The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Sourdough

February 19, 2006 - 7:08pm
Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

As the Sourdough Rises

Thought someone out there would enjoy the soap opera of a sourdough newbie..LOL!
I have been studying the techniques of many mentors here..I had my notes on the long
proof of my starter,autolysing, folding & shaping, slack doughs, retarded rise..too many
facts for my feeble brain I fear!! I took my starter out Friday, poured out but 1/4 cup
and fed with 1/2 c flour & 1/2 cup H2O..a little later bubbling and very happy..into the
oven with the light on overnight..Saturday morning (12 hours later)slowing down..so I feed
& back into the oven. Sunday morning..I think I waited too long..still bubbling..but there
is hooch too. I mix my starter, yeast,milk,lemon juice & flour..cover and let sit 30 min.
Un oh..really stiff so I add a bit of H2O..way too sticky..then flour..still a mess.
I cover and decide to let it sit for 45 min..while I make Sunday breakfast..french toast,
fresh strawberries & bacon. My husband decides to assist and dumps the dough out on the
bread board ..OK..I tell him wait..not ready yet and cover it up. We eat..I go back
to my doughy mess..hmm not too bad..dough has relaxed ..so I fold..put it to rest ..I'm in
the shower and now remember I haven't put in the salt, sugar and olive oil!!..another 45 min
has gone by and it has risen..Hmm..I know I am committing bread suicide..I pour my dough into my food processor..add the salt, sugar and olive oil and do the wicked deed..and pray.
I let it rest again..fold and back into the bowl. A hour later..it has risen nicely..so
I divide and fold and into the fridge ... and so the sourdough rises.. I hope
until tomorrow...
I do have a dilemma..usually I get out of work at 2:30 PM..but tomorrow 5:30..
if my house is pretty cool ..in the 60's ..can I take my bread out of the fridge to rise
@ 6AM ish? so I can bake tomorrow night..and/or can I wait until Tuesday to bake..when I
get home earlier?

Teresa_in_nc's picture

Cool rise question

January 17, 2006 - 7:35pm -- Teresa_in_nc
Forums: 
Sourdough and Starters

After reading the articles by SourdoLady I have a question about using a cool rise in the fridge after shaping the loaves:

Would a rise at a cool room temp, say 50 degrees F, be food safe and achieve the same long, flavor developing rise as in the fridge at colder temperatures?

I simply don't have room in my refrigerator to store two loaves of bread rising on a large sheet pan. But I have an unheated laundry room off the kitchen that stays between 40 and 50 if I don't leave the door open to the kitchen.

Any advice is appreciated.

Teresa

Share
  • Facebook logo
  • Twitter logo
January 15, 2006 - 6:01pm
sonofYah's picture
sonofYah

Beit Lechem -- House of Bread

Well, this is my first blog. And It won't be very active at present. I seem to be working a lot of hours lately. About 60-70 per week. I have a full time job with a short-line railroad in SW Indiana. We move railcars for a major plastics/chemical plant in the area. I am also working part-time at a local grocery store bakery.

Wish the bakery job paid more. They have offered to train me as a bakery manager. But the money doesn't seem to be there. And if it is, the present manager could become upset. I think I would be making more than she does after 17 years with the company. Besides, it is not my type of bakery. Couldn't get my hands in the dough. Would have to deal with commercial breads and such.

Probably better off starting my own bakery. Then I could focus on the naturally leavened, whole-grain, artisan breads I enjoy making.

I have found a location on a major thouroughfare in town. It is a little small. But has great parking, wonderful location, and the rent is really reasonable. Now to buy the equipment. But first, I need to work on the business plan and make another appointment with SCORE.

Looking at raising some initial money by selling subscriptions online for meal menus. I figure I can make up four special menus monthly. The meals would be easy and nutritious. Yet fit for a special family meal. Also putting most of my wages from the bakery in a seperate checking account for expenses.

