I mixed up a starter (1 cup flour, 1 cup water, and cheated by adding a pinch of yeast) last week. The first day it got all bubbly and looked great. I fed it after tossing out a cup as recommended on the second day, and have continued daily. It is now day 7 and it looks dead, but still smells good. So I started a new starter 3 days ago. Same thing. This is day 4 and I'm ready to feed again, but don't know why I can't get it to bubble. Neither seem to be alive. It's been in the high 60's here in So. Cal. but should be 70-ish today. i've carefully keep on the counter in glass Pyrex bowls with loose lids with undercounter light on to keep it warm. What the heck am I doing wrong? Thanks, Janey
Category:
Replies
Hi Janey, Yes i love that loaf from Shoa ping as well, I also found when I first made sourdough that this one
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/08/my-new-favorite-sourdough/
a very good one to start off with, it is not quite the 1-2-3 mearung method, but I have always had great success with it. I cant wait to see your first pictures. In regard to how to bake the bread, I too have always baked my 'not sourdough' bread in tins, since making sourdough have had to work out how to do it. Kym is right when he says that shaping has a lot to do with it. I now use bannetons after shaping, but before I had them I just sused some colander, shaped the bread then place it in a floured tea towel lined colander, placed a plastic bag over the top and then let it proof overnight in the fridge. If I don't retard it overnight, I alwasy let if proof for about 2.5 - 3 hours.
I believe that a pizza stone is something really worth investing as it helps with the oven spring. The Pizza stone gets preheated in the oven for like 45-60 minutes and when the loaf gets place on the hot stone and put in the oven the heat from the bottom helps to just make it rise that bit better. I have a fan forced oven and I can not turn the fan off, and although I got a reasonable result baking the sourdough with the fan and steam coming from a tray on the bottom of the oven, I have since found that placing a terracotta oven roaster lid over the top of the bread after sparying it with water, gives me the best result. I leave the lid on for the first 15 minutes and then take it off.
Anway a few more days and you should be able to start, look forward to hearing more
Alex
Thanks for the info, Alex,
I am thinking about getting a pizza stone. I found some 18 x 17 for about $40. Is that a good price? Oh, yeah. Things cost more in AU, don't they :( Then again, I can get a terracota Clouche (sp?) oven for even less. Hmmm.
=Janey
I'm not sure things do cost more in Australia at the moment, given the current exchange rate!
I picked up a round pizza stone and pizza peel for about $35 a couple of months ago. I don't know about shapes other than circular - most people improvise with an unglazed terracotta paving stone for a couple of dollars. Personally, I didn't want the sharp edge & I'm too lazy to sand it down myself.
As for a cloche (French for "bell"), I use an upturned metal mixing bowl as that cost me about $10, whereas I'm sure a ceramic cloche would cost around the $40 mark, as well as being more fragile and much heavier to lift. Some people use metal paint holders instead - also much cheaper at the hardware shop.
Day 6 Progress ===
Hi all,
I fed my little buddy at 11:30 AM. Kind of disappointed because it was flat and no bubbles or foam. Since it was a little over 70 deg. and I was getting ready to turn the oven on for some sweet bread, I took it outside and set it on the patio table. I used a plastic grocery sack this time in lieu of plastic wrap. Just easier for me even though I use canvas grocery bags, I still hade a few in the pantry. I just checked on it and since it’s now over 80 deg. I thought about bringing it back in the house. Opened the plastic bag and Viola! I have foam and bubbles. It is difficult to see the bubbles under the surface because the starter is only about 1 1/2 inch high since I put in the larger glass bowl. How would a plexiglass container work? I have some that are made for food storage, are clear, and have the snap lock tops with a washer. It has almost doubled in the 3 hours since I fed it. That tells me I need it in a warmer environment, correct, since it acted so happy in the heat? Have to figure out how to do that inside since I don’t have a proof box. But it’s supposed to be over 90 deg. today and I don’t want to take any chances with it. The oven with the light on is only like 73 deg. And that’s the lowest setting. I tried to set it to 80 deg. but it simply will not set unless I hit at least 100 deg.
