February 15, 2015 - 9:08am
Questions , questions and more ....
..questions.
Good afternoon! Beautiful day!
Did I read somewhere that it is better to wait 24 hours to slice a fresh loaf of bread?
This morning, I feed my sourdough starter. I am feeding it 1/4 cup starter, 1/4 cup flour ,1/4 cup water.
Does that mean the ratio is 1:1:1?
I had 110g of starter left after I feed my starter this morning. I mixed this with 125g of water and 125g of flour to get a 360g starter for a recipe I would like to make. The recipe calls for - 360 g mature 100% hydration sourdough starter.
Did I do this correctly?
Thank you so much!
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Bread continues to improve in flavor and texture until it has cooled.
Ratios are measured by weight. If you want 100% hydration starter, then feed by weight. Your build of 110 g starter did not give you 100% hydration since your initial starter was made on a volume base. One cup of flour weighs about 4.25 oz (120 g) so the hydration was about 190% hydration. However, this error will probably not affect your recipe except require you to wait a little longer for the rise and to add a little extra flour to the recipe to make up for the added water.
Good luck
Ford
Fresh, warm bread is great! But it will stale quicker due to excess moisture loss from the warm exposed cut bits, so if you can resist it, leave it an hour or so. It also continues to cook during the first part of cooling too - this is more important for bigger, higher hydration type breads.
But fresh, warm bread, covered in butter is still great and if the bread is going to be used that day then it's hard to resist...
As for the starter - there are 100's of ways to maintain it, however if you have 360g of starter for a recipe that needs 360g of starter, you'll have none left over for the next time, so keep some back.
If I wanted 360g of starter, I'd take 72g out off the mother that lives in the fridge, add in 144g of flour and 144g of water, mix and leave that in a warm place for 5-6 hours then use it in the loaf, not forgetting to add 36g of flour and 36g of water back into the mother, stir and put back in the fridge.
-Gordon
on you and the loaf in question IMO. For a given loaf, if you prefer the taste after it's completely cooled over the combination of taste plus warmth while it's still warm, there's your answer.
For me, I tend to be more patient when the loaf is one with a more complex blend of flavors. So for instance, I'm more likely to cut into a relatively plain mostly white loaf while it's warm than into one with multiple grains and/or flours. I'm also less likely to wait for loaves I've strongly flavored with things like olives, lots of onion, herbs et al.
..for your advice and comments.
I did wait almost 6 hours yesterday before slicing the 1st loaf of bread (I sliced the 2nd one this morning). It was hard to wait because like some of you have mentioned, there is nothing like warm bread with butter.
I have started to slice my bread and freeze it as soon as it is cools down. I place the slices on an extra large cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and put it on my front porch to freeze. This does not take long these days in my part of Canada, with temperatures hovering between -29 and -40C.
I then bag the sliced bread and have it ready in my freezer. It tastes just as fresh as the day I sliced it. And it never really last to long in the freezer so there is no chance of freezer burn etc..
I have been doing this with my instant yeast bread. Hopefully this will not interfere with the taste of the starter bread.
So here is a recap on what I did yesterday. Oh, and by the way, I have 2 'mama' starters sitting in my refrigerator. I am new to making starters and just can not throw any away but I am sure the temptation to save it will pass. So I am not worried about saving any of the starter I made yesterday, which has been sitting now, for more that 24 hours at room temperature.
I mixed together:
110g of starter
125g of water
125g of flour
Here are the ingredients for the bread I would like to make:
Ingredients:
900 g white flour
120 g whole rye flour
600 g water at about 74F
360 g mature 100% hydration sourdough starter
23 g salt
So can I still use the starter I made yesterday, or do I have to take some out, feed it and then wait 4 to six hours until its is bubbly and frothy? And do I have then adjust the flour in the recipe?
I apologies if I am repeating myself and not getting it. But I will , oh I will eventually, muhahaha..
Thanks again!
Kim
Do you use a machine to slice? Those slices look so uniform.
As for your starter, it depends what state it is in as to whether it should be fed or can be used straight away. Is it flat with small bubbles? I would feed first. If, on the other hand, it is puffy, with exuberant bubble activity, use as is. When taking starter out of the fridge, definitely give it four to six hours to be ready.
Tonight I've made up 2 batches of dough - spelt and wheat and both had starters directly from the fridge. I do this 2 or 3 times a week. (The other days I'm making more so need to bulk-up the starters) Tomorrow morning they'll have risen and be ready to be scaled and shaped into 6 loaves, left an hour or 2 to prove and baked.
The starters were topped up and immediately put back in the fridge. They'll be used again tomorrow night.
There are 100s of ways to do this. Find one that works for you.
-Gordon
In the winter here in AZ we have so many Canadian Snow Birds visiting. We like to loom at the license plates to know where we don't want to living in the winter because we would die! Of course we die in the summer if we don't level fir the mountain cooler altitude. i'm pretty sure San Diego is just about perfect all the time and why everyone lives there! If I lived where you do I would be baking 24 hours a day just to stay warm and or drinking a lot of brandy:-) Spring is just around the corner so hang in there ....and go bake something just in case it doesn't show up for awhile :-)
Happy baking
yesterday as well. Took a dab from mama rye starter and fed it, then when it was ripe, fed it again increasing it's size. It was ripening so well after a few hours (having already a nice aroma and foamy light and softer than when first mixed) I surmised that my timing would be way off when it was ready to make dough, so I put it into the fridge to slow it down. Taking it out as I brew my coffee.
Because it's a rye, it will have gotten stiff in the fridge and lost most of the gas, so I don't judge it too much by looks (half the reason for sticking it into the fridge is to keep it from swelling out of my container. works for rye not for wheat) I let it warm up to judge the aromas. Stir it down to check on them. I will also taste the starter to see if it is not only smelling yeasty but sour enough. If very sour, then refresh. Moderately sour gets used. No sour is too young. It seems perfectly in the middle. no need to feed to refresh. :)
Adding warm water to the sourdough starter will also release aromas and if I think they are too weak, cover and let it stand wet an hour or two to let it ferment more.