Hello!

I'm a relatively new sourdough baker, and am working with a great starter I got from a friend.  I made two really nice loaves last week and decided to go big this week and double my recipe (since I have tooons of starter!).  I keep feeding my starter and then not having the time to bake with it, so yesterday when I finally had a few hours, I popped my starter in the oven on very low heat after I fed it, so that I could add flour and water later that night and bake with it this morning (I was following the King Arthur Extra Tangy Sourdough recipe which I used last week, they have you add flour and water and stick it in the fridge overnight, then mix in the rest of the flour, salt and sugar and let it rise twice).

My issue is...I think I killed my starter in that initial go in the oven!!! I stupidly mixed in all the flour, water etc anyway, and let it rise once for about 4 hours although it didn't really do anything (King Arthur says it doesn't need to rise a ton) and shaped them.  Now I have 4 loaves that haven't really risen at all.  Is there any way I can save these loaves??  I still have a lot of starter nice and safe in the fridge (it never went in the oven) I could use, plus some regular ol' active dry yeast. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Abby

My starter, made with AP flour turned my sour dough a brown color on the inside does anybody know why?Is this BAD BACTERIA?

Hi all,

Love this web site! I'm here in Florida, love to see how Artisan bread has grown. I am an executive bread baker and have much respect for everyone who is making artisan bread at home. It's not as easy as a professional kitchen. I'm here up late baby sitting my olive sour. I like how technical everyone is with their recipes so I have an easy version for those less educated. I call my bread sour because it has a liquid starter, if it were a stiff starter I would call it Levain. I like to use both liquid and stiff in the bakery because I think it adds some unique characteristics, at home liquid starter seems to move faster for me so thats what I prefer. The recipe is as follows: note if you prefer lighter loaf you can omit whole wheat 

2#low protein flour(king arthur bread flour will do)

1#whole wheat(king arthur)

14oz starter

2% salt

65% water(make sure account for liquid in starter)

25-28% calamata olives(about a pound will do)

mix for 2-3 min slow, let sit for 10 min., mix 2 min med speed then add patted dry olives add 1 tbl spoon flour mix med speed for 1 min.

take out fold after 15 min, fold again after 15 min, let rest for 45min fold again, then fold again after 45min  let rest until spongy about 11/2-2 hours.

Divide dough, lightly round then shape into preferred shapes, I like to use couche or basket, ready to bake in 2-3 hours or leave it overnight in fridge and 

bake in the morning, my oven is gas so I preheat to 430 place loaves on stone www.fornobravo.com 15x20 rectangle stone, 10 min. at 430, 40-45 min at 400, if you buy two stones one for bottom and top it holds humidity a little better after you pour water in oven twice within the first 10 min.

hope this helps someone, have to figure out how to post pics but if anyone wants to see them facebook Arbatel Gonzalez 

How to tell if a sourdough starter is still alive? If a sourdough starter is dead, is there anyway to rescue it? What happen if use dead sourdough starter in bread?

I used my sourdough starter last week the same as I always do,according to the directions that came with the recipe.One cup added to my french sour dough recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Bread cook book.Everything looked the same as I placed it in the oven BUT when I cut into it, it was a light golden brown instead of the usual white! I finally figured out it was the mother starter I've been using for over a year now.It hadn't been bubbling like it use to but I never expected that.What happened?Is it still safe to use?

Hello, I need some advice on my new starter.  2 weeks ago I started with organic dark rye and bottled spring water.  I was pretty stumped by the "false rise" then nothing for 4 days, until I came accross this forum and Debra Wink's post, so I stuck with it, and in a week the starter was doing very well.  I gradually replaced some of the rye with KA bread flour, and soon it was doubling in 8 hours.  I decided to eliminate the rye altogether, and switched to unbleached AP as I was out of bread flour.  Well, after 2 feedings of the AP flour, the starter barely bubbles, and hardly rises 25% in 24 hours.  Plus it gets thin and watery, with a bit of clear liquid forming at the edge.  Worried, I then added a couple tablespoons of rye to the next feeding, and it seems to have perked up a little.