I’ll keep an eye on the temperature because I don’t want it to get too hot, and I don’t want to bring it inside yet because we have the air conditioning on already.
My question is this: I am feeding per SourDom’s instructions – 100g water, 70g. white flour and 30g rye. I don’t know what kind of jar he is keeping his in but the largest canning jar I have is only a quart, too small. Should I discard all but a tablespoon and then feed only 50g water and 50g flour?
Do I use the starter straight from the jar, or do I feed it and use the freshly fed starter?
Nervous Nelly (Janey)
If you search the forums you'll find some suggestions for a home-made proofing box. Personally I just use a cheap cooler bag to stabilise the temperature a bit. A rigid esky with a light bulb arragement would give more temperature options.
Merrid,
Do you mean the cooler bags that are insulated so you can get your cold stuff home from the supermarket still cold? Or is there a different cooler bag that I don't know about.
=Janey
They have them for sale at the supermarkets here - a lightly padded cloth bag with a sort of metallised plastic interior. They're not meant to be out in the sun for ages - they're not THAT good at insulating - but it does provide a more stable environment for your starter than leaving it in a large room with strange eddies and currents of circulating air.
Hi Janey
I think your new starter must be the most mollycoddled ever!
Here's a thought - SourDom's process assumes that you're going to keep it at room temperature, which is around 70°F during the day and cooler at night. The actual temperatures will vary and are really not terribly important as long as we're not talking about someone living in backwoods Norway with no heating - the only effect of the slightly varying temperatures for most people is that the fermentation will happen slower or faster.
What you have done is keep the starter at an average temperature of at least 70°F for 24 hours a day, and sometimes much warmer. I think the result is probably that your starter has matured quicker than SourDom's loose timetable predicts - and the constant warm temperatures would explain why after 24 hours you have no bubbles; you should probably be feeding it every 12 hours. So it's not that it's acting happy in the heat exactly, just that the heat is accelerating the fermentation to the point it's exhausted well before the 24 hours are up.
At this stage I think I'd stick with SourDom's quantities for simplicity - also it will give you sufficient starter for your bread, with enough left over to continue the starter.
The container you use doesn't matter - for me I find a taller container easier just because I can see the rise more clearly.
Kym.
LOL. I actually have carried it around the house trying to find the most stable temperature area for it to live in. I understand completely about the oven being so controlled. I did notice today that 4 hours after I fed it and took it outside where it was warmer that I noticed the bubbles. It also appeared to have grown in volumn but whether it had doubled or not was not apparant. Now tonight, 12 hours after I fed it, the bubbles are gone, but still a little foam remains floating on the top.
So tomorrow I will feed it twice at 12 hour intervals and see what happens. I'm also going to steralize my Plexiglass storage containers and alternate using them for feedings (because I like clean containers). I want a tall container so I can actually see the bubbles, not just "think" I see bubbles under the surface. I want "In Your Face" bubbles that leave no doubt. I will put a piece of tape at the level of my buddy after I feed it, which will make it easier to see if it really did double, too.
If all this fails, I will be OK. I still can make my yeast breads. I have not yet tried the Biga bread, but really liked the no-knead breads I made and they had a sour taste to the, probably because they sat out for so long. Not sourdough, but I wasn't unhappy with the loaves. I've spent three weeks obsessing on this starter, and I spend more time worrying about it than I do on taking care of my wee doggie. It's a good thing I don't have a job or I would be fired for spending so much time on the computer reading about sourdough. lol
=Janey
Hi Janey, you are truly on your way, Once your starter is ready to use, you feed it and wait until it is at its peak, (doubled), that is when you use it, at its peak or just after. Mine doubles in 4-6 hours now so I can always work out when I feed it and when I can start to bake.
alex
PS, I think glass is alwasy better than any sort of plastic as plastic can start to become a bit mucky. I keep my starter in a Pyrex measuring jug ( 1/2 L) and when I bake, I transfer it to a 1L pyrex jug so that is won't overflow when I feed it. depending on how much starter I need
Maybe your Janeycoddled little Buddy has reached that stage in life where he needs some tough love...
