The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My very first sourdough

abunaloaf's picture
abunaloaf

My very first sourdough

I have recently tried sourdough, and was really encouraged when on the second day I had bubbles.  My old earthenware crock was previously used to make saurkraut.  I put in one cup of strong bread flour, one cup of spelt and 2 1/2 cups of tepid tap water, covered it with a glass plate and left it to find yeast.

The starter smelled more yeasty and less sour after a week.  Instead of discarding starter when feeding I used it, but I have yet to get a loaf I am satisfied with.  I know how to make bread, so that is not an issue.  I have made the exact same bread weekly for many years,  But I have also learned a lot since I have become interested in trying variations.  Thanks for this site.

I let the dough rise twice before putting it in pans and it takes forever.  So two days ago I put my dough in the fridge overnight and put it into pans in the morning....The dough had some condensation and a bit of drying as well.  After all day in a proofing oven it was still having a hard time rising.  I sprayed it periodically with oil so it wouldn't dry out.  It turned brown after baking, even though I used mostly white flour. The end result was a flattish heavy loaf that tastes good, but I would like it to be lighter. That way I could put the saw back in the garage.  I think I will start adding a teaspoon of yeast so I get the taste without all the waiting. 

When doing research about how to go about doing this I noticed that some people start their sourdough with real yeast.  Is this a bad thing?

Comments

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Try this, abunaloaf: take a small amount, 10 grams or so, of your starter, stir in 30 grams of water and 40 grams of flour.  Cover.  Let sit in a warm place.  Repeat (as in: take a small amount, 10 grams or so...) every 12 hours or so.  After 3 or 4 rounds of that treatment, it will probably be doubling, maybe tripling, before the next feeding.  All of this assumes that your kitchen temperatures are above 70ºF.

You can do whatever you like with the unused starter.  Batter your fish for deep frying, make pancakes or waffles, throw it in the compost pile, whatever.  But do be sure to feed your starter an amount of flour that weighs at least twice as much as the amount of starter that is being fed.  All those yeasts and bacteria are hard at work; you need to keep them fed.

Once your starter is doubling reliably, and you know about how long it takes to do that, you'll be ready to turn out tasty, fully risen loaves of bread.

Oh, and welcome to TFL!

Happy baking,

Paul

abunaloaf's picture
abunaloaf

Thanks  for the welcome and the good advice.  I just now took it out of the fridge and I will weigh it and feed it.  :)

abunaloaf's picture
abunaloaf

Those are small amounts.  I increased it.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

after your starter has been well fed. 

Sourdough is a little different than commercial yeast dough.   It does take longer.

"I let the dough rise twice before putting it in pans and it takes forever."

Don't let it rise twice, you may be loosing all your rising power.  Sourdough ferments differently, slower but more like one slow continuous rise.  It is a good idea to gently fold the dough to degas large bubbles forming while it rises but it is not good to "punch it down."   As you may notice, the sourdough dough gets softer as fermenting progresses,  a few tucks and folds with shaping will maintain the surface tension nicely before you are ready to put it into the pans.  When the dough feels like it might rip with the next fold, let it rest 10 minutes and then give it a final shape for the pans.   Let it rise a little more and when the dough passes a poke test, bake it.

abunaloaf's picture
abunaloaf

Thank you very much for your reply.  I was wondering if it would be ok just rising once.  And I suppose after awhile I will know by touch what to do with it.  I will watch for the things you pointed out to me.  :)