My first sourdough came out like a frisbee
I “cheat” on sourdough by adding a small amount of active dry yeast when I’m ready to mix and knead. Boosts the rise while still allowing that sourdough flavor to shine through.
I don’t like sourdough, so I have not and never will make it.
My pandemic-related bread-making adventures have centered around rolls, since the small co-op grocery store I have been getting my weekly groceries from since The Plague started doesn’t make or sell the ones I want.
I made my first bratwurst rolls awhile ago, only to find out they were a bit too small. I’m in the midst of trying again (the recipe I have requires an overnight rest in the fridge, so they will be finished off tomorrow) but instead of making 8 with that recipe, I’ll try making 6. I’ll also try my hand at Kaiser rolls shortly - I just got the ‘Kaiser cutter’ I needed to try those.
I’ve also gotten much better at making no-knead bread, which I wasn’t very interested in prior to this, but with all the other cooking I’ve had to do, it comes in handy!
I like making other bread and rolls too. I have made artisan bread, baguettes and French dinner rolls
I can get great French-style bread here so it’s not high on my list to do, but it’s certainly an accomplishment when you can get those results at home!
It is fun. I am retired, so I have the time
I’m resurrecting this thread as I am recently getting into the bread making game and have a question regarding maintaining sourdough starter.
I recently started a sourdough starter, ordering King Arthur starter to get started. Everything I read, books and online, are oriented toward getting started, either with wild, or an existing starter. The documentation provides measurements and schedules for feeding and discarding, etc.
But what I find to be lacking, is good discussion on, “OK, my starter is where it should be, what do I do going forward?” Certainly I’m not expected to keep discarding and feeding every 12 hours until the end of time? That’s a lot of flour!
Explain it to me like I’m 5. What is it that YOU do with your starter, once it’s sufficiently alive?
Note, there is just the 2 of us, and my partner doesn’t really consume bread at the rate I do, so I’m not going to be baking 10 loaves a week, yah? Maybe one a week, or less because I do want to make other types.
I’ll be curious to see the answers to this. I could never figure out what I was supposed to do with the stuff regarding actually baking with it. Looking on line wasn’t much help as the directions for use always seem to be a vague version of “use the starter”. As for feeding: yes, you do have to keep feeding and discarding. Refrigeration will slow it down some.
The recipes I’m looking at vary:
Pain Au Levain - 2 loaves - 2 cups starter + 5 cups AP flour + 3/4 cup wheat + water&salt
Extra-Tangy Sourdough - 2 loaves - 1 cup starter + 5 cups AP flour + water&salt
I keep my three starters in the refrigerator and feed them once a month. When I am actively using them, I will feed them up for a couple of days to get the volume I need. They are in very small jars, and each feeding is ten grams active starter, ten grams of flour and ten grams of water. They have been responding well to this. A few months ago I split out a second version of each started and put them in the freezer. I plan to see if they are still active once they are thawed out after being frozen for six months.
I bake bread pretty often but not all of it is sourdough.
What I do is either maintain a small amount in the refrigerator feeding it once a week* or dry the starter if I’m not going to baking for a while - I discovered both methods here
- This requires about 2 tablespoons of flour a week, but you have to build it up before baking.
Excellent resource, thank you!
You use it as you would use yeast – that’s all it is (plus bacteria.) You just need to use enough and make sure it’s active before making bread with it. This involves taking some of it out a day-ish (maybe less, depending on how healthy it already is) before baking bread, adding some fresh flour and water, and waiting for it to double in size. One it doubles, it’s active enough to leaven your bread properly and you can go on with your recipe. I generally use about 10% by weight to my flour. And then you proceed as normal, follow your visual cues for rise times, as they may/will be different than with regular yeast. Using a higher percentage of starter will have it rise more quickly, but also the loaf will be less sour.
What longhair75 and doreen said. Also, I will “cheat” on sourdough bread by adding a smaller-than-usual amount of regular baking yeast if I don’t want to take the time to re-animate the refrigerated starter over a period of several days. The dough still has some sourdough flavor and texture but rises more like ordinary yeast bread.
I keep my starter in a 1 kg yoghurt jar (for making home-made yoghurt).
I make 2 wholegrain loaves at a time, about 800g each. I make bread once or twice a week.
I start with 100g starter, 100g water, 50g ryemeal and 50g strong white flour.
This goes into a large cup, and I pop it into the yoghurt maker filled with 50C water.
After 2-3 hours the starter is bubbly and doubled in volume.
150g goes into the breadmaker, and the rest goes back into the starter in the fridge.
Every two months I’ll discard some of the mother starter, feed it to get volume back, and let it get warm on the bench for a day. Then it goes back in the fridge.
And yes - I use a long-cycle breadmaker dough cycle to mix and prove my sourdough - sue me.
I just have to get it to rise about half-way, into bannetons with very little working, rise again till they are just over the lip, and then into the fridge overnight. Bake in the morning.