Ok, today I start tough love. I fed little Buddy and stuck him back in the oven. I’ll feed him again tonight…12 hour schedule now. I won’t think about him, peek at him, move him, obsess about him. I’m tired of it all. I’ve either done a good job or not. Maybe he is a slow learner. Shrug. I have plenty of other things that need my attention. I must bake some yeast bread, walk and play with my damn dawgs, give my tomatoes some attention, maybe clean my kitchen (ugh), and I would love to just veg out with my Kindle. So, Buddy, you are on your own until tonight (12 hour schedule), and you will either show me some love or not. If not, you will never see the inside of a refrigerator! Plus, I’m sure all you kind folks are tired of hearing my whining.
= Janey
What is: Autolyse for 30 minutes.
And where is the kneading in Shiao-Ping’s recipe? I only see letting it ferment (rise?) and then folding. I’ve seen the folding technique in a video but only with regard to the no-knead bread.
And the folding every hour for 3 hours, etc. This has me really really confused.
What is gringe?
...is a resting period, usually of around 30 minutes, which allows the flour to hydrate and the gluten to develop. It shortens the time necessary to mix and knead, improves extensibility and has the effect of improving the crumb and aroma. Salt and acid inhibit the process, so salt should be added later. Some say yeast/pre-ferment should also be added later, but most people include the starter.
Stretch and fold does the same as kneading, but in a much shorter time and protects/develops the gluten. Doing it every hour for 3 hours results in good gluten development and ultimately good crumb. Because it results in less oxygen being incorporated into the dough, it results in better flavour.
Gringe (actually "grigne") is what happens when you slash the dough to allow for expansion when baking.
Kym
Day #7 Update – I’m Not an Engineer!!
Being the “glass half full” gal that I am, I popped over to The Fresh Loaf in search of a bread with instructions I could understand, and stumbled on the Vermont Sourdough recipe blog. The first half I read was still Greek to me, but I plowed on like a storm trooper. I may be many things, but I’m not a quitter.
I read John D’s article on true sourdough and agree 100% that starter which includes yeast is not sourdough. I think I finally have IT! I can bake yeast bread, which I will continue to do, and the no-knead bread for reasons I can’t think of right now. AND I will bake sour dough because I WANT to, not because I have to. And as you all have been telling me, it’s NOT rocket science. It’s being time-consuming to begin with, mind taxing to understand, but will happen with patience. Boy, this has been difficult for me.
I did my AM feeding and was not excited about the progress. It did have a few bubbles, but otherwise was not impressive. I left it alone his home (oven) until I needed to heat the oven up for some white bread (English muffin bread that my family begs for). I looked at my empty bread basket and felt guilty. I hate it when white fuzzies appear. I hate white fuzzies. I yell because no one is eating their daily allotment of bread or there would be no white fuzzies (no blame to the baker who is a day behind schedule). LOL.
So I just set it on the counter and finished my bread, popped it in the oven and went to watch TV. (Thursday night = American Idol results. Sorry, Jacob but it was your turn. GO James and Haley!!!)
Still on the 12 hour feeding schedule and still being stubborn, I had not looked at my little Buddy until it was time to feed him. I opened the bag, slid out the glass bowl and was scared. I grabbed the whisk and stirred it about. It was thick, it was foamy, it was bubbly…not necessarily BIG bubbles, but it had bubbles all the way to the bottom. HooYa! I dumped it into a baggie, and fed the rest. Hmmm….will I really be able to think about baking real honest to goodness a tomorrow? Boy, have I come a long way. I was ready to give up several times. You all talked me out of it (except yesterday morning when I swore to myself this was the last time I would waste that good flour only to be disappointed again).
