July 17, 2007 - 6:15pm
People who name their starters -
I've wondered about them, but now I have my first. Wow - in 5 days it went from a doughy clump smelling like orange juice to this wonderful, yeasty, rich-smelling beauty. It's bubbling and growing.
Thanks to SourdoLady (link below)
But I got so absorbed in making and nurturing this starter, I'm not exactly prepared for baking with it. Can anyone recommend a good "first starter" recipe that will wow my husband sufficiently to perhaps make him understand my babying this gurgling mass in my Pyrex measuring cup??
Any suggestions welcomed.
My starter's background:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233
Janet
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First thing I did with my sourdough was to make Floyd's Daily Bread recipe (see Lessons), but when putting the poolish together, I didn't use yeast. I substituted about 3-4 tablespoons of starter (I think I weighed it and it was something in the vicintiy of 15 grams? I know it was about the size of a golf ball).
I let the poolish develop overnight, until it looked nice and bubbly and happy. Then I just proceeded as if using regular poolish. I increased the amount of flour slightly so the dough was just barely stiff enough to be handled. Otherwise, I followed the same routine, and the results were great.
As for names? Yeah, I thought it was a little weird. Now, I kind of can't help thinking of them as George (whole-wheat/rye) and Gracie (white). Which I guess proves I have turned into an irredeemable bread geek.
"I am not a cook. But I am sorta cooky."
It's great to hear about new Sourdoughs, The one we made first, made it's first loaf on Christmas Eve, we named Sunnie. We put raisins in it, you know made in the sun. We sent off for the Oregon Trail Starter with a small donation, we call it Carol. At first it was Carl, after the "Friends of Carl", the people that send it out. Then we decided "Mother Doughs aught to have feminine names. We made a bunch more for fun, or to mix with Sunnie (it never changed it, she's fast, but not very sour).
We just mix up lesson one, instead of yeast a third of the dough is Sunnie, or Carol. At least when we just want a quick loaf. Sometimes dumping in some other grains.
Hope your sourdough's fun.
jeffrey