March 22, 2007 - 1:03pm
Hello from WNY
Hello. I'm in WNY (Western New York) and have just joined. I've been a bread maker for a long time and enjoy it. Having spent a long period of my life living in the north San Francisco Bay Area of California, I got "spoiled" on the excellent San Francisco sourdough bread. Imagine my dismay upon moving to WNY to find that there isn't sourdough bread of any kind to be found. So, despite my many failures in the the past to make a successful sourdough starter and and my own sourdough bread, I'm determined to keep trying. Which is how I found this forum. I know I'll learn a lot from everyone and maybe, just maybe, one day can say I've made my own sourdough bread.
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You'll be eating your own sourdough before you know what happened! Patience is called for when initiating a starter, but you can do it. Keep it simple. All the info is here, just poke around and do some searches. Ask questions when you're stumped and show off your bread, perfect or not. You are fortunate to have found this site--we're all friendly.
Susan in San Diego
Welcome and good luck with future sourdough efforts.
I hope you have better luck than I did, perhaps the heat and humidity here impede the starter process...
Let us know your progress..
Regards from southern mexico
Welcome I am also relatively new here. I recently completed my first starter and after what seems like forever I am finally making bread if you havent read it yet you can see some of my progress here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2305/my-first-starter-dialup-warning-many-photos. What I really want to know is where in western NY?. I grew up in staten Island but eventually moved to that area before coming here to Pittsburgh. Going back now I appreciate it much more than I did when I was younger.
I'm in the thriving "metropolis" of Killbuck. LOL South of Buffalo, near the PA border. Not much sourdough bread here at all, and most people, when I ask about it either make a godawful face (Eeeeew!) or haven't a clue what I'm talking about. I spent a lot of years in Calistoga CA, north of San Francisco, before moving here, and appreciate a good sourdough bread. I did find one loaf, made in the bakery department of a local supermarket (Tops), but the bread wasn't very sour. I was rather disappointed. So I'm going to keep trying to make my own.
Cheer up Sandaidh, there can be life East of the mighty river. I also had learned to love the great breads of the world but never thought much about being able to produce the wonderful depth of flavor obtained by the master bakers of the world. This is a noble project you have embarked on and soon you will be on your way to the best bread you have ever eaten.
First, I'm certainly no expert but I have learned enough in the last couple Months at this site to make several very good breads that rival anything you can get on Fisherman's Wharf.
The process of creating your own starter requires a bit of attention and patience. You can obtain starters from several sources that are dried versions and only require re hydration. That might be the fastest way to go but I would suggest you look at a poster here called sourdolady and follow her very easy and reliable instructions for getting a starter going. The founder and maintainer of this great site also has a simple process to follow that will get you running with an active starter in under 2 weeks. Search in the forums for starters and you will find endless pages of postings and questions that you can follow. The questions are usually similar and the answers are also easy to follow.
Here is the link to the starter recipe that many of us have used or something like it. It works very well. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233
Welcome to the site, I know you will enjoy the group as I have.
Eric
Welcome Sandaidh,
I, too, live far from any bakery, and gave up trying with sourdough in great disgust some years ago. Not anymore! Find Sourdolady's instructions on this site; I made my first loaf within 2 weeks of starting, and it was, if I may say it myself, more than passably edible. Haven't bought bread from the store in months, thanks largely to this site and it's generous and knowledgeable denizens.
The only danger is all the amazing pictures; every time I come here, I have to sign off and go bake something. We're all going to blow up like wood ticks here if I don't stop...
welcome,
edh