So, that’s the latest on my little Buddy. I have a half gallon glass canister for him. I’ve spent 3 hours reading about sourdough and recipes. I guess I’m ready to bake. Suggestions?
Going to bed now. It's 1 AM and I'm brain-fried.
=Janey
Day #8 Update – SUCCESS
I guess my little buddy does not like to be ignored. It is definitely doubled {or more} and smells wonderful. Good thing I left it in that big bowl. I was up until after 3AM looking at sourdough recipes. They all require such a long rise, but since I'm a night owl, I can still get one done tonight. Unless I'm indecisive, which I really am. It's only 9AM here and I still haven't made up my mind. I don't have a tub large enough for multiple loaves, but I do have a large plastic dishpan that I can get 2 loaves in to ferment and still be able to stretch and fold. Oh, listen to me...I already sound like I know what I'm doing using terms like ferment, stretch and fold. LOL.
I had a wonderful day off yesterday, not thinking about Buddy. I went shopping and didn’t give him a thought (lying), pulled weeds in my tomato patch and didn’t give him a thought (lying), cleaned around the house and never thought of him (lying), but I broke down when I had to take him out of the oven in order to preheat it for my yeast bread loaves. I peeked at him. As soon as I put my hands on that darn glass bowl, I lost all control and ripped the plastic bag open (not ripped, I’m really very gentle with him because I care so much – it’s really that I have so much time invested in this project. I saw foam and just shrugged and dumped him all out except that tiny tablespoon, then fed him and slipped the plastic bag back on him.
This morning there is absolutely no mistaking the rich, foamy, bubbly concoction in my bowl. NOW I understand my environment. It is too cool in my house. We keep it about 70 deg. but when it is colder outside, we don’t bother with turning on the heater, just add another layer. But in the summer, it’s set to stay at 70 deg. and we bite the bullet and pay the electric bill. I figure I deserve to be comfortable since I am home all day, and retired.
I have the perfect proofing box…my oven with the light on. So we must schedule all oven cooking around whether I am proofing or not. OMG, my life is not scheduled by my breadmaking schedule.
I’ll post the results of my first loaf. Thank you all for all the great information you shared and for keeping me sane. I would have given up a couple of weeks ago if you hadn’t encouraged me to keep at it.
=Janey
Phew Janey, it's been quite a journey, but I'm glad you stuck with it.
You found out the hard way there's a lot of bad information out there, and following it could have led to a dead end. I'm not sure Google is a good thing for a sourdough beginner, because it's so hard to know what's right, and so much of what's there is just parroting the same old mythology.
I suspect that buying one good breadmaking book (but how do you know which one?) and just following that exactly for the first couple of months might be the easiest way. Alternatively finding one good method, such as SourDom's starter blog here, and sticking to it without getting distracted by all the noise from other less reliable sources, is a good way to get a solid grounding. Even that's not necessarily easy, because a lot of the detail is hidden in the voluminous comments which follow the original blog.
It's very possible just to follow a good method/recipe and get good results without understanding any of the bioscience involved - and if you do that you will begin to observe different causes and effects which will make more sense of the science as you begin to delve into that.
The better you understand the science, the more control you have over the results. The science can get very complex though, and finding it is not necessarily easy. This is the stage I'm at - after a few months I feel I have a fair understanding of the basics, and I'm beginning to develop my own very limited understanding of the science involved - a very steep learning curve. I can still get good results without it by following good recipes - but I'm finding I have more choices, better control by being able to rely on facts rather than fiction. It will be a long journey, but an enjoyable one!
Now that you have a healthy starter, all this is in front of you. You can experiment with all kinds of methods if you want - it's really quite hard to completely mess it up; even the disasters are usually quite edible.
Kym.
Thanks, Kym
My head was spinning with all the information I found when I googled sourdough. It caused me so darn much confusion. Now that I see the finish line, I can see what was right and what was wrong. Now I just have to understand how to bake it.
