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Make your own sourdough

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Re: Make your own sourdough

#171

Post by redler »

moosehawk wrote: post #140
verelo wrote: post #129

On the topic of bread for a moment: I recently started making my own bread. I bought a book on the topic by Ken Forkish "Flour water salt yeast", and I've fallen in love with the process. The recipes are great, but the first few chapters that cover his journey to making bread, a bit of the science behind it and talking about the less scientific components of what almost sounds like "luck" (Really, just super detailed…

Second "Flour Water Salt Yeast". I've been baking bread for a few years now following his techniques with great success. He also has a 2nd book called "The Elements of Pizza" that I highly recommend. I had a similar experience when starting. The process seemed time consuming and complicated, but now I can bake a couple loaves any day of the week with a small amount of planning and little effort/thought. In both books…

The pizza looks great. Do you have a high temperature oven?

Re: Make your own sourdough

#172

Post by Moru »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #86
firmgently wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! I'd been baking all my own bread for years but had repeatedly failed to cultivate a sourdough starter despite following lots of guides to the letter. I finally got mine living nicely when I completely let go, stopped measuring and worrying, just learned to smell and watch. I pour flour in straight from the bag and splash water from a big container, as long as the consistency is somewhere between thin mud and thi…

I would strongly recommend getting a digital kitchen scale (cost is under $30) and measuring water and flour in repeatable weights. A volume of flour is just not a consistent weight - it can be packed loose or tight.

I think it's a thing about how you like your life. Are you looking for an exact taste every time or do you want to be surprised now and then? What I have seen from Germans, they are very routine-bound and don't like it if it's out of sync. Swedes are a bit looser but still want the normal bland stuff, no exotic tastes. However this seems to change slowly thanks to lots of baking/cooking programs on the telly the last 30 years.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#174

Post by keithpeter »

bonesss wrote: post #103
keithpeter wrote: post #15

Nice guide. I have tried a couple of sourdoughs but mine nearly always end up with a lot of alcohol (acetone smell, bitter liquid). As OA says, you can just scrape the liquid off the top and feed the sourdough to refresh it, but then the bread I bake has a slight acetoney taste. Suggestion: add a description of the sourdough after each day so people have a rough idea if their sourdough is growing. The photo helps - y…

Fermentation goes through four phases, roughly paraphrased into: wheatey, champagne, alcohol, vomit. You're describing a starter that is too 'old'. Very 'young' starters have little flavour, and then get sweet and honey-like before getting souuuuuur. Personally I'd recommend just leaving it on the counter and going to a 24 hour or 12 hour feeding schedule. Flavour: you can absolutely scrape the bad stuff off the top…

Been through all four, not too much on the vomit stage though.

Must have another bash at it soon, thanks.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#175

Post by nkkollaw »

I make this often to make żurek--a Polish soup.

Basically, instead of putting it into bread you add it to a broth with sausages, bring it to a boil for two minutes or until it gets dense, and it's ready.

One of my favorite.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#176

Post by jmenn »

verelo wrote: post #129

On the topic of bread for a moment: I recently started making my own bread. I bought a book on the topic by Ken Forkish "Flour water salt yeast", and I've fallen in love with the process. The recipes are great, but the first few chapters that cover his journey to making bread, a bit of the science behind it and talking about the less scientific components of what almost sounds like "luck" (Really, just super detailed…

After reading Sloan's _Sourdough_, I ended up buying FWSY and have been making sourdough for about 6-9 months. I find the entire process remarkably fun, relaxing, and exciting. Unfortunately, I still can't get that real "sour" taste from my breads.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#177

Post by saalweachter »

lmilcin wrote: post #65
bgaluszka wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you get sourdough made at some other place after couple of weeks your local culture will take over thus sourdough will loose that other place uniqueness so to speak. But I'm not an expert just something I remember when I was interested in sourdough and pizza making.

You are correct. Your method of keeping the starter will over time select the culture that is best suited for your method of keeping, from available gene pool.

Anecdotally, my experience has been that while yeast cultures are durable, you can also get some maladaptive selection going from time to time; eg, if you are too irregular in feeding your starter, you might end up with a slow-growing culture rather than the fast-growing culture you get from feeding your starter twice a day and want for a good rise. Your starter will still be alive, but not as useful until you start feeding it constantly again and get that fast-growing culture established again.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#178

Post by saalweachter »

bonesss wrote: post #99
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would strongly recommend getting a digital kitchen scale (cost is under $30) and measuring water and flour in repeatable weights. A volume of flour is just not a consistent weight - it can be packed loose or tight.

That's very relevant for the bread-making process. For starter feeding, though, I'm with the GP post: measuring all the time is a PIA, and totally unnecessary. The margin of error is massive, after a few measures you'll know the consistency to aim for, and if you're too stiff/wet it's dead simple to compensate when baking. Feeding by texture lets you get to know your starter better, follow its rhythms, and makes dail…

I think one of the biggest culture divides in baking is the "I love baking, it is so scientific and exact" crowd versus the "Everything makes bread!" crowd.

I personally use the big measurements (flour, water, etc) as a rough guide so that I'm in the right ballpark on consistency and don't need to add too much one way or the other to get it right, and usually ignore the smaller measurements entirely (salt, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla ...) and pour what looks like an appropriate amount in my hand before dumping it in the mix. Fewer dishes to wash that way :-)

Re: Make your own sourdough

#179

Post by weaksauce »

jmenn wrote: post #176
verelo wrote: post #129

On the topic of bread for a moment: I recently started making my own bread. I bought a book on the topic by Ken Forkish "Flour water salt yeast", and I've fallen in love with the process. The recipes are great, but the first few chapters that cover his journey to making bread, a bit of the science behind it and talking about the less scientific components of what almost sounds like "luck" (Really, just super detailed…

After reading Sloan's _Sourdough_, I ended up buying FWSY and have been making sourdough for about 6-9 months. I find the entire process remarkably fun, relaxing, and exciting. Unfortunately, I still can't get that real "sour" taste from my breads.

You can buy sourdough cultures that kickstart your starter. Basically it’s a culture that’s been cultivated for years and the starter gets frozen or condensed right before shipping and all you do is rehydrate it a bit and then maintain it.
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