So i really hope that someone out there can help me??????

For the past two weeks i have been growing a sourdough starter which i refresh daliy with 70g organic white flour, 30g organic rye flour and 100g spring water (disgarding most of the starter before feeding). I'm very pleased to say that my starter is ready to use, doubled in size over 24 hours, lots of bubbles and a thick layer of froth on top - only problem is i have no idea where to go from here!!! I have been reserching the net but dont seem to be getting anywhere so thought i would give this a shot!!!

My starter reaches its peak at about 7pm and by the morning it has subsided sightly....what im really looking for is a great recipe for a large white crusty loaf and the same in granary or brown. I am wondering if i should use it when its at its peak, and if so can i leave the dough to prove overnight so i can bake in the morning???

I have spoken to people who suggest that you can use yeast along side your starter as this gives good effects....have anyone used this method? does it work well and how would i go about doing this (working out how much to use of each).

Also i plan to bake at least every other day so do i need to put my starter in the fridge or is it ok to leave it out, refreshing it everytime i use it..up until now i have left my starter out in the kitchen.

Wow so many questions!!! im really keen to get going, and i would love to get some help from people who have been there and done it!

Thanks in advance!

I read that some have named their starters.  I think, I'll name mine Bubbles.

At the risk of committing heresy, I wonder if instant or dry active yeast could be the basis of a good sourdough starter. Here's my reasoning:

I'm told that dry active yeast has been 'engineered' to be very active and supplies a very high concentration of yeast to make bread rise quickly and consistantly. Intant yeast is very easy to use but works so quickly that it sacrifices the depth of flavor one gets with a long, slow ferment.

Can instant yeast be slowed down enough by using less of it? Is it possible to use a SMALL measure of instant yeast added to a water/flour mixture, and let it slowly ferment, feeding daily and end up with a viable sourdough starter? After all, isn't it the bacteria and acids that give the flavor to a loaf of sourdough? If those bacteria are provided (mostly) from the flour, then it would seem logical that instant yeast could provide a fool-proof beginning to a very strong starter for a beginner. Could that same instant yeast be used to revive a neglected starter, overwhelmed starter?

Am I out in left field here?

Phxdog (Scott)

If I transport some of my sourdough starter to a different state (locale), will it retain the same mix of bacteria and yeast?

--Pamela

I have an established SD starter from PR's WGB, but want to try out Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough. I could really use some advice on how to convert my WGB starter into one that will work with Hamelman's recipe, assuming that this is possible.

--Pamela

So I have been learning to bake bread.  I did NOT buy a bread machine, which I did consider for a while.  I was thinking about what would be easy, simple, less time consuming.  But when it came down to it, I just didn't like the constraints of a bread machine.  The loaf pans are so small, sometimes square, and the whole paddle thing just leaves me cold.  I had a bread machine when I lived in Germany.  I used it and hated it. It dumbed me down and I never understood the whole process of bread baking.  This made it impossible to troubleshoot or use anything other than the basic settings. 

Now, without a bread machine, I am so happy.  I feel like I have found a new hobby [that hopefully won't make me TOO fat!] and it is very exciting to create such wonderful works of edible art.  The breads that I have made so far, that have been successful, are a half-white, half-wheat loaf that is very nice, and would be great for sandwiches, cinnamon toast, and just about anything else.  The other loaf I have made that needs a bit of work is the artisan bread.  I have managed to get the right size, rise, and color...but need to work on the scoring and taste. 

Next I will try making a huge starter in the fridge and flavor it with some sourdough starter I already have.  Another really interesting thing I am doing, is using the bread mixes I am getting delivered.  Hodgson Mills makes some great mixes, but I don't use them as is.  I use them as additives to my breads for more flavor and the dough conditioning properties.  I could buy dough conditioner, but this is much more fun to experiment!

I also am working with gluten, and this addition is particularly helpful up here in the mountains.  I am at almost 8000 feet, so the high altitude is also a challenge.  But I am figuring it out as I go.

Thats it for now. Will post my recipes soon.

Hello everyone.    I live in the Tampa Bay area and have been baking simple breads off and on for the last 20 years, sometimes with my Zojurushi and sometimes by hand - but I would not call myself an expert by any means.  I bake bread because I cannot stand the stuff that passes for bread at the grocery store and I cannot afford to buy everything at the bakery.  I love whole grain breads and I especially love sourdoughs!

I  just purchased a slightly used Nutrimill from a friend of my sister and I am really excited about grinding my own flour.  I have hard red and white wheat on order, but don't have any grain to grind yet, so I am still baking with King Arthur.  I found this site while trying to research how (if) I could use fresh flour for sourdough (several people told me fresh flour would begin to go rancid almost immediately after milling). From what I have read here, it shouldn't be a problem and  I am certainly going to try.

I now have a 3 day old sourdough starter developing (based on Gaarp's great sourdough tutorial) that I hope will be ready for baking with by the beginning of next week.  Right now, I am just waiting for it to double!  If this is successful, i am thinking I may try a second starter with my fresh milled flour when it arrives.  Would the two starters develop different tastes/characters or is it just the wild yeast in my kitchen that creates the flavors? 

This is a great site for information and inspiration -

Hello,

I have started a bakery in China producing a local type of quick bread. the recipe is below

50 eggs

25kg flour

2.5 ltrs oil

4 kg sugar

we use a sour dough starter that was given to us by a company producing the same type of bread. we combine the ingridients and the prepared sourdough starter and then add luke warm water to mix them in an industrial mixer. we mix for about 1 min and the dough comes out relatively dry, not sticky at all.

we let rise in a warm place over night. in the morning we put the bread in the mixer again and "knead" for around 2 mins and add a 1/3 kilogram of baking soda. then we seperate the dough into small ball, flatten with a presser, and smear a filling onto the dough. we then cut the dough into four pieces and arrange in a small aluminum conatiner. we cook the bread at 270 degrees celcius for around 35 minutes and then turn off the heat and let cook for another 5 mins. we then take the bread out of the containers and let cool before serving.

my current problem is that the bread continues to turn out very dry. when i eat the bread i have trouble swollowing it. the filling we put on it tastes good but the actually bread tastes very dry. we have tried adding more water to the mixing, adding yogurt, increasing oil, letting rise for two days, trying different flours, all to no effect. we have tried the bread at other places and it is relatively "wet" or easier to eat. it is sweeter than our bread. the recipe we have was given to us by the other comany also (we essentially franchised from them) and they do not know what the problem is either.

i think our method is similar to the "epoxy" method used by peter for his new whole grain bread. i just cant seem to get the flavor out of the bread, and get it to be more moist. please if you have any suggestions help me. and if you happen to visit beijing def drop me a message. thanks in advance

Baking in Beijing

Refreshed Sourdough Starter