I started two loaves last night. Just a basic white sourdough. Have another 4 or 5 hours of proofing to go. I haven’t even peeked at them yet.
I’ll feed Buddy in bit and then hopefully make another loaf this evening for baking in the morning. I like being able to split up the work. I’m even going to try the one where you mix up a batch, stick it in the refrigerator and then grab a handful when you need it for a short final raise and then bake.
Gosh, I can’t believe how fast I went through that 25 pounds of bread flour. Have to run to Sam’s Club again today. I just wish there was a distributor in my area to get the specialty flours and seeds. I have been ordering them all from King Arthur Flour. I like their product, but it’s pretty expensive.
Looking forward to trying all the SC recipes on this site. They all look so incredibly beautiful.
= Janey
Hello! My name is Janey and I am a breadaholic!
I have several of those insulated bags from the grocery store. I’ll give it a try.
This weekend, I made sourdough bread!!! Yes, I did, and it was fabulous. Can’t find the cord from my phone or from my camera to upload it to the computer, but it is beautiful. Then another that wasn’t so beautiful.
I actually cheated on my first loaf. I made Sicilian bread. I used a recipe from Breadtopia after watching Eric’s instruction video. It was a no-knead recipe but I used starter in lieu of the yeast and it was easy-peasy. The hardest part was the waiting. Not real sour tasting, but otherwise it was terrific.`
I was blown away when I looked at it after the 15 hour raise. I stuck it in the microwave (off) while it proofed and when time was up to do the second proof, I took it out and almost passed out. It was HUGE, and beautiful, and I hated to tough it. But I gently pressed it down and did the fold and stretch, let it sit a while longer and then baked it. OMG, it is so wonderful.
I was so inspired that I ordered a Romertoph oven plus a bunch of other stuff: basket (banniton?), liner, dough whisk, and some other stuff I really don’t knead (heh).
The other loaves were just basic white loaves. I think the dough was too dry, but I did follow the recipe to a tee. I shaped oval loaves and cooked on a cookie sheet (on a silpat). The spread out and were pretty flat when I took them out of the oven and didn’t brown well. I measured the temp at 205 deg. They were not too sour tasting, so I pitched them out. Today, I’ll try again.
My little Buddy is so feisty. I’m back to feeding once a day and he sure is impressive to watch. I’ve been keeping him at 100% hydration but yesterday fed him a wee bit less water. I think he’ll go in the fridge soon, but I’m still experimenting with recipes every day so he stays on the counter (except at night, when he goes in the oven with the light on). It still gets cold, if you can call 58 deg. cold, and you do here in Southern California. Maybe I’ll leave him out tonight and see how he handles it.
I have to go buy more flour soon.
Oh, and I used my Kitchen Aid to knead a loaf. It worked out pretty well.
This morning I am going to make some sourdough English muffin bread. It makes the best toast.
I need to get a bread cookbook but have to decide which one to get. Any suggestions.
Thanks to all of you. I would have quit long ago if not for you encouragement.
Regards, Janey
If you retard the dough (i.e. put it in the fridge) during either proofing stage, you should get better flavour. I usually do it for the final rise (after it's in the banneton). The cold slows down the yeast and there's a different balance of activity amongst the critters.
But well done with your first loaf!
It's an addiction, for sure! Success with your first loaf... that's impressive - well done.
With the second lot of loaves, the dough spreading out can mean that it's too wet (though wet is good), or it can mean that you didn't do enough folding and stretching, or shaping to "tension" the gluten.
A pale crust can mean the dough has been over-proofed, or simply that it hasn't been cooked long enough. This is where you need to trust your eyes rather than follow a recipe too precisely - as much of the flavor is in the crust, some say it's virtually impossible to overcook a loaf, short of charcoal black.
Personally, I wouldn't rush to put Buddy in the fridge - I'm finding that I'm getting better flavor from a starter which is always kept at room temperature, and a lot of what I'm reading supports that, particularly if you're baking every day or so. I also realise that many do refrigerate their starter with good results though.
