Confused Over Gordon Ramsay Sourdough Recipe
Hi guys I'd appreciate some advice.
I'm pretty new to sourdough baking and my first few attempts at making a starter were less than successful. I came across a sourdough recipe by the
Michelin star chief, Gordon Ramsay, but it has left me somewhat confused.
His starter consists of various ingredients: strong flour, rye flour, apple juice, low fat live bio yogurt and currants. Now I have a pretty good idea of what the various ingredients do. It's the actual loaf ingredients that have me confused.
In addition to what you would expect to find for the actual bread ingredients, Ramsay also includes 10 grams of fresh yeast or two teaspoons of dried active yeast. Here's a summary of the instructions he give re the yeast.
Crumble the active yeast, if using into a bowl, add the tepid water, and stir briskly until dissolved. If using dried yeast mix with the water and two pinches of caster sugar and leave for about 10 minutes until it begins to sponge.
Mix the yeast liquid with the rye starter and half the white flour cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place until the mixture bubbles, about 1 hour.
Combine the wholemeal, rye and the remaining white flour in a warm mixing bowl. Add the bubbling yeast dough and apple juice.
He then progress to the mixing and kneading of the ingredients, all pretty straight forward. Except, perhaps, that he kneads the dough three times resting for about an hour in between each kneading.
What confuses me is the addition of either live or dried yeast into the mix. From what little I've read about sourdough bread I get the impression that the idea is to let the starter do all of the work.
I made the bread this weekend and it turned out great, I really enjoyed the taste. However, is the addition of the dried yeast not really nullifying the reason for using the sourdough in the first place.
I haven't included the full recipe because I'm not to sure as to policy on the board about posting full recipes from books or the copyright implications. The recipe is taken from Gordon Ramsay Chef's Secrets page 184. If it is OK to post the full recipe and anyone wants it just shout.