enough, you can look in this forum for the threads on the "Dutch oven" technique, or other ways to play with vapour during the first half of the baking process.

There are many ways to skin a cat, of course. That's the way I skin mine.

Notes:

I don't know what flour do you have down there, but "gluten" is the magic weapon: if your dough refuses to reach a good gluten net, add a bit of gluten (a level spoon) and knead for some more minutes.

Regarding duration of baking phase, I find that the 95°C at the core is a very valid method, and works whatever is the cooking temperature. I would not go past 200°C oven temperature though.

My recipe requires a lot of kneading and a lot of fermenting. A bread machine would certainly assist in the process once you have perfected the recipes for your conditions.

You can score the dough immediately before the cooking phase. I score it immediately before the last maturation phase because the bread machine will automatically begin baking after that.