As for a book to buy... most of us have far too many! There are several discussions on this over on The Fresh Loaf (thefreshloaf.com), which might be useful. For good recipes, you can't go past anything by Peter Reinhart, Maggie Glezer, or Dan Lepard. Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread" is for me the pinnacle, with arguably the best techniques, reliable information and first class recipes. Some say it's not for beginners, but that's still pretty much what I am and I find it easy enough to follow.
Kym.
Hello again fellow breadies!
I have finally decided on which bread I will cook next…the Norwich SD bread from The Wild Yeast that Alexandria recommended. But I have to wait until I get my Romertopf because I just don’t feel competent to shape proof and bake on a stone. Everything I have tried lately has spread out and flattens. I could slice it and have breadsticks. I’m not sure what the dough should feel like yet, I guess. So I’m still feeding Buddy every day. Back on a once a day schedule, since Buddy is so strong, plus I hate to waste the flour.
I did have a semi-disaster yesterday. I used a large Corningware covered casserole dish as my baking container, and it is now ruined. It stuck everywhere and is impossible to get the stuck burned bread out of it. I soaked it, tried those green scratchers, nothing worked, not even a razor blade. I’m sad to lose the casserole dish because I used to use it often, but no more. Sigh.
And using oil-sprayed parchment paper was also a failure. It stuck and I had to shave the sides and bottom off a loaf, but it was very tasty bread. And pretty to look at.
I’m loving my scale. Got weighing the grams down pat. I’m sure I will experiment at some point but for now, I’m just happy that I can bake edible bread that everyone here enjoys. And the retired lady next door is benefitting with a lot of extra loaves, since I bake because I love it, not necessarily because I need more bread.
=Janey
I just use baking paper, not sprayed with anything - the bread doesn't stick to it after final proof. You could try dusting the surface with semolina or something similar. It sounds to me that your dough might be rather too wet. Also, the spreading might be due inadequate shaping - if you have a look through the forums here you'll find many others with the same problem with suggestions on how to fix it.
I have read that some people use Reynolds non-stick foil, which I am going to try one of these days. With the parchment paper, the bottom was sprayed with non-stick spray and the sides were not. The bottom actually turned black and bonded with the bread. The bottom had to be cut off the loaf. The sides that were not sprayed could be scrapped off with a sharp knife. but it was still stuck in all the folds of the bread. I don't think I will ever use the paper to bake bread with. I spoke to Corning about this and they think the high temperature (which was well over their guidelines) was the problem. 475 degrees it just too hot for Corningware. It also burned the paper.
On another subject, I just heard from a friend who has a clay baker that she has used for 20 years, and is sending it to me because she is no longer able to bake bread. Suddenly I am the owner of two of those lovely things! Yay!!
I spent lunchtime watching some videos on stretch and fold. I think I understand it pretty well now. The next thing I need to get comfortable with is the proofing. I simply have not baked enough bread to know when it is perfectly proofed. I understand that if you poke your finger in it and the hole doesn't fill back up, it is either over or under proofed, or perfect. But I can never remember which one.
Oh, and do I have to feed my Buddy 2 cups of flour and water daily, or could I cut back on the quantity now?
Thanks all,
Janey
I need to go bake some sandwich bread, and that Swedish Rye Bread seems to be calling my name.
Ta, Janey
My little Buddy is a CHAMPION!! I am so darn proud of him. He got a new home today. I got him a glass canning jar, ½ gallon, and he takes up a little more than half of it when he gets feisty and bubbles. I still keep him in the oven (needless to say OFF) and he loves it there. No reason to change unless I get bored with baking, then he’ll go in cold storage <grin>.
My first project is Shaio-Ping’s Home Bread:
Followed the directions to a tee. She makes it seem so easy.