Did I switch too soon, or did I wait too long?  Wanting a white starter, should I just make the switch and keep feeding it AP, and will it eventually get to the point where it likes it?  With the rye, it was most active at 82 degrees.  It's at 100% hydration and I feed at 2:1:1.  Does the white flour need more or less heat?  Frankly, I don't think a bit of rye in the starter would affect the taste of the bread all that much, but I feel like my starter is not very strong if it needs the rye as a crutch. I'd appreciate any help on where I go next with this.  Thanks so much.

Hi all,

Thought I would make the foray into creating my own starter and armed with Reinhart's BBA book, some coarse rye flour and pineapple juice I started on day one and left it at room temperature (around 20˚c).

On Day Two, 24hrs later, I checked and nothing had happened. Fair enough, the book said that might be the case. So I added the next lot of flour and juice and left it.

Day Three and a little frustrated to find it's not grown a millimetre. The book suggests it might have grown 50% so I thought mine might have grown at least a little. Anyway, it said to proceed regardless so I discarded half and added the water and flour. Left for another 24 hours.

Now... It's Day Four and once again it's not moved. No growth, no swelling, nothing. Ok, maybe a couple of air bubbles have appeared on the surface but that's it. BBA says if it's not doubled to leave it for another 12 -24 hours, but I'm a little worried- is another 12 -24 going to make a difference if nothing at all has yet happened?

Maybe I'm being impatient, but it is frustrating when I'm not seeing any activity at all. Plus, I'm not sure what to do if after this 24hrs it's still not done anything as the book gives no info for this kind of situation... Do I keep waiting, do I do another feeding? Do I discard any before I feed? Should I still be using the pineapple juice.... etc etc

If anyone could offer some advice it would be greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,

Ross

My forte has been whole wheat bread but my husband loves fluffy,white bread and I have been working on it. I may have finally figured it out. Try it out and see what you think. It's done by volume measure rather than weight but it was my first attempt. Refinements will come.I based this on a Wonder Bread Clone recipe,recent experience and sourdough.

Soft White Bread

2 1/3 c Better for Bread flour

2/3 c soft whole wheat pastry flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

Mix all dry ingredients together then add liquid ingredients

2 tsp liquid lecithin

3 tbsp soft butter

1 egg,room temp

1/2 c active starter (100% by weight)

1/2 c warm milk

1/4 c warm water

Mix well-I used a K5 mixer

Place in oiled container and rise til double

Stretch and fold, rather than punch down, and shape into a loaf

Place in a well-oiled loaf pan (prefereably using a baking spray or brush applied product that has lecithin in it.) This dough tends to stick!

Rise til just 1 inch above the edge of the pan.Slash.

Bake in a preheated 375F oven about 30-40 min.

This loaf had terrific oven spring! It looks just like the picture of the Semolina Sandwich Loaf on the right side of the screen! The loaf is very soft now that it hass cooled and the crumb is very tender.I think the pastry flour really made a diiference.

So try it out and let me know what you think. It will be on the lunch menu tomorrow so I'll see how the fluffy half likes it.

Caroline

This "almost" worked out, but my shaping needs much practice.  The bread is wonderful though.  Because of life I ended up refrigerating the dough for bulk fermentation for about 14 hours due to a last minute meeting on the road, but these baked up very nice.  The crumb is soft and creamy, and has great flavor.  The flavor is no doubt thanks to the long and slow bulk fermentation.  Clearly I need to watch SteveB's loaf forming video a couple more times though.  My sister-in-law says "They have character.".  Maybe she's right.

OldWoodenSpoon

Greetings!

I'm reading Bread by Jeffrey Hammelman; in part, the chapter on levain. I already have a very strong starter that is more stiff. My question: can I use a stiff levain in hammelman's recipes instead of a liquid?

I am anxious to get started on the sourdough recipes, but want to be sure before I begin using my stiff starter rather than Hammelman's liquid levain. I don't have a preference, but just want to apply the right principles.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jeff