Sourdough

[CheryG]

Who does it?
What do you bake?
How did you get your starter?
Does it have a name?

I started a wild yeast starter on Dec 31st.  I LOVE it, and have been making some simple sandwich loaves with it.  So sour, so good!

[cindyleigh67]

Over the years I've purchased starters from King Arthur flour but it doesn't have the tang of a traditional SF sourdough..so I no longer have a dedicated sourdough starter. Is yours tangy?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[witchypoo]

i got my starter from my mother.  she used wild yeast for hers.

i bake bread once a week. 

[CheryG]

Mine is tangy, depending on my method of course.  Right now I've been doing a basic recipe of

Saturday- feed starter in the afternoon, bring to room temp.
Sunday- 1C starter, 1 1/4C water, 4C bread flour, 2C white wheat, 2t salt, 2T oil.

Slow rise all day as our kitchen is cool.

We use it for sandwich bread toasting.

It's name is Atine.

[CheryG]

There is a FB group called Perfect Sourdough that gives me shame, so many amazing bakers!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10214109574922488&id=1506235813

[picote]

I am baking *real* bread for the first time ever today. I try to eat low carb, so I've resisted in the past, but with two kids and DH, I can justify a baking habit! Wish me luck.... Starting with a good jewish rye, which is hard to find here, but I can see sourdough in our future...

Do you do it all by hand, or do you use a bread machine at all?

[witchypoo]

i don't use a bread machine.

i do use a stand mixer to knead dough.

[picote]

i don't use a bread machine.

i do use a stand mixer to knead dough.

That’s how I plan to do the batch today, but would love to be able to convert to a bread machine and get a successful outcome. I can see it being easier to do on a regular basis if I can premix some of the dry ingredients.

[diablita]

I prefer to make bread by hand.  I use the stand mixer for really wet doughs but it's not my fave.

[Run Amok]

That’s how I plan to do the batch today, but would love to be able to convert to a bread machine and get a successful outcome. I can see it being easier to do on a regular basis if I can premix some of the dry ingredients.

So, this is one of those indulgent things I do because I work from home and I can. T has very fond memories of eating rolls in germany as a kid. And  it's really hard to find decent rolls because they are super perishable.

So, I've been making this recipe because it can sit in my fridge all week and I cook off one or two rolls a day. Works out great & is very easy. The dough takes about 2 minutes to throw together and then it sits on the counter for 2 hours and then in the fridge for up to 1 week. It comes out of the fridge, proofs for 1 hour, and the bakes for 25 minutes. Timing the bake is usually the "hard" part for me.

https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/12/07/no-knead-sandwich-rolls/

[CheryG]

That looks like a great recipe RA.

I have a very sturdy stand mixer for bread so I use that.  I've been seeing a slack dough kneading methods that I'd like to try- it's more a stretch and folding of the dough than a knead.

[CheryG]

Described at 3:00

https://youtu.be/yg5nLQVg4VY

I've seen it done with dough that's even more slack than that.

[diablita]

that's a fantastic video 

[Run Amok]

I have these doing their final slow-rise in the fridge right now. If they work out, I might experiment with freezing them at the final rise stage next time so I don't have to bake them all at once.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/crusty-european-style-hard-rolls-recipe

[picote]

So, this is one of those indulgent things I do because I work from home and I can. T has very fond memories of eating rolls in germany as a kid. And  it's really hard to find decent rolls because they are super perishable.

So, I've been making this recipe because it can sit in my fridge all week and I cook off one or two rolls a day. Works out great & is very easy. The dough takes about 2 minutes to throw together and then it sits on the counter for 2 hours and then in the fridge for up to 1 week. It comes out of the fridge, proofs for 1 hour, and the bakes for 25 minutes. Timing the bake is usually the "hard" part for me.

https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/12/07/no-knead-sandwich-rolls/

Oh, if my experiment today is successful I’m definitely trying that! DH gets tired of plain sandwiches, which leads to a $20 lunch out. He brings home bakery rolls to mix things up but they usually go stale within a day. This looks like a great alternative.

[Run Amok]

Oh, if my experiment today is successful I’m definitely trying that! DH gets tired of plain sandwiches, which leads to a $20 lunch out. He brings home bakery rolls to mix things up but they usually go stale within a day. This looks like a great alternative.

Seriously-- I am the opposite of a baker. Baked things fail in my hands. But that recipe is fool proof. And, I don't do it for the price savings, but artisan rolls are like $1-2 each and each batch is maybe .25$. They definitely turn out best if you bake them in a pre-heated pan (a dutch oven if you have one) but I have baked them on a sheet pan too and they taste just fine but the outside isn't quite as pretty.

Today's experimental brotchen, by contrast, tasted really good but they were a pain in the ass and they were much softer. Just not what we prefer.

[picote]

Seriously-- I am the opposite of a baker. Baked things fail in my hands. But that recipe is fool proof. And, I don't do it for the price savings, but artisan rolls are like $1-2 each and each batch is maybe .25$. They definitely turn out best if you bake them in a pre-heated pan (a dutch oven if you have one) but I have baked them on a sheet pan too and they taste just fine but the outside isn't quite as pretty.

Today's experimental brotchen, by contrast, tasted really good but they were a pain in the ass and they were much softer. Just not what we prefer.

That's awesome. Definitely going to try it.

My rye bread is going to come out a little funky I think. It was supposed to take 60-90min on the second rise and at 30min it's huge. Not sure if I should just stop and bake it, or let it rise more.

ETA, oof, I think this first batch is going to be pretty bad. The recipe just gave general guidance on time and said to put it in a warm place. I think I overdid the warm place and it rose too fast and then fell while cooking. Next time...

[CheryG]

Oh bummer, picote!
My unsolicted advice for a new bread baker is to internationally wreck a few batches.  Bread is made more by feel than anything else.

One batch should be overdeveloped in the kneading stage, for the baker to observe gluten development and then ruination.  In a stand mixer, watch the dough go from a total mess, then become cohesive, then it will develop almost a sheen and start to climb the dough hook, and then like a snapping rubber band the gluten will start to "break" as the dough becomes overdeveloped.

One batch (as you just did) needs to overproofed to learn the feel of when it needs to go in the oven.  Dough has no tme schedule- it needs to go in when it feels... like a firm boob.  So feel up the dough throughout a rise cycle to get that feel of when it isn't ready yet to when it's too late.

Also, bread making is more accurate when the ingredients are weighed, but mostly the ratio of water to flour is by eye.  Once you have an idea as to how stiff the dough needs to be you'll better be able to adjust the recipe to suit the weather that day.

[picote]

Hmmm, if it climbed the dough hook is it already overdeveloped? It had just started to climb the hook when I stopped mixing.

I did both of the rises in the oven at 90 degrees, which was clearly too fast. If over proofed does it feel super fluffy?

[CheryG]

The sheen stage is perfect development, a short while after the climb.

Over proofed feels fluffy and the dough will indent.

You can control the rise by using different yeasts and adjusting the temperature of your liquid as well as the proofing temperature.  It all depends on the type of bread you want to make.  When I'm making a honey oatmeal sandwich bread I go for a fast rise- super warm water, warm proofing area.  But a pizza dough that I'm going to either greeze or long retard, ice cold water (even ice on a cold day).  The kneading itself produces friction and warms the dough a little.