Stretch and folded as she directed. I like knowing what I am aiming for with respect to number or stretch and folds. Please don’t tell me to S&F for 5 minutes. Heck, I’m slow. This is all new for me. I watched some guy from France slamming dough on the counter and folding about 100 times (20 minutes). He was young and even he got tired. So, is it 1 s&f a second, or do I get 2 seconds to do a double one? Apologies but I’m slow. That happens when you get old…which is anyone over 40 J
I spent the entire day today on that bread. I was either doing or reading (or worrying). Yes, I am still a worrywart (can you believe spell check actually recognized “worrywart”?.) It is now retarding in the garage fridge. I thought I was going to have to bake it in a bread pan (a tin, to you Aussies) but I got my new Romertoph today (also won another older used one for $9.50 on Ebay which I should get next week). So I might be baking my first beautiful perfect batard (did I get that right?) tomorrow (Thursday in the US).
This SD experience has been expensive! I originally thought I just had to add some flour and water and the rest was free. I just started baking bread again (baked yeast bread in past years), and now I found I needed a scale, 2 different bannetons, clay ovens (oval and oblong), an instant thermometer, a bunch of jars for starter, a lame, bunches of bags of different flour, 25 lbs of bread flour a week, a case of paper to print out all the forums, tips, directions, recipes, etc., not to mention the new ink cartridges. Oh yeah, I forgot all the containers, buckets and lids to keep my flours and grains in (King Arthur Flour LOVES me). And notes!!! I take notes like crazy on every loaf I bake. What did I add, what did I delete. How was the finished product?
So to you Souurdough.com folks, especially those who encouraged me not to give up when I was on step 1….creating a starter…
THANK YOU ALL!!! My name is Janey, I am an addict!!
It's great to see you have come this far, and well done!
My own experience might be useful (or not!)... I'm still only a few months into this journey and I know I still have a long way to go.
In the beginning it's hard to know what to do, where you're going, because there's so much to learn and so much conflicting information. You look at that cliff and think you'll never be able to scale it!
It seems trite... but one step at a time. I too amassed huge amounts of information, much of it doubtful. I did a word count on one useful thread here - 22,000 words! Maybe 5% of that was useful. Mixing and matching different sources just ends up confusing. Finding one good reliable post (like Shiao-Ping's Home Bread), following that and ignoring everything else (for now) was much more educational to me than heading off in 20 directions at once.
Now, further down the track I'm again finding that going back to the basics is helping me make real progress. At the moment, that means going through Jeffrey Hamelman's excellent book "Bread" meticulously and applying what I'm learning. It's hard enough doing that from one source, without bringing extra noise into it from multiple sources! But the result is better bread - good flavour, better appearance, good crumb, much more consistency.
The other thing which really kick started my improvement was reading through Debra Wink's explanation of lactic acid fermentation over on The Fresh Loaf... it made my head spin the first couple of read-throughs, but it's the best and clearest explanation of what's going on during fermentation that I've read anywhere, and once you get past the long scientific terms you realise it's not so hard.
Enjoy your journey!
Kym.
I love reading your posts, you are so funny.
Sourdough baking is an addiction, but hey it's a healthy one.. I started a starter back in October, and still baking with the same starter. I bake once a week, using different flours, but recently I'm addicted to Spelt, so everything I'm making now is with spelt.
You can also spread some of "buddy" on a piece of wax paper, and allow it to dry out. Flake it and put it in a plastic bag and save it, just in case something goes wrong with Buddy, you have a successful starter to begin again, and you can also do this, and share with your friends who may be interested in sourdough baking.
I just want to end my year by thanking each and every one of you for your help, reassurance, and encouragement. My Buddy is such a champion. I still feed him daily since I am baking 3 times a week at least. Gotta have fresh bread, non of the day-old stuff. Ate lots of panzanella salads over the summer because I can't stand to toss any bread out. Family says they need protein at meals so I tossed some beans into the salad.