Looking at the possibility of apprenticing myself out to a local baker who makes the types of bread I am interested in. This means I would have to quit the other bakery job. But I have the okay from the owner of the shop where he works. This individual was trained in Italy. He has started and sold three bakeries in the area.

But first, I need to see where my railroad job takes me in the next month. There is the possibility that I could get the new Clerk's position. This would allow me to get inside out of the weather. It would also mean that I would be working days. Which means I would not be able to work at either bakery. I could work for myself though.

Decisions, Decisions.

Well, enough for now. 'Til Next Time.

bottleny's picture

No-waste method of making starter from scratch

November 6, 2005 - 9:00pm -- bottleny
Forums: 
Sourdough and Starters

I really like Samartha's way of making a starter: no throwing out
anything.

The "usual" way of making a starter is throw out the half of previous
one and then add flour and water.

Repeat several times and then you have your own active starter.

Just as mention here,
you may toss out about 83% of flour to make a starter. Even though
flour is cheap, you don't need to throw anything out and you can make a
~500g starter ready for making a sourdough bread by following Samartha's
method.(step by step with photos)

Share
  • Facebook logo
  • Twitter logo
Floydm's picture

Spotlight on Sourdough

November 1, 2005 - 7:59pm -- Floydm
Keyword: 
Sourdough

Certified Executive Pastry Chef and Certified Culinary Educator carltonb has provided some wonderful information on baking with sourdough. There are three parts:

There is a pictoral essay on the steps involved in the development of a starter culture.

Next there is a feeding chart that provides details behind the pictures in his essay. Scaled down, this provides an excellent formula that a home baker could use to create a starter culture.

carltonb's picture

Sourdough Feeding Chart

November 1, 2005 - 9:31am -- carltonb
Keyword: 
Sourdough

The following schedule is a guide for starting a starter from scratch.

During this process the starter should be held at 70 to 75 F to encourage fermentation.

A mature culture will be able to multiply 2 to 3 times in volume every 8 to 10 hours.

Schedule Flour Water Starter Time Before Next Feeding
*Day One AM 1 lb Whole Wheat Flour
1 lb Bread Flour		 2 lbs 24 hours
Day Two AM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 1 lb 6-8 hours
Day Two PM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 1 lb 16 hours
Day Three AM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 1 lb 6-8 hours
Day Three PM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 1 lb 16 hours
Day Four AM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 1 lb 6-8 hours
Day Four PM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 14 oz 16 hours
Day Five AM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 14 oz 6-8 hours
Day Five PM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 14 oz 16 hours
All additional days AM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 14 oz 6-8 hours
All additional days PM 1 lb Bread Flour 1 lb 14 oz 16 hours
carltonb's picture

Sourdough Pictorial aka Creating a Starter

October 31, 2005 - 4:03pm -- carltonb
Keyword: 
Sourdough

This is a pictorial process for created your starter. You can follow the attached chart to see the
feeding schedule I use for a two-a-day feeding.

I like this method because it meets my particular work needs.

In this example the starter was kept between 74 and 80° F for the entire process except for Day Four PM to the AM schedule on Day Five. This time I left it in an area that was at least 84° F. You
can see how the fermentation "got away." This will be corrected by returning the starter to the 74
and 80° F range.

Day One

Your ingredients

October 18, 2005 - 8:48pm
timtune's picture
timtune

Starter...after a long time

I just set a starter out last night. Made of raisin water and unbleached all purpose. Hopefully i'll manage to get some loaves outta it this time.. hehe..

This is the 2nd time i'm doing this. Earlier this year, when i knew very little about making bread, my starter looked fermented, but they didn't produce anything or make dough rise... Guess it's just some other bacteria, not wild yeast. I live in a tropical country. Hope it's ideal for wild yeast and not some other nasty microbiological impostors...

Didn't use wholewheat flour. The last time i used wholewheat flour for an overnight poolish, it was fermented till the loaves smelled nasty and tasted bitter. lol

Hmm, how do u know if ur starter is ready to be used and how long b4 u can use it, usually....

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Sourdough