Make your own sourdough • Hacker News Board

Re: Make your own sourdough

#61

Post by amelius » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:10 AM UTC

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #54

hahla wrote: post #25

I find it funny that this is post is popular because the title includes “an engineers guide.” As a hobbyist bread and pizza maker there are so many amazing resources across pizzamaking.com, YouTube and reddit that have years of community input I’m almost insulted that this is more popular.

It's not a great "engineer's guide" though. My main issue at a glance is it's too linear "Day 7 Add another round of ingredients. Day 8 You are done". it doesn't work that predictably. You have to describe the outcome you're waiting for, it might happen on an earlier day or later. For SW engineers, it's a "while (!ready())" loop, not a "for (day in 1..8)" loop. Maybe it worked that way once for the OP. But it will va…

Yes, their GitHub guide should probably include a deep learning classifier that implements the ready() function.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#62

Post by dmos62 » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:12 AM UTC

drsim wrote: post #24

If you live in Denmark, the Meyers bakeries will give you free starter, just bring a container: https://www.meyersmad.dk/om-meyers/meyers-virksomheder/meyer...

Same everywhere where there's artisan bread-making. Just ask if they have some and they'll gladly gift it to you or tell you when to come back.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#63

Post by vanderZwan » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:13 AM UTC

lmilcin wrote: post #55

Recipe is fine for sure, and I was doing this for a long time, but some time ago I have learned superior way of keeping sourdough. The oft cited recipe asks for feeding it every day and also keeping something like 100% hydration. Remembering to feed it every day is a major hassle for me. My sourdough is a piece of bread dough that is enough to use for my next batch. Basically, after first rise and before I shape my b…

Have you considered opening an issue/sending a pull request on the github page? ;)

Re: Make your own sourdough

#64

Post by lmilcin » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:17 AM UTC

vanderZwan wrote: post #63

lmilcin wrote: post #55

Recipe is fine for sure, and I was doing this for a long time, but some time ago I have learned superior way of keeping sourdough. The oft cited recipe asks for feeding it every day and also keeping something like 100% hydration. Remembering to feed it every day is a major hassle for me. My sourdough is a piece of bread dough that is enough to use for my next batch. Basically, after first rise and before I shape my b…

Have you considered opening an issue/sending a pull request on the github page? ;)

Excellent point, don't know why I did not think about doing this. I will do it tomorrow, I have a long drive before me today with wife and 3 kids.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#65

Post by lmilcin » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:21 AM UTC

bgaluszka wrote: post #53

chrissnell wrote: post #4

I had a starter for several years that was descended from the one kept by Dick Proenekke [1]. He lived alone in a cabin that he built himself--by hand--deep in the Alaskan bush. He made sourdough pancakes daily and his original starter came from a friend of his back in town. Someone related to this person sells the starter (on a wooden spoon) that you can buy [2] and use to create your own descendant. There's a fasci…

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.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#66

Post by lmilcin » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:26 AM UTC

chrissnell wrote: post #8

rhcom2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is an absolutely incredible combination of food and history. How did you like the results?

The starter was great but it's just sourdough starter. My palette is not refined enough to taste the difference between various sourdough cultures. Use the instructions in OP's link and it will probably be just as good. I think it's neat to have a starter from a place that's special to you. You could make one in your hometown, or in a favorite vacation spot, a place famous for its sourdough (like San Francisco), etc.

Sourdough cultures are not only about how they produce taste directly but also about how the yeast and bacteria interact and how quickly they grow. For example, yeast that grows faster will produce different results than yeast that grows slower. It depends on you whether you want fast or slow rise times.

For example, I prefer slower rise times, my doughs frequently ferment at room temperature for 24 and even up to 48 hours in extreme cases and still produce nice bread.

I do this for aroma but also for convenience. I like to be able to shape the dough in the evening and don't worry about it and put it in the oven in the morning. It grows so slowly that it can easily accommodate few hours of change in schedule or 1 or 2 digrees shift in temperature.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#67

Post by riffraff » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:32 AM UTC

cup-of-tea wrote: post #28

Baking is a surprisingly geeky thing to do. While cooking is more about knowing your ingredients and tasting as you go, baking absolutely requires strict adherence to a recipe. I can't actually remember why I started baking bread. But when I first started the product was horrible. I would let the dough rise in a warm place and "make it big" as quickly as possible. For me the rising was just about CO_2 so it made sens…

> while cooking is more about knowing your ingredients and tasting as you go, baking absolutely requires strict adherence to a recipe.

I am not sure I agree (or maybe I don't understand).

It is fairly common to mix a dough and have a recipe step like "when it's smooth and doesn't stick" or "when the consistency is of a thick goo". Ambient humidity, what sort of surface you use for kneading, temperature of your leaving chamber or fridge, age of the yeast etc... all affect dosage and process, so you need the equivalent of "tasting" anyway, it's just that you check stuff with your hands rather than your mouth.

And the same ease applies to cooking: you can make an edible stew as easily as you can make an edible loaf of bread. It's just when you try to make harder/better stuff that you need to stick to a recipe (think: pate a bombe for tiramisù)

Re: Make your own sourdough

#68

Post by lostlogin » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:46 AM UTC

lmilcin wrote: post #55

Recipe is fine for sure, and I was doing this for a long time, but some time ago I have learned superior way of keeping sourdough. The oft cited recipe asks for feeding it every day and also keeping something like 100% hydration. Remembering to feed it every day is a major hassle for me. My sourdough is a piece of bread dough that is enough to use for my next batch. Basically, after first rise and before I shape my b…

I’ve got a lazier option. Get some starter, add 70g of flour, 100g water and leave it overnight. Then stick it in the fridge and use it like you’d use a very slow working shop bought yeast (and maybe 20g at a time). Don’t feed it till it gets low. Treat it mean, any more effort on it is wasted. Mine’s coming up on 10 years old now and is just fine. I accidentally put it in the freezer and lost it for a month, I think it improved it.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#69

Post by lostlogin » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:51 AM UTC

hendricius wrote: post #10

chrissnell wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The starter was great but it's just sourdough starter. My palette is not refined enough to taste the difference between various sourdough cultures. Use the instructions in OP's link and it will probably be just as good. I think it's neat to have a starter from a place that's special to you. You could make one in your hometown, or in a favorite vacation spot, a place famous for its sourdough (like San Francisco), etc.

Here in Germany many people trade starters across villages. It would be interesting to have a scientific study on the differences. Maybe there is different bacteria/yeast in the different villages?

The type of flour and the temperature it’s kept at make the most difference imho. You can notice a change in the smell as seasons change.

Re: Make your own sourdough

#70

Post by lostlogin » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 9:52 AM UTC

caublestone wrote: post #13

A couple left academia to pursue their passion for cultures and turned their treasures into a market: http://www.sourdo.com Apparently they run into some sticky situations carrying dried yellowish brown powder around in aluminum foil. In Saudi Arabia they were detained at the airport for hours while authorities verified that the sketchy powder was in fact mostly harmless yeast.

Another misunderstanding - I know someone who had a baby sitter mistake the starter for yogurt and eat some. I’m sure that was an unpleasant surprise.