I'm buying bread flour 50# at a time, use my digital scale always. I had an old Weight Watchers analog scale and tested it. Yow!! It was way off so I tossed it out. But I am getting a pretty good feel for dough and have baked a few loaves without a recipe. I can usually tell when it needs more water or more flour. I do have a small jar of instant yeast in the fridge but haven't used it since Buddy "grew up". I have abused Buddy by leaving him in the fridge when I went on vacation and then coming home and forgetting where he was for a couple more weeks. Yikes!! Buddy, I'm so sorry. Started feeding him daily again and after first feed, he had forgiven me.
I used to hide Buddy under a towel because his jar is kind of messy but I don't even do that anymore. I love looking at him and often see that he has more than doubled (normal for him) and think that is a sign from him that I need to bake more. I keep smelling bagels today so that will be my evening project since Sunday nights are such sucky nights for TV.
My neighbors are benefitting happily from my baking frenzies. They also got several quart jars each of roasted home-grown tomatoes. My Roma's went crazy this year. And the Beefsteaks were absolutely amazing, and I don't remember having a better tomato sandwich than on my basic sourdough bread. Tomato, mayo, bread, salt and pepper and occasionally some basil. Yeah, Yeah, no protein so I might add a sprinkle of parm to satisfy the family.
So, I am really just checking in trying to read up on the posts...and stay THANKS.
I can't believe how sourdough stupid I was when I started this journey.
Good On ya Janey. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I have not been on this forum for so long. Having three kids can be somewhat busy. I just re-read all of your posts from the beginning. It is just delightful to read them and see how far you have come. You probably bake more than me now. with Christmas baking and spending time with family it has been a while since I have made a sourdough. I better get cracking as I am having withdrawals.
Take care
Good news!
With your home-grown tomatoes, try bruschetta: toast your sourdough (I like mine with some rye in it, but whatever you make). When nice and crispy, rub the toast with garlic, and drizzle with olive oil. Layer on some sliced tomatoes, grind on a bit of salt and pepper, sprinkle with chopped basil, and drizzle over again with the olive oil.
I'm sure it's not the "proper" way, but the other thing I sometimes do differently is after the garlic rub, spread on some real butter rather than olive oil - although I will drizzle a little oil on top at the end, too.
Tell me that ain't good!
Great to hear you made it ... You'll have to put your own bread porn up now! Have a great baking year! Buddy needs his own picture in the Sourdough pets Blog ... he has so many fans!
Terri :)
Hello again, friends.
Well, it's been almost a year since I was struggling with my new starter. Can you believe I'm still doing this? I was sure I would get tired of failing and just toss it all out. But Nooooo, I refused to give up.
My Buddy is a champ! I now feed him daily, leaving him on the counter (even in winter) and he just continues to please me. Wish my damn dawg was so eager to please. No matter what the temp, he "explodes" every single time, many times way more than doubling in just 3-4 hours. I feel that I should pay him much more than minimum wage since he works so hard. I have even forgot to feed him even though he sits on the counter in plain sight, but he still just bubbles up happily when I do remember.
My bread has been better than even I imagined. Since there are only 2 of us at home, I give a lot of loaves away because I just "have" to bake even though I don't need the loaves. I'm now using yeast recipes and making them sourdough with comfort and confidence. I have to remember, sister doesn't like raisins, nieces kids don't like nuts, no one but me like pumpernickle, and many friends don't like rye. Sigh. They all have defective taste buds.
I have a rye and ww starter in the fridge that get fed once a month. They are quite happy too. I guess So. Calif. is a good place for happy yeast.
I haven't had to purchase expensive bread flour. I get my flour from Sam's Club...25 lbs for $8. I do order rye from King Arthur and can get ww at the local supermaket. I love adding nuts and seeds to my loaves. Luckily I can find most of them at the supermarket, too. I'm going to get some wheat berries and a blend of ingredients from KA that I'm not able to find locally.
Now that Buddy is such a pro, my biggest challenge is slicing bread. I can't slice straight to save my life.
Keep baking. Bless my Kitchen Aid and my digital scale. Couldn't live without them...or the damn dawg. She and Buddy are in full competition mode for my love.
=Janey
Pages