Greetings from Northern California and Happy New Year! 

This is my very first post to The Fresh Loaf.  Just a few photos of this year's first batch of Organic Pumpkin Seed bread.  Three loaves were made - one fully baked in 2011, the next put in the oven in 2011 and pulled out in 2012 and the final loaf fully baked in the new year.  Call me sentimental.

I've been working on the formula for quite some time.  Three organic flours: unbleached white (from the fine folks at Central Milling), rye (8%) and whole wheat (8%; from the fine folks at Massa Organics in Hamilton City, CA).  Organic rye starter and seeds (pumkin, sunflower and sesame).  683g of dough per boule.  Bulk fermented for 6 hours at 65F and 10 hour rise at approximately 67F.

Enjoy!

Sean

Hello all on thefreshloaf,

I've been reading the forum here for a short time now and, having baked with shop-yeast for quite a while now and got the basics of baking, have decided to delve into sourdough.

I started my starter two days ago now and so far all looks well (I'll keep you posted). Within 24 hours of mixing it up, I had bubbles on the top so gave it its first feed. Within 12 hours of this it had managed to bubble up and double in size. Hurray! Having read around and seen multiple articles it appears they need feeding on average daily to every two days. I've just given it its second feeding. My main question is...

Is there a simple method to the feeding procedure?

I know it isn't exactly difficult but I found emptying the jar to weigh it then measuring out and mixing back in created quite a mess (I somehow expected there to be a simple way around this). I also felt compelled to clean the jar the starter had been in while it was out for measuring as it had clumpy bits stuck to the sides. All in all it seems easy enough just not as quick and simple as some have made out... and as a daily task I can imagine me finding days I just really can't be bothered.

Also... I'm wondering about storing it in the fridge once it is healthy. Any views? Some pages seem to suggest this is fine and you simply feed it less often (bonus for me), but other sites that it will quickly die in the fridge. I'm already in a cold climate (being in the north of England) so was suprised it got going at all!

Any help / suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Sam

Hi. I'm writing this from my rental 5th wheel. Our house burned about 1 week ago and we were forced to rent an RV while they rebuild the house due to smoke damage.  Anyway, one of the silly things I was so disappointed about losing is my fairly new sourdough starter that I made all by myself. I just started baking bread (other than a few minor efforts in the distant past and bread machine bread which I don't count) and I made my sourdough starter about 2 months ago. Had to toss it due to smoke damage.

Yesterday, was reading this forum while avoiding packing, enjoying the rainy weather. I ended up digging out my Kitchen Aid blender, decided I couldn't live without it for 3 months. I'm working on trying to figure out grill baking on my gas grill. I went to Home Depot yesterday and was so disappointed that they didn't have Saltillo tiles for me to line my grill with! Anyway, started up a pizza dough at 1am and I'll finish it up Friday. (whole wheat from Peter Reinhart's recipe). Hopefully, I can find some tiles by then. In the meantime, I have to work 3 twelve hour shifts. Tonight I think I'm going to start a new starter with the directions on this forum which are much simpler than my first starter mix.

Looking forward to trying all the wholegrain recipes and techniques that I glean from this forum. This is awesome! The french fold and other techniques for use with wet doughs have already helped me tremendously! Sure wish I knew that the first time I made a rye bread!

Doc Tracy

Filed under: Things that may grow to haunt me

October 7, 2009

It's been awhile since my first post. I've been working on getting french bread down since then and after about 15 batches of dough I think I've finally found the delicate balance between the science and the art of it.

Yeah I wish.

I made a giant, spongy, flat batard for a dinner party a couple nights ago that I just had a bad feeling about right from the oven. One of my friends commented that it looked like an alligator lying in wait for unsuspecting prey. Gotta love those witty food critics.

My mistake was using a new recipe, using my new kitchen scale, and adhering too strictly to the measurements. It called for a 100% poolish and 66% overall hydration. Yesterday to satisfy my curiousity I carefully measured out a 60% hydration dough, which is about what I think I used to make back when I eyeballed everything and it turned out just how I like it - crisp skin and fluffy meat. I think I'm seeing a disturbing trend developing here though. This morning I weighed out my coffee grinds and recorded it in my kitchen journal with spaces saved for additional entries, then as I was weighing out my condensed milk for my coffee I had a WTF-realization moment and quickly shut off the scale and slowly backed out of the kitchen. Note to self: do not become a scale-whore.

Anyways here's my bread from yesterday:

Last night I decided that I've earned my baking yellow belt and was ready to learn the esoteric art of sour-do. I found a simple starter recipe using plain water and plain AP flour since I don't usually stock endangered fruit juices nor mill my own flour. I hope the other starters here won't look down on my modest little starter. What he may lack in sophistication I hope he'll make up for in street-smarts. Okay, I guess breads can't be street-smart so....let's just hope he doesn't taste like socks. Quick question: are starters generally male or female? I think mine's a boy but I'd like to make sure before I name him.

I'm 12 hours in and I'm nervously excited. I can't stop picking it up and looking at it. My mom used to say that that would make it fall off, so I should probably stop. It's condensing a bit on the lid and smells slightly yeasty, but hasn't risen a bit since last night. From what I've read that's still 12-24 hours away so it's all good so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Update: 36 hours in

The smell. Dear god, the smell. I took the lid off to feed it this morning and I just woke up, on the kitchen floor. How can something so innocent looking produce such an ungodly stench? Must separate mind from body. You can do this.